Public Speaking is an important part of some people’s jobs. The really good speakers continue to practice.
Becoming a good public speaker is tough and requires hard work and practice. Staying good at public speaking requires almost as much work.
I have a client who came to me several years ago because he had a big speech. He was a little clumsy with his delivery, verging on being a bit wooden. But he did have a great story, a compelling storyline (I really do mean a storyline – a sequence of logical and very compelling facts) and he was lucky enough to have a receptive audience.
The speech was coherent and his delivery had been improved to good. Not great – but good. Over the next 2 – 3 years his public speaking improved because he had to speak quite regularly in public. Sometimes to friendly audiences – sometimes to very hostile ones. He wrote to me two years after our first public speaking coaching session to say how much he enjoyed speaking in public now and how much this had changed his life and his career.
It was not all due to that coaching session 4 or 5 years ago. It was down to three things.
Firstly, he read other people’s speeches and became a student of public speaking. He kept trying other things, new methods, new introductions. He read and read and read.
Secondly, he did come back to me for important speeches – and as time went by these became more mentoring sessions than coaching sessions. More “What do you think of this…” than “Teach me how to do this…”
Thirdly, he read more about his subject matter. He became even more of an expert at what he does. He knows his stuff.
This combination is pretty lethal. He is now a very good speaker, passionate and persuasive and can speak without notes, without boring anyone and without sounding muddled and unclear.
Some people brag that they “have 20 years experience in public speaking.” I think that many of those people have 1 year’s experience speaking in public – repeated 19 times.