Public Speaking
I think most people fear public speaking. For some reason, I really enjoy it. Back in middle school and high school I always got really nervous in front of a group as small as 5 or 10, but as time progressed through college and into my professional life, public speaking became more and more of a regular thing so I became more and more comfortable with it. Since I left my job, however, the only real public speaking I had done until last week was the best man speech at my friends wedding.
Then last Friday I spoke to the local Young Advisors Team about business and marketing, specifically growing your network as a young professional (financial planner, accountant, lawyer, etc). Since it was on a Friday night, I kept it short and interactive (it was at a pub and pretty much everyone in the audience had a beer in hand so it had the potential to go bad). The feedback was overwhelmingly positive - they told me I gave them some great ideas to help grow their businesses - and I got a few free beers out of the whole thing :)
Ideally, I'd do some sort of speaking once a month at least to hone my skills, but in reality I don't know what audience would listen to me that frequently, so I think I'm going to have to focus on honing my skills in smaller settings...which is where I think I built up my skills to begin with. Between internships and full time jobs, I met with and interviewed with A LOT of different companies in college (one of the advantages of being at the top of your engineering class at a top 20 school is that recruiters from all over the world practically beg for you to interview with them...which is a whole other wacky experience worthy of a post).
I digress - I think interviewing is even TOUGHER than public speaking because to a large degree (especially in a well run behavioral based interview) there is no way to prepare for it...everything they throw at you needs a well-spoken, accurate response in a matter of seconds, and things like posture and body language definitely matter. I really didn't intend this post to go this way, but I guess I'm saying that I think the best way to become a better public speaker is to do a shit ton of interviews.
Oh, and if you need a public speaker for anything that I know anything about, let me know, I'm always down for it :)
Then last Friday I spoke to the local Young Advisors Team about business and marketing, specifically growing your network as a young professional (financial planner, accountant, lawyer, etc). Since it was on a Friday night, I kept it short and interactive (it was at a pub and pretty much everyone in the audience had a beer in hand so it had the potential to go bad). The feedback was overwhelmingly positive - they told me I gave them some great ideas to help grow their businesses - and I got a few free beers out of the whole thing :)
Ideally, I'd do some sort of speaking once a month at least to hone my skills, but in reality I don't know what audience would listen to me that frequently, so I think I'm going to have to focus on honing my skills in smaller settings...which is where I think I built up my skills to begin with. Between internships and full time jobs, I met with and interviewed with A LOT of different companies in college (one of the advantages of being at the top of your engineering class at a top 20 school is that recruiters from all over the world practically beg for you to interview with them...which is a whole other wacky experience worthy of a post).
I digress - I think interviewing is even TOUGHER than public speaking because to a large degree (especially in a well run behavioral based interview) there is no way to prepare for it...everything they throw at you needs a well-spoken, accurate response in a matter of seconds, and things like posture and body language definitely matter. I really didn't intend this post to go this way, but I guess I'm saying that I think the best way to become a better public speaker is to do a shit ton of interviews.
Oh, and if you need a public speaker for anything that I know anything about, let me know, I'm always down for it :)
posted by Adam McFarland at
10/31/2006 09:01:00 PM
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