Cup of Inspiration

Today, January 23^rd, is Speak Up and Succeed Day. Today is the day to get up in front of a crowd, present your ideas, and confront that fear of public speaking.

Approximately 75% of people fear public speaking. I have read in the past that for some people public speaking will outrank fear of death! Basically, the fear of speaking at a funeral may be more frightening than being the one being remembered at the funeral.

A little over 10 years ago, this described me. I was absolutely petrified of speaking in front of a group of people. I knew that was not meant for me. I was comfortable not being a speaker. That was for other people. Thankfully, I had a manager that pushed me to give a short presentation at a department meeting. I was scared out of my mind, but it made me realize I needed help. This realization would lead me to eventually join Toastmasters International.

Ten years later, I would hardly call myself a great speaker. However, I have given presentations to a roomful of people and lived to talk about it. Once, I was giving a speech and forgot the story halfway through. I managed to use impromptu speaking skills to come up with a new story ending as I went along. Of course, it helped that it was a fictional story anyways, so I just had to remind myself that it did not matter if the ending changed from what I had originally written. I made it through the experience, and surprisingly the world did not end because the presentation did not go perfectly as planned.

I have had other moments where I froze up. Many of us have experienced this. The important thing to remember is that we should just try again. Failure is simply a chance to learn for the next time.

Today, look for opportunities to speak up in front of a crowd. Perhaps offer to give a presentation at a department meeting. Offer to put on a lunch-n-learn session at work. If the idea of this scares you too much, find an opportunity to work with a group to help you overcome this fear. Toastmasters International is certainly an option. There are public speaking classes. You may even be able to reach out to a public speaker in your network for advice on where to start.

Whatever method you choose to confront your fear of public speaking, today is the day to start. Face down that fear and speak up.