Setting up a public speaking practice club in your company.
Did you hear about the expert in golf? He knew everything there was to know about golf. For example he knew which club to play for any particular hole, or who won every golfing tournament going back decades. Yet despite knowing everything about golf, he had never actually played a single round of golf in his life.
The beginning of this joke is reminiscent of developing your skills in public speaking. There is a gaping chasm between knowing the theory of public speaking and actually giving a speech in public. The library and book shops are full of “how-to” books giving advice on presenting to a group of people. Help is offered in how to overcome your fears and come across as a great orator. However, the truth is that in order to become a great public speaker and completely obliterate your fears and apprehensions, you need to stand up and talk in front of a crowd.
Going back to our story of the golf expert, the other members of his golf club had often tried to persuade him to play a round of golf. Yet our expert was reluctant, he would rather read about golf than play it. Finally the expert agreed to play when a competition came up against a rival golf club. The club was one person short to make up the team so, in order to avert an embarrassing loss, our expert agreed to play.
Most people would be scared and embarrassed to talk in front of a crowd of people. So when a chance to give a speech comes up, they will usually decline but there are many situations where refusal is simply not an option. For example, the work presentation, the wedding speech, etc. There are times when you want, or need, to deliver a quality speech but are overcome with nerves or lack of practise to do an outstanding job. Yet there are opportunities where you can practice and learn the skills needed to develop presentation skills.
I am a member of an “association of speakers” club that exists in my work place. Twice a month several volunteers, who all have a desire to improve public speaking, meet up to listen to and give a speech. Over a one-hour lunch break we have an opportunity to listen to speeches and participate in a question and answer session. There are usually three prepared speeches followed by an evaluation of each speech. The question and answer session involves questions being asked to random people in the room who have to provide a two minute answer, a sort of unprepared, think-on-your-feet speech.
Our golf expert was now in the spotlight. Despite knowing everything about golf, no one had actually seen him play, until now. On the first hole he scored a hole-in-one. The second hole was also a hole-in-one. This continued throughout the match. He demonstrated and showed he was indeed an expert at golf.
Finding a forum where you can practise public speaking is not difficult. The Association of Speakers, for example, have clubs all around the country. A search on the internet quickly reveals the meeting location and times. If there isn’t a local club or the time or opportunity is not available, then it is not hard to setup a club. All that is required is a meeting room and half a dozen people who have the desire to overcome their fear of public speaking.
Around four years ago we set up a club at our work place. We are lucky we have a fairly large number of people and an efficient internal communication system which includes a Friday email to all employees on company news and events. The administrator of this system was happy to include a short article about our public speaking practice group and an invitation to join. Also dotted around our building are several notice boards where we posted an invite.
Our inaugural meeting went very well and we had around a dozen people. One volunteer gave a prepared speech followed by another volunteer who gave feedback on the speech including what was good and what areas could be improved. We split the meeting into a prepared speech section and a questions and answers section where questions were asked to people in the room who had to give a two-minute answer.
The meetings continued to be held once a month. We kept an email distribution list which expanded over time. From one speaker per month per meeting we increased to three speakers per meeting. The impromptu questions and answers section became the feared yet exhilarating part of the meeting. The feeling was members secretly wanted to be chosen to answer a question but did not appear to invite the chance to be put on the spot.
At a certain point a committee was formed to help run and manage our club which we christened the ‘Public Speaking Practice Society’. We also decided that we needed a more formal structure. This is when we looked at the various organisations. In the end we decided on the ‘Association of Speakers’ due to its low cost and no nonsense structure.
A change was also made to the timing and frequency of when the meetings took place. In the beginning the meeting took place after work and lasted an hour. However we changed the meeting to lunchtimes and asked members to give up their lunch hour. It is constantly commented upon how efficiently we run the meeting in the one hour apparently most Association of Speakers meetings run for two hours but have roughly the same content and structure. Our meetings used to be held once a month. We now hold two meetings per month and there was talk of holding an evening meeting to accommodate members who cannot make lunchtimes.
Back in the club house, after the golf competition was over, our expert was being lauded for their fantastic achievement. All the members were trying to persuade him to play more often and were shocked when they heard that he was giving up golf for good. When asked why, the expert simply said “I never realised there was so much walking involved”.
Learning about public speaking from a book or expert can help you part of the way in becoming a competent orator. However, the secret is all about how often you are up on the stage giving a speech to a crowd, the amount of “flight time” as my colleague calls it. Our golf expert found that you cannot learn everything from a book and that actual experience is just as important. It is only during the time of giving a speech that you can learn to deal with your fear. From experience and feedback you can learn to polish the tools and develop public speaking skills.
Setting up a club in your work place, university or office building is not difficult. It is rewarding and a good thing for colleagues and the company overall. If you want any help or advise then drop me a line. The only things you just need to start are a meeting room, a structure similar to the one provided by the association of speakers and a small group of like-minded glossophobes who want to overcome their fear.