The emergency management meeting is moving right along. A special “thank you” was given to a retiring officer who had done a superb job. New action plans were presented and deliberated. While you may have had ideas, information, and experiences on the topics, all which were worthy of sharing, you remained silent. Perhaps you thought that after the meeting you would speak to just one person and contribute your ideas then.
Public Speaking Is Challenge For Many
Public speaking is a challenge for many people and pushes them way beyond their comfort zone. Many people are more afraid of speaking in public than they are of death. As the comedian Jerry Seinfeld quipped, “People at a funeral would rather be in the casket than standing over it giving the eulogy.” Aside from an innate shyness, most of the pressure associated with public speaking is a lack of training or perhaps, poor training.
People will often look back with resentment or embarrassment at the times that, as preschoolers, they had to repeat a poem for company. Or, in the early school years, having to do “show and tell” when it seemed as though the child before you always had a fantastic item to show. Then, of course, there were all the years that followed where you memorized a two-minute speech. Never however, were students taught how to prepare a speech or how to make a spontaneous speech.
