Full Speech Ahead: A fear worse than death

By Milo Shapiro | Guest Contributor

For years, Americans have ranked public speaking as their greatest fear. DEATH ranks second!  Yet the ability to communicate effectively (be it one-on-one or to a crowd) can make or break careers.  A man who can share an idea clearly and concisely is seen as a winner.  A woman who can see a problem and eloquently convey a solution to a group has “management” written all over her.  (And vice versa; looking at the ranks of the National Speakers Association shows us quickly that platform skills have no gender bias.)

Where we do find bias is against people who lack the skill.  A perfectly nice person may have a room full of people thinking deadly thoughts about him/her just because they want the speech to end!

So why, then, write a column about public speaking?  Because it IS important and because − keepin’ it real, here − I know most people aren’t going to read a whole book on the topic.  Little bits are easier to take.

In future columns, we’ll be looking at the many ways that you can make changes − from big organizational ones to minute ones with impact − in your preparation and delivery.

Even if you’d rather eat a Brillo pad than speak to a group, I hope you’ll follow this column. You might be surprised someday when a mike is handed to you and you’ll be glad you had a little info behind you.  It may never happen at your day job, but it could come up at your religious center, your PTA meeting, or the day that Channel 10 asks you a question at a public event.

If you’ve survived these first few paragraphs, you’ve already real­ized that I don’t write like most other training authors. I prefer to write the same way that I might speak to you — which, oddly enough, is valuable if the topic at hand is how to speak to people!

But people get all hung up on how the printed word should be more formal (like not starting a sentence with “But” or using a phrase like “all hung up”).  The reality, however, is when we write for speaking, we should write like that because we talk like that.  Otherwise, when we read, we get that strange professor-ish sound and feel like maybe we should add a British accent or something to account for it.

So … I’ll try to keep things light to make sure that this column is a comfortable and fun read, but not at the expense of saying what needs to be said to help you find your voice, make fewer blunders (especially if sharing mine can spare you a few), and excel from the platform.

If my speaking style sounds too informal for the type of speaking you might do, let me share a few thoughts with you:

With each passing year, our audiences include more of Generation Y (born 1981–1994) and even Millennials (1995+). These are folks who do not remember life before MTV, The Simpsons, or reality TV.  Changes in schools and media have trained them to expect a more informal approach than Gen X and Baby Boomers received. Studies show that including the right percentage of informality holds their attention better.

Besides, some people reading this may think that speaking to a group is scarier than bungee jumping off a space shuttle. So just reading a column on public speaking may have their stomach in a knot.  If I can keep this column a little lighter, maybe it’ll help those people to keep breathing, thinking … and reading.

You’re still reading an introductory column, which is probably a good sign.  Just wait ’til we dig in! And if you could read a whole book on this topic, I know one by a guy who writes just like this …

Milo Shapiro is a San Diego-based interactive motivational speaker, speaking coach is the author of “Public Speaking: Get A’s, Not Zzzzzz’s!” Learn more on his coaching & training at www.PublicDynamics.com 
and as a speaker/teambuilder at www.IMPROVentures.com.  To get questions answered for this column, send them to Milo at  PublicDynamics.com/column.