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Very helpful - thanks for sharing!
Russ Hudgens gives great insight into what it feels like to be propelled into a career situation where suddenly he's a public speaker. This article conveys the speaker's feelings about the situations he faced plus gives excellent details on exactly how he mastered being a public speaker and how you can learn from his being put into the spotlight as a public speaker representing his firm. In addition to practicing a speech, if you have time to memorize the speech prior to the presentation, I've found that very helpful.
Thanks Rhianna. There is a difference between a speech and a talk, I'd say. I think if you give a speech, it's probably ok to memorize it somewhat. But for a talk, I think it's good to memorize the overall idea of what you're talking about - just not word for word, as it can come off robotic and you'll end up losing that energy. I like rehearse, but don't memorize.
You're right, Ross. Memorization helps in the delivery of a speech, but if there's a talk with interaction such as a question and answer type of panel then it is better to focus on the main idea.
I love this post. Just the first half alone was super valuable in terms of reinforcing that public speaking is a large challenge. It takes a lot of practice before it feels natural. Thanks!
Loved this post, Ross. It's honest, #tagfee and even offers helpful ideas and strategies for becoming a better speaker.
But what I like most of all is how you're aware of your own introversion, but you don't give into it. Instead, you strive to hack your public speaking skills so that you can use it to your advantage. Thoughtful and brilliant.
Just wanted to give Ross kudos not only for the valuable post, but for the courage to write it. There were a lot of tough admissions in there, and I suspect many of us could empathize. I'm glad we didn't have Facebook when I was in college - thinking back to my first few presentations still puts me in the fetal position.
+1. Ross is obviously an introspective dude and there aren't too many people willing to be that vulnerable with the world. That level of introspection & humility pretty much guarantees that he will improve at whatever he sets out to do. Mad props to you for writing this post Ross!
Thanks to you both! This surprisingly wasn't that hard to write, although it felt *good* to write, because somehow it was a release of those worse feelings when I initially started public speaking. The hard parts happened getting over the hump in the past year or so.