Speaking... Again

I remember back in seventh grade the class assignment was to give an oral book report. At the time I had just read The Hobbit for (the first time), and decided that would be a great book. I knew the book, and was excited to talk about the book. An amazing thing happened when I went to the class. I choked.

I never thought about the process of speaking in front of others. I stood there in front of the class and mentioned the title and author, and then the entire story line ran through my head. "How was I to explain all that happened in the book?" It made no sense to skip sections. I stood there silent for almost five minutes before the teacher (who must have had the patience of a Saint) started to prompt me.

"Who were the characters in the book? Where did the story take place? What was the story about?"

I felt so silly, but eventually a flood gate of information poured out of my mouth in an uncontrollable manner. I think the teacher was worried that I didn't read the book, but it was obvious that I just didn't know how to explain what had happened.

Practice

Like most people, I was nervous at the thought of speaking. That image of me trying to explain The Hobbit kept popping into my head. I survived speech class in high school and college, but never with flying colors. It was something I never thought that I would have to do the rest of my life. My attitude was, "I'm glad that's over, I'll never have to speak in public again."

I was wrong. It wasn't over. My first post-degree job was with the Boy Scouts of America as a District Executive (DE). I knew that job as well, and as part of our long training process for new DE's there was an intensive speech class. It never dawned on me that I would be required to speak as part of the job. I had fund raising to do, training to give, dinners to attend, present awards, give presentations to volunteers, present different topics at camps, etc. The list was huge!

The amazing thing was after you start to speak a lot, you just get over your fears. I don't mean to say I still don't get nervous, but it just doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

Speaking... Again

At the university, I'm speaking just as much as I did when I worked with the Boy Scouts. Since I started talking about Web Standards, I've been speaking a lot. I was just asked to speak at the HighEdWebDev 2004 in October at Rochester, New York. This will mark the thirteenth time that I've presented Web Standards to an audience, and the sixth time at a national conference. The other presentations have been at state or multi-state conferences.

BTW: I'm not superstitious about the number 13 either, or at least I've gotten over it!