By Greg Dardis / Guest Column
The class is seared in my memory.
Sophomore year in high school I took a public-speaking class. We spent the semester preparing our content – researching a topic, shaping the structure, putting our story on flash cards.
The content of our speech would make up half our grade. The other half would be based on the speech itself, which we were to deliver at the end of the semester.
I was a lanky teen from Farley with no experience in public speaking. I was deathly afraid of getting up in front of my class. As the big day neared, my dread mounted. And when it finally arrived, I did not show up.
I remember my mixed emotions about skipping (and therefore failing) the class: relief tinged with shame. Deep down, I was disappointed in myself for taking the coward’s way out. Yet I could not imagine any other way.
This story may come as a surprise given that I am a professional speaker who has built a career training people in public speaking.
Fear can be either a crippling force or a powerful motivator. Thankfully, that pivotal moment in adolescence propelled me forward.
In the following years, I was amazed to discover that I could hone my presentation skills, that they can be improved with practice just as surely as my time in a batting cage or under a basketball hoop would pay off. And I wanted to share my discovery with everyone, to liberate others from the same debilitating fear that had once seized me.
That belief remains at the heart of Dardis Communications: Anyone can be a good speaker. It is not a prerogative of the few – executives, politicians, Ivy League key holders.
Speakers are not born, they are made. No matter who you are and what you do, proper training can turn you into an excellent speaker. And you never know when you may need those skills: addressing a boardroom, selling a product, requesting a raise, drumming up new business, participating in an interview, persuading a supervisor, toasting at a party.
If you can speak as well as you think, you’ll always put your best foot forward. Your intelligence will immediately shine through.
And yet, the fear of public speaking holds many people back. It is consistently ranked as our No. 1 fear.
Jerry Seinfeld famously riffed on this finding. Fear of public speaking is Americans’ No. 1 fear and death is their second, he said, which means they would rather be the guy in the casket than the guy giving the eulogy.
It’s a funny joke, and it speaks to the absurdity of our fear. To stand before others and speak should not be so overwhelming.
But it is because most of us do not know how to prepare. My sophomore class was devoted to content, but we were never instructed in delivery. Had we done some exercises in delivering a speech, I might have had the guts to show up and give mine.
Over the years we’ve perfected our instruction. We equip our clients with a roadmap to guide every presentation, big or small. We coach on all the verbals and non-verbals that make or break a speech, and we practice in front of a camera so each client can have the eye-opening experience of watching herself. We demonstrate how to lead a Power Point presentation rather than be breathlessly led by it.
We’ve seen again and again that anyone can become a good speaker. And once you’ve mastered the basics, you might be surprised to dis-cover that public speaking can actually be fun. Take it from me.
Greg Dardis is the CEO of Dardis Communications, based in Coralville. For more information, visit www.dardsicommunications.com.
