How I Embarass Myself?

I attended a seminar earlier this week on leadership. The seminar was conducted in such a way that it was divided into two sessions i.e. the seminar itself and few showcases. I just want to share what happened to me during one of the showcases that I attended.

The speaker was talking about “Speak with Authenticity”. I mean, the topic interests me. When the speaker started her presentation, I was shocked. She was damn over excited. Imagine, as she went up to the stage, out of sudden, she sort like screamed, “Hello! How are you?!!! with the extreme gesture of course. The worst part was she conducted her whole session in that very high spirit. Luckily it was only 15 minutes session. I felt like being in a kindergarten during my childhood day. The way she did it, I really hate it and it was all fake. Anybody knows toastmaster? She was from the toastmaster.

So, during the 15 minutes session, we were given a 1 minute exercise whereby we need to communicate with our partner from our heart and that was “speak with authenticity”. When my partner says something from her heart, I need to reply, “Thank you for sharing” and vice versa. So, my partner was a lady, who was on the same spirit as the speaker. So, she told me how grateful she was being in the seminar and she was looking forward for more and in return, I said “thank you for sharing”. Then came my turn to say something from my heart. I told my partner something like this, “I feel boring and I feel like sleeping (of course I said that because of the fake speaker)”. My partner was not amused at all but she did say, “Thank you for sharing”. Little that I know that my partner was actually the sister of the speaker. Then I knew, no wonder she was not amused when I said that. Hei! After all her sister asked me to say something from my heart!!! Don’t blame me. By the was, my partner was also from toastmaster.

Good or bad speaker

I was in a seminar earlier today. There various issues presented by a number of speakers. All of the topics presented interest me. However, that alone is not good enough to keep me awake, as there was one speaker who delivered his speech on a very interesting topic but in a very boring way. I just can't help myself from being sleepy (ended up sitting outside the ballroom).

That made me think of a good and a bad (not so good) speaker. While some people said that public speaking is a gift, there are also some people that said that it is actually a skill that can be acquired. Well, after all practice makes perfect.

While I would agree with the second proposition, I do not agree that everybody can, through a constant practice, become a good speaker. Some people are simply born not to be a speaker, at least.

What then constitute a good speaker? Is it someone who is able to deliver topic with substance while doing it in a very attractive manner? or someone who does not know the substance of his topic but can deliver his speech in a very attractive manner? or someone who knows the substance but deliver it in a boring way?

Well, I would say that, in giving our speech, the bottom line is whether the message that we want to deliver reaches the audience. If we are able to do that,then we are a good speaker. Otherwise we are not or may be not yet a good speaker.