I do my best to make it out to networking events at least twice per month. In fact at the time of this recording, I’m a few hours from attending my third networking event for this month. On one hand it’s a way for me to meet new people and develop new relationships. I always say that you should aim to meet people not only within your industry, but outside your industry as well. Another thing about networking is that (for me), it’s a break from the constant grind and long days of building a business. The truth is I spend more of my time working than relaxing or enjoying life, so if I can diversify how I work, it makes things better. When I tell people that I’m a Public Speaking Coach, the majority of replies are something like “well you must be comfortable speaking in front of hundreds of people” or “wow, that means you must love the big stage”. While both of those points are true, I always make sure to get the point across that Public Speaking can happen on many levels and you don’t have to speak to hundreds or thousands of people at a time in order to be considered a Public Speaker.

I understand that it’s an easy assumption. You have highly successful speakers such as Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, Les Brown, Gary Vaynerchuck and others that you always see speaking in front of arenas. Wilkapedia shouldn’t be the go-to source, but it says that Public Speaking is the process or act of performing a speech in front of a live audience. Public speaking is commonly understood as formal, face-to-face speaking of a single person to a group of listeners. But I honestly feel that even if you are talking to just a single person, you are practicing the art of public speaking. You still have to be engaging and a good listener. You have to be able to hold a conversation (an interesting conversation at that). Many of the same elements still apply in a one-on-one conversation just like they do in front of a live audience.

We are all public speakers and we practice it everyday. It can be on the job (while in a meeting) or when you are out. It can be as simple as you holding a conversation with a stranger. In fact, we’ve already been practicing it throughout our childhood and school. I honestly feel like if you want to be successful, Public Speaking is something that you can’t avoid. I say all of this to say that for those of you that may be timid at the thought of public speaking, there is no need to, because you’ve already been doing it. Maybe it wasn’t in front of hundreds of people and yes, the stakes may be a little bit higher. This is likely true. But the only way you get better at it is to continuously seek out those opportunities. If you google top fears amongst Americans, you will commonly see Public Speaking is amongst them. If you fall in that category, right now I’m asking you why? You should really sit down and assess why you feel the way you do. Why do you avoid those opportunities? What happened to make you feel this way? Think about what it is that you want to accomplish professionally and even personally, and then think about how being a decent public speaker can help get you there. Is it worth you gathering up the courage to try and overcome this fear, because as I said earlier.. it’s not going away anytime soon. 

When I was in high school, my uncle told me something that I didn’t take seriously back then, but it ended up coming back full circle later on in life. He said “no matter where you are on the totem pole.. you can be a doctor, lawyer, a janitor, or even working a part time job… you are going to need good public speaking skills. You are going to need to be confident speaking in front of strangers. You will need to not be the person that shy’s away from the opportunity to talk and articulate your ideas.”  See, at 14 or 15 years old, I didn’t comprehend and it went in one ear and out the other. My only focus at that time was playing basketball and being a future Architect. But when I entered college, I found myself presenting in front of my classmates and other audiences often.. multiple times a week. When I switched majors, it increased.. especially when I took my last class in college, which was a portfolio class. In the corporate world, the opportunities to speak in front of people have presented themselves to me and I’ve never shied away. Maybe I was nervous, but his words always played in my head.

At the end of the day, you can get by without having to speak in front of people. But the opportunities that are presented to you won’t be the same. The one shot you may need to advance to the next level may not happen, because you aren’t willing to articulate your ideas or be confident. You don’t have to be on the big stage, speaking in front of an arena to be considered a public speaker. I guarantee you are already doing it now. Today, I challenge you to continue to get better at it and start increasing the amount of people you are talking to. Keep doing it, even if you are uncomfortable. You’ll constantly get better if you just attack it and not worry. I guarantee if you challenge yourself to be a better public speaker, you will reap rewards both professionally and personally that can change the course of your life. 

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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