I’ve spent this week sharing my public speaking journey. I promise I’m not coming at you from someone at a high-level, but just someone that loves to hear what others do. I hope you’ve participated throughout the posts, with some great comments. If you’ve missed, then go read Why I’m Doing This, How I Prepare to Speak, and what I try to Remember when finally speaking.
I want to get better. I remember being involved in Toastmasters International back in college, and it really kicked my butt. If you’re unfamiliar with Toastmasters, then you should know that it’s a social club that helps people improve on their public speaking skills. You are to give speech’s on different topics, of different lengths, with different amount of preparing times; and you do all the speech’s in front of a room of people that then publiclly criticize you. It’s brutal, and yet the best thing I’ve ever done.
Today, I’m going to bare my public speaking soul and I hope that I hit on some themes you may also struggle with. If you don’t comment then I have to assume you think you’re better than me…
Here is where I want need to get better:
Cut down on the circular hand movements. Watching myself on video afterwards is something I’ve always done to improve, and the BIG thing I see when I watch myself is all the landing of airplanes I’m doing with my arms and hands.
Eliminate the arrogance. I fear that my confidence sometimes could come across as arrogance. I feel that with more prayer and understanding, I’ll be able to speak from a place of true humility. It’s something I’m working on in all aspects of my life.
Use more scripture. Even though many of my talks are centered around scripture, I need to know more of God’s Word to allow me to quickly make scriptural connections. As I mature and grow in the Lord, I’m getting better; but it’s always a goal in front of me.
Get more help. I’m not sure I get enough feedback from friends and mentors before going with what I have. I’ll often ask how people think I did when it’s over, but skip the sharing my heart before speaking to see what I may be missing.
So do you have things you’d like to get better at? What are they? Come on now, open up!
