Why don't they call it Camp Iwannabeademo?
A lesson about public speaking
Today's Argus Leader Dave Kranz Column reports:
Actually, my first campaign school experience involved me speaking. And note to state party directors: "If you have a speaker who doesn't show, don't throw the temporary employee with no speaking experience, unprepared, up at the podium."
It was worse than bad. It was gong-show bad. Here I am up in front of our state's legislative leaders with sweat rolling off of me. I didn't do public speaking at that point. It was a deer in the headlights. Reading my lines off of a script, I managed to struggle through it. Bless her heart, Jan Nicolay gave me a little encouragement afterwards. It must be the teacher in her.
No wonder people have ranked the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of dying.
I've had little formal training at public speaking. When did I get my start? Because I broke my thigh bone 2 weeks into my sophomore school year, and spent the rest of the semester in the hospital or at home in traction, my High School speech class experience doesn't count.
Keeping in mind this was back in 1981, the high school seemed to have little experience in dealing with a physically (albeit temporarily) handicapped student who was going to continue his classwork. So, they set up this little intercom box through the phone lines. And high school speech was the first class of the day.
Or sometimes it was. Half the time, the teacher would never plug it in. After a day or so of not getting class, I'd complain to my parents. And they'd complain to the school. And it would get plugged in for a day or so, and we'd go round again. My mom told me that the teacher (who unfortunately still teaches) actually said at one point that he didn't see why he should bother to plug it in, because it was his opinion that I wasn't getting anything out of the class because I was listening from my hospital bed. So, basically my semester of high school speech was a wasted effort, thanks to the 'thoughtfulness of that educator'.
My Speech class at SDSU wasn't much better, although I got through it.
After my experience at the podium in front of all the GOP legislators (and candidates) I actually forced myself to take the advanced speech class from Dr. Schliessman at SDSU. And it went better. Even though we were on different sides of the aisle, he was (is) a very good instructor.
But where did my best training come from? Auctioneering. It's not a matter of needing to learn how to speak in a sing-song voice. A lot of it is developing confidence in front of a crowd. I never had that until I learned to auction.
Even after the ten days of hell I call auction school, I was still uneasy, uncomfortable. And then I got home and had to sell. It was rough going the first few times, and remained so until the head auctioneer (my mom) took me aside and gave me a pep talk that included " I PAID for you to go to auction school, and I'm going to get my money's worth! Now take the mike and get out there."
I wondered if Elvis ever went through that.
Included in her pep talk was the thing I needed to hear. She said "No matter how bad you are, you're the one out front selling the item, and you know more than the crowd does."
That wasn't meant to be arrogant, but the point she was making is that there's no reason to be nervous, because the crowd is there to listen to you. They don't know what you're going to say, only you do. But they're here to listen. So, go out there and speak.
Ever since then, I've been ok. I even accept invitations as I did with the recent Teenage Republican Camp to go speak to groups. It's not a curse anymore.
The key is to get to the rationalization that people actually want to hear what you have to say. There are some that will hate you, there are some that wil love you. But first you have to speak the words, and that's generally why people are the room to hear the politician.
If I can get up in front of a crowd and sell a toilet seat with a straight face, anyone can get up in front of a crowd and expound on your beliefs. Believe me, your dignity will be much more intact than mine is at the end of the day.
One article I found on the internet gives some helpful tips on conquering the fear of public speaking:
Daschle camp backI have to admit that this camp has been fairly successful in training young people for running for office. I'd really like to know what kind of things that they talk about, because my campaign school experience has been mixed.
Former Sen. Tom Daschle will resume his annual leadership forum this fall in the Black Hills.
Over a five-year period, Daschle brought about 250 selected participants - Democrats, Republicans and independents - together at the conferences to consider public service and cultivate leadership skills.
Several attendees have since entered political office, including U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth; Sioux Falls City Councilors Andy Howes, Darrin Smith and Vernon Brown; Amy Dunkle, a Brookings School Board member; Bryce Healy, school and public lands commissioner; and Tony Wagner, formerly of Mitchell, now on the Minnetonka, Minn., City Council.
"The leaders (forum) was the reason I first thought about running," Howes said. "And if I had not gone, I would never have run in 2002."
Actually, my first campaign school experience involved me speaking. And note to state party directors: "If you have a speaker who doesn't show, don't throw the temporary employee with no speaking experience, unprepared, up at the podium."
It was worse than bad. It was gong-show bad. Here I am up in front of our state's legislative leaders with sweat rolling off of me. I didn't do public speaking at that point. It was a deer in the headlights. Reading my lines off of a script, I managed to struggle through it. Bless her heart, Jan Nicolay gave me a little encouragement afterwards. It must be the teacher in her.
No wonder people have ranked the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of dying.
I've had little formal training at public speaking. When did I get my start? Because I broke my thigh bone 2 weeks into my sophomore school year, and spent the rest of the semester in the hospital or at home in traction, my High School speech class experience doesn't count.
Keeping in mind this was back in 1981, the high school seemed to have little experience in dealing with a physically (albeit temporarily) handicapped student who was going to continue his classwork. So, they set up this little intercom box through the phone lines. And high school speech was the first class of the day.
Or sometimes it was. Half the time, the teacher would never plug it in. After a day or so of not getting class, I'd complain to my parents. And they'd complain to the school. And it would get plugged in for a day or so, and we'd go round again. My mom told me that the teacher (who unfortunately still teaches) actually said at one point that he didn't see why he should bother to plug it in, because it was his opinion that I wasn't getting anything out of the class because I was listening from my hospital bed. So, basically my semester of high school speech was a wasted effort, thanks to the 'thoughtfulness of that educator'.
My Speech class at SDSU wasn't much better, although I got through it.
After my experience at the podium in front of all the GOP legislators (and candidates) I actually forced myself to take the advanced speech class from Dr. Schliessman at SDSU. And it went better. Even though we were on different sides of the aisle, he was (is) a very good instructor.
But where did my best training come from? Auctioneering. It's not a matter of needing to learn how to speak in a sing-song voice. A lot of it is developing confidence in front of a crowd. I never had that until I learned to auction.
Even after the ten days of hell I call auction school, I was still uneasy, uncomfortable. And then I got home and had to sell. It was rough going the first few times, and remained so until the head auctioneer (my mom) took me aside and gave me a pep talk that included " I PAID for you to go to auction school, and I'm going to get my money's worth! Now take the mike and get out there."
I wondered if Elvis ever went through that.
Included in her pep talk was the thing I needed to hear. She said "No matter how bad you are, you're the one out front selling the item, and you know more than the crowd does."
That wasn't meant to be arrogant, but the point she was making is that there's no reason to be nervous, because the crowd is there to listen to you. They don't know what you're going to say, only you do. But they're here to listen. So, go out there and speak.
Ever since then, I've been ok. I even accept invitations as I did with the recent Teenage Republican Camp to go speak to groups. It's not a curse anymore.
The key is to get to the rationalization that people actually want to hear what you have to say. There are some that will hate you, there are some that wil love you. But first you have to speak the words, and that's generally why people are the room to hear the politician.
If I can get up in front of a crowd and sell a toilet seat with a straight face, anyone can get up in front of a crowd and expound on your beliefs. Believe me, your dignity will be much more intact than mine is at the end of the day.
One article I found on the internet gives some helpful tips on conquering the fear of public speaking:
Prepare, prepare, prepare! Don't wing it! Prepare an outline of what you want to say and practice it.
Be specific and talk about the things you know best. Don't try to teach people everything you do. Focus on no more than two or three areas of what you want them to learn about. Most importantly, cover the topics you feel you understand the best. This will reduce some of your stress
Use handouts, visuals or PowerPoint slides to support your presentation. For people who are worried about stage fright, these props can help carry them through the talk.
Remember, you're the expert. Think about ways that help show that and are not threatening for you.
Be creative. Think of some way to communicate the information in a way you feel comfortable.
Comments
Talk to Todd Epp over at SD Watch. He'd probably have some insight.