Live-stream talk by TJ Walker arguing that public speaking is a learnable skill, not an innate ability. Walker contends that with coaching and practice anyone who can hold a conversation can become an effective public speaker, and he cites historical figures (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln) who were not naturally gifted speakers early on.
Chapters
Can public speaking be learned? Is it a skill that can be learned? Or is it something you're either born with or you aren't? That is perhaps one of the most tedious, tiresome debates those of us in the public speaking world ever have to deal with. Of course it is a skill that you can learn. Nobody's born a natural born speaker. You might be a natural born crier, but you can't be a natural born speaker any more than you're a natural born writer. Yes, some people end up being world class novelists, others aren't. But even the world class novelists had to go to first grade, second grade, third grade, formal instruction day in and day out. How to write, how to compose a sentence, how to use punctuation, how to spell. All learn skills. Some advance further than others. But I absolutely believe that anybody can be a great speaker. You might not command $100,000 a speech and get paid speaking gigs and be a professional motivational speaker, but that's not the goal of most people. If the goal is to communicate, to come across as comfortable, confident, relaxed, authoritative. I believe anyone who has the ability to have a conversation with another human being has all the skills it takes to be not a good speaker, but a great speaker. Part of it is there's less competition. Billions of people have been given formal instruction on how to write. Most people have not had any formal instruction on how to speak effectively. So the standards are much, much lower. Let's face it, most speakers in the world are horrible. So if you just gain some level of competence, you can stand out as great. There's a very famous article if you Google public speaking that shows up on the top page. I believe it's on Forbes or maybe Inc. One of the prominent business publications. And it purports to show that you can't teach public speaking. It's written by a former public speaking coach who in her opinion says that public speaking is really not something that can be taught. Well, I have news for you. You're just a lousy public speaking teacher. You wouldn't say that music can't be taught. Therefore let's just shut down all music schools. Let's shut down Juilliard. That would strike you as insane if someone said that. We don't say that there can be no good gymnastic coaches. You're either born a great gymnast or you aren't. No, anyone who wants to get great at something can typically get better with coaching instruction. Public speaking is no different. What is different is that since so few people get instruction and get good instruction. Just a little bit can make you much, much better. But when you look at the great speakers in history, none of them were natural born speakers. Martin Luther King, Jr. Received the grade of C in public speaking. Not in first grade. When he was in seminary, he was already a grown man and he received a grade of C. John F. Kennedy used to shake behind the stage. When people looked at him, they'd see his hands and his knees shake. As president, as a member of Congress, he was known as a horrible speaker. Abe Lincoln had a screechy high voice, was panned by the critics for many of his speeches. So again, you can go through historical figure after historical figure. They were either awful speakers or considered awful speakers when they were younger or even throughout most of their career. So no, there's no such thing as a natural born speaker. Yes, if you can speak and you don't have a neurological problem with your tongue and mouth moving and you have vocal cords, you can be an excellent public speaker through training.
