TJ Walker opens a Speakcast livestream about public speaking, arguing that speaking is a learnable skill where modest practice can produce star-quality results because most people avoid rehearsing. He contrasts speaking with highly talent-dependent activities (NBA, PGA, Carnegie Hall) to show speaking is accessible, encourages conquering nerves to present genuinely to audiences of any size, and notes the episode is sponsored by Media Training Worldwide (mediatrainingworldwide.com).
Chapters
Welcome to speakcast. This is the one place on the web where you'll find all the information you need on any aspect of speaking. If you have to speak to the news media, give a public speech, talk to clients, customers, even one on one speaking, we have news, information and learning tools for you. You can be a stock star speaker without having star talent. Now think about it. A lot of things in life require a lot of raw talent. I can tell myself, dj, you're the greatest basketball player in the whole world. I can practice 12 hours a day. Guess what? I'm not getting in the NBA. I can do the same with golf. I can have 10 golf lessons a day. I'm never going to make the pga. It's not going to happen. Well, why is that? In part, maybe I don't have the genetics. In part there are millions of people who practice basketball every day and who practice their golf swing every single day. That's not true when it comes to public speaking. Think about it. Most people hate to give speeches. They actively shun it. You know people in your office, you know people in your own organization who are very competent in everything else they do. They will write, research, prepare for any type of written report, and yet they don't rehearse their speech. And what that means is most people are really lousy speakers. They're down here. So it doesn't take much to be a little bit better. That's the beauty of speaking. That's why I enjoy helping people, is it doesn't take a lot of help to make you shine. If you've ever had an interesting conversation with one person in your entire life, guess what? You already have the skills it takes to be a great speaker. All you have to do is conquer your nerves so you can do the same thing in front of 50 people, 500 or 5,000. Now the same is not true in other aspects of life. I can go out to Carnegie hall, walk up, sit behind a piano, not be nervous at all. Guess what? It's going to sound horrible. Everyone's going to walk out. But if you can be relaxed and comfortable and stand up in front of your company or your organization and tell them about what you're doing, why you care about it, why it's important, and why you want them to help, you can be a star speaker because you can come across as real, as genuine. Anyone can learn to be a great speaker at any age. So if you're walking around with this self image of, oh, I'm just not a speaker, I wasn't meant to be a speaker. Get rid of that. Just throw, throw that concept away. You can be a star if you practice, if you rehearse, because this is one of the few areas in life where hardly anyone else is. So a little extra effort can make it really pay off. You can be a star speaker. Speaking with TJ Walker is brought to you in part by Media Training Worldwide. For all of your media and presentation training needs, go to mediatrainingworldwide.com that's 3Ws mediatrainingworldwide.com.
