My Adventures in Public Speaking..

I was never a stage person. Every time I tried to do that when I was in school or college, I could not hide the fact that I was nervous. I have sung on stage, spoken a few words, received prizes, given a brief thank you speech.. but all that, quite reluctantly. If I had my way, I would love to receive an award in a jungle or sing a song in my bathroom and transmit it to the world – err, I mean the audio of it

The fact of the matter is, I was never a stage rodeo! So public speaking was not my forte. Although, I used to fantasize being a smarty pants on the stage. But I never tried to bring that fantasy into reality. Because one step on the stage would bring the cruel reality crashing down on me!

Now in my mid-life crisis, I am realizing all kinds of missed opportunities big time, and I am trying to catch up with what I can. Public Speaking is one of those adventures.

I joined Toastmasters about 4 months back. My first thing there was to speak about something during the Table Topics session – impromptu! Not an ideal way to start your public speaking, I was saying to myself on my way to the podium. I was trying to smile, yes sir.. was trying hard to hide under that translucent curtain separating the world outside and a volcano of fear boiling on the inside! Every step of the way was like a step towards the gallows! I thought I must have taken an hour to walk those 10 meters!

The Table Topic for that day was to prove how some of the celebrities would have been better in some other professions than theirs. My combination was to prove that “Paris Hilton would have done well as a terrorist” ! I don’t know what I said, but it was somewhat humorous.. I saw from the corner of my eyes that some people were actually laughing at my apparent joke rather than me! I wound up my little blabbering quickly and just walked back. My heart, was almost popping out of my mouth at that point! Back in my seat, I just wanted to hide under the table – for some reason, I thought everybody in that room was staring at me. Oh God, save me.. I am just a poor man.. save me from this moment of eternal embarrassment!

But, thankfully the meeting moved on..

Next stop, my icebreaker speech. What an apt name.. “Ice breaker” – to break that frozen fear of public speaking. I was supposed to talk about myself in my ice breaker speech. One thing that I had on my side was the fact that I was fond of writing. I already had a blog in place (http://blog.somik.net) and people had told me that they enjoyed what I wrote. Armed with that little tool, I set out on my journey….

In my ice breaker speech I talked about how I missed all kinds of opportunities to become famous throughout my life.. how I never stood first in an exam after my 1st grade or how my childhood dream of being a Superman just didn’t materialize..! Surprisingly, it went quite well – without anybody realizing how crazy my heart was palpitating!

In the days and speeches ahead, the palpitations kept going less and less crazy.. and I started enjoying the whole public speaking ordeal..! I embraced humor as my most favorite track in public speaking. I spoke in front of a TV camera, participated in a couple of contests and secured 2nd place..

I have yet to reach the stage from where I can influence or motivate my audience. I have yet to reach a stage where I can just go on stage and talk for several minutes without being conscious about it.. I have yet to reach anywhere for that matter.. all I have done at this point, is to muster up enough courage to be able to stand in front of people without going weak in my knees and choked up in my vocal cords!

I wasn’t born to be a speaker, I am just trying to break my silence.. and my adventures in Public Speaking have just started..