Macha..
I still remember that day.
The other guy walked off the stage to thunderous applause. He was the undisputed king of comedy in these parts.
My knees were weak. Palms, sweaty. I stepped up on stage and looked at about 1000 eyes peering back at me intently in pin drop silence.
I took a deep breath and started talking. And then, in a blink, 7 minutes passed. And I walked off stage in cold sweat and fear.
An hour later, I was crowned the champion of my division in Toastmasters.
Those 7 minutes shaped my life and altered its trajectory.
In fact, I’ve found that most public speaking opportunities can have massive impact on the way we’re perceived – and consequently, the amount of power and influence we wield in our professional lives.
Today’s mindmap focuses on that important skill: Public speaking.
Situation
- You have a great idea, valuable input or a fantastic strategy
- Unable to articulate it well
- Other people, with much less substance than you, tend to get ahead
- They just seem so good at describing what they’re thinking
- Someone suddenly invites you to ‘say a few words’
- You’re tongue-tied
- Perhaps, embarrassed as well
- You are put in front of an audience/presented with a ‘high visibility’ opportunity
- You freeze
- You make a joke of yourself
Cause
- You’re not good at public speaking
- Have not practiced
- Do not have confidence
- Do not know what to do
- Do not know what works
- Have not made mistakes before in a safe environment
- Have not actually studied what to do
Answer
- Learn the art of public speaking
- Join Toastmasters
- Online
- Offline
- Learn the ingredients of a good piece of communication
- Humour
- Data
- Emotion
- Message
- Structure
- Stories
- Questions
- Anecdotes
- Learn how to use all the tools at your disposal
- Vocal variety
- Pacing
- Pauses
- Body language
- Gestures
- Facial expressions
- Accents
- Make videos
- Use your phone
- Turn on camera & start talking
- Choose topics that you like
- Choose topics that make sense for your at work
- Join Toastmasters
Result
- Get comfortable in front of an audience
- On Ground
- Online
- On Stage
- Be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas
- Meetings
- Presentations
- Pitches
- Standups
- Project meetings
- Be able to influence people at scale
- Videos
- Webinars
- Talk shows
- Presentations
- Interviews
Your Turn
- Join a Toastmasters club
- Find them on www.toastmasters.org
- Start making videos
- Ideas
- Professional Topic
- Technology related to work
- Hobby
- Reviews
- Interview others
- Ideas
Join Us
- Run by Arvindh Sundar
- Goal: Increase Job Security, Reduce Career Risk And Win At Work With E.P.I.C Transformations
- Mission: Liberate a million millennials from an unsatisfying career
- Get in touch at arvindh@epiccareerlabs.com
- There’s a course that can help fix most of these
- Did you know?
- These and more are available once you join the email list!
- You can take an assessment to figure out your career risk level too
- There’s a bigger version of this document that explains how to fix these things as well!
- Customers get early access to this kind of content
- Want to join us?
