Shut Up or Speak Up!

Ever been in a room full of strangers? All eyes watching you listening to every word, waiting for you to mess up and fumble the words like a nervous schoolboy.

Well I have, on my first workshop with Chantal it came to my turn to introduce myself. As I watched everyone round the room speak up, clearly, professionally and with confidence, I knew my time was coming soon. I noticed my hands getting clammy and shirt collar suddenly 10 times too small it was eventually my time to introduce myself. I think I must have spoken about twelve words and I was done.

I think Chantal quickly saw that public speaking was NOT for me. Even a few months later when Rachel Goddard of Talent Dynamics came to facilitate a workshop with us and told us that I have zero blaze which for her is very unusual. She told me that people with no blaze will often struggle with Networking, negotiating and public speaking – not good news when your boss wants you to go out and speak to strangers!

After hearing this we decided that the best thing for me to is too start attending Toastmasters, a bi-monthly meeting, where I can improve my confidence and communication skills in a friendly simple environment. Some of the benefits of joining are:

• Better interpersonal communications
• More confidence
• Expanded network and career opportunities
• Effective formulation, expression and selling of ideas to your partner, family and friends
• Successful negotiation with your partner, family and friends

These benefits are very exciting for me as I know I have trouble with all of these. When I walk into a room I immediately start to worry about having to speak up…so I shut up.

One of my review goals last month was to be ready to give my first speech at Toastmasters. I?m hoping that after a few months of attending I will be on my way to feeling more confident in speaking. I feel pretty good at the thought of Chantal feeling comfortable enough to send me out networking and waving the Appletree flag.

Keep an eye out for my future Blogs to see how I get along. I will be writing about my six month review in December, so have a read to see how I’m getting along.

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