Learning to speak …

Outside of this blog, I don’t talk much about my work and what I do on IKEAhackers. So when my church asked me to share a bit of my story to a group of young working adults, I thought I should step up and share the things I’ve learnt over the years.

Public speaking has always been a struggle for me, maybe because I prefer to write than speak and I am naturally a shy person. But there are days one just has to thicken the face and do the deed. I am glad I did. I am not sure what the audience took home but I personally learnt a lot from the experience as well as from the other speakers in the conference.

Here’s what I learnt today:
1. Be clear on the one thing you want to hit home. If you manage to deliver that, then it’s a job well done.
2. Share the good. And the bad. It’s okay to be vulnerable. They don’t think any less of you after that.
3. Look at the smiling faces and nodding heads. For a beginner speaker, a little instant validation is helpful and keeps your energy up.
4. After the talk, review what worked and what did not. And don’t be too hard on yourself if you think you missed some important points or did not deliver the material well. There will always be another opportunity.

My next one is in 2 weeks. No time to rest on my Poang.