Public Speaking

Mark Zeigler, my undergrad FSU professor for public speaking, advised us not to give the audience power. I discovered what he meant last night as I prepared to speak to the entire freshmen class of athletes at FSU. In my head, I had imagined the freshmen athletes as having more power than they do. It was not too long ago that I, too, was a freshman athlete at this same division one sport powerhouse, and I admit that thinking about that made me feel important (and all the support and perks certainly helped fuel that viewpoint). But as I looked out on the crowd I realized that these were 19 and 20 year olds; they looked so young, so apppropriately "fresh." And I was not nervous anymore.

I spoke with John Lata, the Athletic Coordinator, and he said he is shy, so he puts on a tie to "scare people away" (actually, it's required wearing, and this effect is just a bonus) and then just puts himself out there. His job requires a lot of public speaking. He said it gets to the point that you look out into a crowd of 200 and think "these are just a bunch of kids; listen." Of course we have respect for each and every one of the athletes, and if you talk to John Lata individually, this is immediately evident. Thinking this way is simply a matter of recognizing we have something important to impart and they are not as powerful as we are apt to make them.

This lesson is important, I think, even if the crowd is learned individuals older than I am. I have worked with older adults in a counseling capacity. I ought to be able to speak to a group as well. It's all about remembering that I have something important, and they may be able to benefit from it.

Tip #2: Do not give others more power than they have. Maybe it's a crowd of people in a public speaking situation. Maybe it's your opponent on the field or in the pool. Maybe it's the bully in the classroom. Whoever it is, remember they are people with the same human foils as you have.

(However, even all the reframing in the world won't quite rid of all the nerves! It's about coping with nerves. And that's something that can be learned from sports.)