To understand this goal, you need a little backstory. One thing that I have never been good at is public speaking. I used to hate having to give oral presentations during high school. My hands would be shaking, and I would have to read practically the whole speech because my mind would be a complete blank. I guess it is a common enough story, but here's the part where it gets kind of interesting. I actually enjoy giving presentations now. I would even go so far as to say that giving presentations is my favourite aspect of my current job.
How did I go from hating public speaking to enjoying it? Well, it certainly didn't happen overnight. I had to bluff my way through several shaky speeches. I do have a few things that I think were big turning points for me.
1. I won a Japanese speech contest. In order to improve my Japanese, I participated twice in the local Japanese speech contest in Miyazaki, and in my second year, I won! Not only was this a huge confidence boost, but it also made me realize that if I could give a speech in my second language, giving a speech in English should be a breeze. Thinking something is easy is the first step!
2. The second turning point was when I was offered the opportunity to be a Prefectural Advisor in Miyazaki. As PA, one of my duties was to plan the mid-year conference for ALTs, which included several welcome greetings and speeches. At first, I was terrified. I had to talk in front of a group of English teachers, some of whom had been teaching for several years more than me. However, I read something online that made me relax a little. No, it was not the classic imagine everyone in their underwear advice. It was that giving a presentation is a simple exchange of information. I have information that the audience may need. Of course, I realize that this is not the case for every type of speech, but for the most part, it proves to be true. If you start of with the assumption that people may need the information that you are going to share, that may just give you the motivation you need to push through the nerves.
3. The last turning point for me was when I was invited to be a panelist at orientation in Tokyo for the new English teachers. This required me to talk in front of an audience of approximately 800. I was so nervous that I was physically sick. I think I probably only slept for 1-2 hours the night before. But, you know what, even though I was super nervous when I spoke, I managed to make the audience laugh a couple of times, and got through most of what I wanted to say. At the end of the panel discussion, several people came up to me to thank me.
This brings me to my last point, which is actually something that I heard in a speech quite recently. The speech was in Japanese, so I may have missed the finer details, but the advice was something along the lines of this. Opportunities do not come because we are great. Opportunities come, and if we say yes to them, we become great. When I was first invited to be a panelist, I couldn't understand why anyone would want me to give a speech. I was a terrible public speaker with nothing special to say. But, you know what, when the opportunity came, I said yes anyway.
That was my amazing speech. It's not amazing in that it changed people's lives in any special way, it's amazing because I did it. It changed my life.
Goal completed 5/8/2014
How did I go from hating public speaking to enjoying it? Well, it certainly didn't happen overnight. I had to bluff my way through several shaky speeches. I do have a few things that I think were big turning points for me.
1. I won a Japanese speech contest. In order to improve my Japanese, I participated twice in the local Japanese speech contest in Miyazaki, and in my second year, I won! Not only was this a huge confidence boost, but it also made me realize that if I could give a speech in my second language, giving a speech in English should be a breeze. Thinking something is easy is the first step!
2. The second turning point was when I was offered the opportunity to be a Prefectural Advisor in Miyazaki. As PA, one of my duties was to plan the mid-year conference for ALTs, which included several welcome greetings and speeches. At first, I was terrified. I had to talk in front of a group of English teachers, some of whom had been teaching for several years more than me. However, I read something online that made me relax a little. No, it was not the classic imagine everyone in their underwear advice. It was that giving a presentation is a simple exchange of information. I have information that the audience may need. Of course, I realize that this is not the case for every type of speech, but for the most part, it proves to be true. If you start of with the assumption that people may need the information that you are going to share, that may just give you the motivation you need to push through the nerves.
3. The last turning point for me was when I was invited to be a panelist at orientation in Tokyo for the new English teachers. This required me to talk in front of an audience of approximately 800. I was so nervous that I was physically sick. I think I probably only slept for 1-2 hours the night before. But, you know what, even though I was super nervous when I spoke, I managed to make the audience laugh a couple of times, and got through most of what I wanted to say. At the end of the panel discussion, several people came up to me to thank me.
This brings me to my last point, which is actually something that I heard in a speech quite recently. The speech was in Japanese, so I may have missed the finer details, but the advice was something along the lines of this. Opportunities do not come because we are great. Opportunities come, and if we say yes to them, we become great. When I was first invited to be a panelist, I couldn't understand why anyone would want me to give a speech. I was a terrible public speaker with nothing special to say. But, you know what, when the opportunity came, I said yes anyway.
That was my amazing speech. It's not amazing in that it changed people's lives in any special way, it's amazing because I did it. It changed my life.
Goal completed 5/8/2014
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| I even managed a smile! |
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