My View: Prowess in public speaking is well worth attaining

Prefer us on Google What do you personally fear most in life? I imagine that most of you would say dying, and there are surveys that validate that response. However, often ranking in second place − and occasionally coming in first − is public speaking. Michael Silverman, of Amherst, is glad he took the time to learn public speaking. Up until 10th grade, I would have agreed. Starting in the sixth grade, English teachers in my district required all students to give oral presentations. I recall that my assignment then was to write and read to the class a short and humorous piece, maybe five minutes at most. I thought I had made a solid choice: I was going to emulate an announcer at a bullfight competition, complete with some silly advertisements. It sounded hilarious when I read it over to myself, but my effort to convey to the class the intended humor lost something in translation. There was barely a snicker to be heard. Meanwhile, my father spoke eloquently to gatherings. He sometimes took me to his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings where he impressed me with his ability to regale others with his personal stories of addiction. Seventh grade was worse. Using no notes, I had to speak about a family pet for five minutes. It seemed like a suitable topic as my family had a wonderful dog. Yet I stammered pitifully and no one seemed impressed. Starting in eighth grade, and continuing throughout high school, it was Shakespeare. We either had to memorize a soliloquy or talk about one of the characters in the play being studied. I stuttered and stammered my way through every assignment. By sophomore year, I decided to take action. I signed up for a one-credit course that met twice a week: Public Speaking. There were just seven students in the class. The course required us to speak for increasingly longer times, starting with one minute, about topics that we knew well. After everyone had had a turn, the instructor would focus us on helpful adjustments such as to stand up straight, make eye conduct, project our voices, change up our cadence, and so forth. By the end of the course, we each had to speak for six minutes. The upshot was that we had all gained a tremendous amount of confidence.