I’ve always considered myself a decent public speaker. I mean, what is stage fright? 😅
I could stand in front of thousands of people and speak with the same confidence that I would if there had been just 3 people.
I’ve had some opportunities to speak in front of an audience and I realise that it always works best when I go with the flow. It’s essential to have an idea of the topic and a sense of of the time limits. Other than that, I try not too overthink it and it usually works out well.
I was looking at some old pictures and came across some from a training I attended in Accra a few years ago. At the beginning of the training, participants were given individual tasks that would need to have been completed by the end of the training.
Mine was to observe all the other participants and their use of modern technology. Sounds simple enough right? I’m writing it clearly now but I don’t remember the instruction being anywhere as clear. I remember asking for more explanations but somehow, it remained unclear what exactly was expected of me.
I eventually put it out of mind. If the instructions aren’t clear, they’ll probably forget about the task, I thought.
Fast forward to the last day of the training and I was called upon to present on the findings of my observation 😯.
Still not understanding what was required of me, I quickly jotted down a few points I thought might be close enough as the facilitator introduced me.
So there I stood, in front of about 20 people, hoping to God that I had the right understanding of what was required.
I opened my mouth and began talking and soon enough, the few lines I’d written became useless. I began to talk about things I’d subconsciously noticed.
As I finished with one, I remembered something about the next person and continued like that. As I talked, people cracked up (always knew I had some well-hidden humour 😇) and I ended up making a point about every single participant. How I was able to do that will always be a mystery!
Afterwards, I was commended by everyone including the facilitators. They commented on how good of a speaker I am and all that. I felt so thankful.
And I learnt a couple of things from the experience especially when I realised that the instruction wasn’t intended to be clear. I was expected to decide how best to interpret the instruction and based on reviews, I did well.
First, we observe much more than we realise from things happening around us
Second, overthinking can some times be over kill
Third, speaking confidently makes a lot of difference
I’ve always considered myself a decent public speaker and the fast thinking that comes when we’re put under pressure sure helps. I’m always thankful to God for this ability.
What’s one ability/talent you never knew you had till you needed it most?
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