Public Speaking

I'll start today's post by saying that we are in the middle of National Library Week. On top of that, today was specifically National Library Day and National Library Workers Day. So, even though the specific days were today, you should take some time before Saturday to thank a library worker.

Today's holiday of choice was National Stress Awareness Day. I didn't do anything as organized as the M&M guessing game from yesterday, but I made sure to play some games and have fun today. In celebrating this holiday, I think we should focus on one word - awareness. To be aware of something doesn't mean that you avoid it or wish for it to not exist. Rather, being aware means you wholeheartedly can walk up to a turtle, compare it to the qualities you know turtles exhibit and say "You are a turtle and I acknowledge that." I'm not sure why I picked turtles, but we'll just go with it. To continue the metaphor, the fact that the turtle doesn't acknowledge our merged greeting and clarification doesn't automatically make it any more or less of a turtle. Uh oh, double negative.

Jumping out of the turtle metaphor, life is stressful. We fill our days with silly things like jobs, families, friends, and hobbies and stress can easily crop up. Trying to deny that fact is not healthy and wishing that life won't be stressful won't get you anywhere faster. The best stance is to go to a situation, tell yourself "I am stressed" and figure out the best plan of action. It could be calling in a friend for back-up, or attacking the situation from a new angle, or just putting in some more time and effort. In all of these cases, we are aware of the situation and can then move forward to make meaningful choices. Here I thought these holidays would all be silly days.

A lot of my recent entries seem to be in two parts - the daily holiday and some other topic that's a big picture or a storytime. I should make some way to help distinguish the shift between topics. For now, I'll just try TC to stand for "Topic Change". If I remember it tomorrow, I will try it out again.

TC

While working at the Academy, I've helped in the interview process for a few positions here, including my own. (By that I mean filling in a spot on the team of 5 or 7 RCs, depending on the year.) We are in a two-week span of phone interviews for an RC job posting, and we have already had a spectrum of interviews. Some candidates have been succinct with their answers, while showing true character and even some humor; other candidates have been ramblers or showing that they didn't really research our institution before applying. Since I'm going to be jumping back into the job market in a couple of years, I thought about what it will be like for me to be back on the other end of the conference call.

Simply put, I'm still anxious about public speaking. I've seen studies that show that people fear public speaking more than death itself. While that is not the case for me, I still get stage fright while walking up to a podium. I was talking to a co-worker about this, and she said that I shouldn't worry and that I'm not giving myself enough credit.

I will try to not draw this out too much, but from 4th grade to college, I've been involved in theater (both high school and professional), choir (including high school show choir and the top-level University choir), band (including marching band), and Speech Team. I know these aren't experiences that other people automatically have, so why am I still nervous? For one, I don't have a script or score that was crafted by others, so a oral presentation feels like a test of both my speaking and writing capacities. Another reason was that in the vast majority of my examples, I was with a group and we were presenting together. My theater experience on the stage is mostly bit parts and chorus members, so it still felt like an ensemble rather than a monologue. I was in Speech Team my senior year and it was a dramatic solo piece. For that, I think it was trying to fully immerse myself with the characters than try to be relatable on a personal level.

Based on the nature of my job, I don't feel like I'm giving a public speech everyday, but it does happen when students first move here and when we prepare for graduation. In the fall, the biggest example is the first wing meeting where you talk to every new student and their parents about expectations and a collective vision. In the spring, the biggest example is definitely the graduation banquet. It's the night before graduation, so many parents are there, and the event serves as a year in review - we share our clubs' successes, we hand out end-of-the-year awards, and we give testimonials. I've given a reflection piece two of the three graduation banquets I've been at so far, and I definitely felt nervous before both of them. Again, I was up with there with my own script, and people were focused on just one person - me. I've been complimented on my work both years, so I can at least associate those memories with positive feedback.

From my experiences, there are a number of qualities that will make you a good public speaker - knowledge of the subject matter, confidence, a clear outline on the points you want to cover, etc. Ultimately, I think you become a better public speaker just like you become a better musician, author, or photographer - you just do that thing a lot. I know that I'm a better public speaker compared to high school and part of it simply comes down to giving speeches in the eight years since high school. If nothing else, they are proof that I can get through a speech in one piece.

I think I wanted to write about public speaking today because I wanted to tell myself to not worry about it. A student interviewed me about our student leaders for the yearbook tonight and after the first question, she said that I gave good answers, rather than one-word responses. While some of my answers would have benefited from a brief outline, it was still a good chat. Granted, it didn't feel like public speaking, since it was a conversation with one student that I've already worked with through Robotics. On the other hand, it felt like more than smalltalk, since I knew that what I said could end up written in the yearbook in a couple of months.

Wow, what a ramble. Since it was Tuesday today, I'm writing this past my bedtime again. Hopefully I can get back on track with things tomorrow since I am off-duty. Have a great night!