a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

When it comes to public speaking, I'm the type of person to either a) be completely prepared and read off a piece of paper or b) be entirely unprepared and joke my way through it. I've never really been great at public speaking, and unless I'm reading off a piece of paper, or joking around, I don't have the confidence to stand up in front of a group and deliver something to remember. I also generally just get through it and then not really remember much about it afterwards. But last Saturday night, that all changed.

Hubs and I have been audience to quite a number of speakers since living on college, and in our opinion (well, his more strongly than mine) the best speakers are those who a) don't read their notes, b) don't memorise their speech and then just say it from beginning to end, and c) come across naturally and genuinely, only needing notes to prompt them.

Over the weekend, Hubs and I went up to the Vegas for my cousin's 21st birthday and after being there for a couple of hours, I decided that I would like to make a speech. I frantically scribbled a whole lot of notes and started putting something together. Then I stopped. I thought to myself "I can do this on my own. I don't need to write this out word for word. I can do this!" So I wrote down 4 things that I wanted to mention, and left the rest up to fate. I gotta say, I don't think I've EVER been so nervous in my life. Those 3 glasses of Lambrusco (yes, I drink Lambrusco) that I had just drunk vanished from my bloodstream from the adrenaline pumping around my body. My mouth went dry, my palms got sweaty, my legs felt like they were going to buckle and I started questioning my decision to fly solo.

All of a sudden, the floor was open to anyone who wanted to make a speech. I stood up (rather shakily) and as nervous as I was, delivered a pretty damn good speech. (Well I thought so anyway!) I was in the moment. I was actually listening to myself, instead of just reading something word-for-word. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've had with public speaking.

So thank you Hubsband, for giving me the courage and encouragement I needed to give something new and exciting a go. I'm actually looking forward to the next time!

Posted by Renae at 9:26 AM Comments