So far this series hasn’t looked at specific speaking methods, but it will. This short entry touches on that, and one other point.
The other point is that my approach is not the only way to get there. Anything that works for you is fine with me.
Among patient speakers, the most conspicuous example of not-Dave is the amazing Regina Holliday, who among other things is giving a master class in September at the Stanford Medicine X conference.
Speaking skills count
Regina’s method’s different from mine, but she brought an essential skill: she’s an accomplished storyteller (which shows up in her blog posts) and had extensive speaking experience in high school. Reviewing a draft of this post, she wrote:
My senior year in high school I qualified for regional competition in Lincoln Douglas debate, domestic extemp, foreign extemp, original oratory, poetry, humorous interp, dramatic interp, monologue, humorous duet and dramatic duet.
Two takeaways:
- Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t be who you are. If something works for you, good!
- If you haven’t had training or mentoring, see if you can get some, to develop yourself.
- As I said yesterday, I had to attend forty events before I got paid a cent – let’s see if we can shorten that! The point is that no matter how “right” your message is, you’re responsible for delivering it effectively.
Other successful speakers: were you trained or mentored? By whom? Or did it just come naturally to you?
Next in the series: #9: Your website, with video