Earthquakes & Public Speaking

I live in a land that is blessed. It has not natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes. Well, at least until it actually happened. Earthquakes are fairly rare in Borneo. However, it was here that I experienced my first earthquake. Thus far, I have experience this twice in my life. Once, from 2015 and the second time happened today, just about an hour ago. It's pretty scary, I'll admit. However, there were some very valuable lessons learnt.

Specifically, there were very important lessons learnt from the earthquake that I can relate to when teaching public speaking. To build that connection, you will need a bit of a background during my first earthquake experience. It all started on a beautiful weekend and everyone at home was just taking it easy. When the chairs and some bottles started shaking, I immediately grabbed my daughter and my phone. We ran down 13 floors with my daughter thinking that this was a game. When I arrived at the ground floor, I realized something...

The Lesson Of The Underwear

Now, I will neither confirm nor deny that I was wearing underwear when I arrived at the ground floor. It was a tense situation and I was most likely prepared, so I will leave it to you to interpret what happened. However, I would say that this presents an important lesson in public speaking. Nope, its not always wear your underwear, but no one will know if you do or don't.

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Specifically, no one knows how good you are, how nervous you are or how you are like in person. Most people don't know how your speech will go. From the moment when you come on stage to the time when you utter your first word, you have a choice. A choice to set aside all your fear and put up a good show or to let all your fear and insecurities spill forth onto the stage. Yes, it may be difficult but no one know how nervous you are nor how bad you are until you show it to them.

Thus, go forth confidently and present what you have spent so much time preparing.

Your First Time is Always the Worse

Wait, so this is your first time speaking? I get it, its something new and you are afraid that people would know if you were wearing underwear prepared enough to speak. I assure you, the first time is always the worse. During my first earthquake experience, I thought that I was going to die. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I left my wife behind unfortunately... Yeah, I know, I am a horrible husband. But hey, I was thinking of my daughter, so that makes me the best dad ever!

That being said, upon arriving on the Ground floor, I realized that I was the first one there. People slowly started walking down calmly only after 5 minutes. It seemed as if it was not their first time experiencing an earthquake. I was rather embarrassed, looking as if I have overreacted. The lesson here however is clear, everything compounds if it is your first time going through a problem.

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In public speaking, during your first time on stage, the smirks seem louder, the stares more hostile and it always seems as if the audience hates you. However, after speaking in public for the second, third maybe fourth time, things start to shift. You will start to notice the negative things less and hear the voices of defeat less. Furthermore, you may even want to come back for more because there is such a great feeling being on stage. Thus, the first time is always the hardest, but it doesn't mean that you are not doing a good job on stage.

You Can Never Be Ready, But You Can Be Prepared

Ultimately, you can never be ready in public speaking. You simply have no control over things such as how your audience would react and how your heart just can't stop thumping like a disco. However, you can prepare. You can run through your script again and again before the actual presentation date. You can ensure that you have practiced it in front of the mirror. You can also prepare enough jokes to keep the audience entertained.

The same applies to my first earthquake experience. Before the earthquake, I had a bag packed for any possible wrong scenario. You know, scenarios such as a zombie apocalypse, an alien invasion and an invasion of a foreign army. Ok, the last one did happen. However, I was not ready for an earthquake. Thus, I was prepared but was not ready for certain unforeseen situations.

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In sum, be prepared, be bold and know that your greatest critic is yourself. If you are teaching public speaking, I hope the points above helps. If however you are preparing to public speak for the first time, I hope this post helps you prepare for it.

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