Feeling Chicken


 I was very nervous presenting my "icebreaker" speech. "Feeling chicken" described me well.  The toastmaster that was assigned to evaluate my speech was struck by my odd rocking back and forth as I talked.  With a chuckle, he said that he had "never seen that before".  

What he didn't know was that rocking back and forth was a habit I had gotten into when I practiced my music (a sort of human metronome memory tool).  I had been a singer!  I MUCH preferred singing in front of people to speaking in front of them.  I had sung solos, duets and in a quartet many times.  The Inland Master Chorale was one of the local groups I sang with. 

The evaluator was like my voice teacher. His job was to listen, observe and give me suggestions on how to improve the delivery of the presentation.  Gestures, vocal variety, tempo, facial expression, the very words and structure of the story all factored in to giving an engaging speech.  Importantly, the evaluator was generous with praise too.  

Taking the comments to heart I was encouraged.  With training I would be able to give another speech, and another, and another....

With training I would overcome the "nerves" that tried to drown me, the "rocking" that distracted everyone,  and the "chicken" in me.


 

 

 

 

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