How to get better at anything - including public speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via interlibrary loan, from the Twin Falls Public Library, I borrowed and enjoyed reading the 2024 book by Scott H. Young titled Get Better at Anything: 12 maxims for mastery.

 

His twelve maxims are chapter headings:

 

 1] Problem Solving Is Search

 2] Creativity Begins With Copying

 3] Success Is the Best Teacher

 4] Knowledge Becomes Invisible with Experience

 5] The Difficulty Sweet Spot

 6] The Mind Is Not a Muscle

 7] Variability Over Repetition

 8] Quality Comes from Quantity

 9] Experience Doesn’t Reliably Ensure Expertise

10] Practice Must Meet Reality

11] Improvement Is Not a Straight Line

12] Fears Fade with Exposure

 

Chapter 12, Fears Fade with Exposure, begins on page 210. He describes three strategies for surmounting fear:

 

Strategy #1: Construct Your Fear Hierarchy

Strategy #2: Don’t Say ‘Everything Will Be Okay’

Strategy #3: Face Fears Together

 

Under Face Fears Together his second paragraph on page 223 says:

 

“Fear of public speaking likely matters more than rhetorical skill for the presenting ability of most people. Yet most of us get few opportunities to practice. With limited, infrequent exposure, stage fright usually remains high. Organizations like Toastmasters can help, since in addition to providing ample exposure to public speaking opportunities, they do so within a supportive, communal atmosphere. Joining study groups for mathematics or conversation clubs for practicing a language can have a similar benefit: providing exposure to the anxiety-provoking situation in the presence of other people.”

 

Before I joined Toastmasters, I had infrequent exposure to public speaking, and thus little opportunity to improve significantly. I gave just one or two 20-to-40-minute presentations per year at technical society meetings. After I joined, I spoke about five times more frequently, doing five-to-seven-minute presentations.

 

In the Pathways learning experience at Toastmasters, a webpage on Paths and Projects for all eleven paths shows that the four mandatory projects at Level 1, Mastering Fundamentals, are:

 

Ice Breaker

Writing a Speech with Purpose

Introduction to Vocal Variety and Body Language

Evaluation and Feedback.    

 

The climbing image was adapted from a line drawing in the Walt Stanchfield book Gesture Drawing for Animation, which you can find at the Internet Archive.