The Secret Sauce For Self-confident Public Speaking

Join me as I illustrate how familiarity with your topic, paired with genuine enthusiasm, can turn even the most introverted individuals into eloquent speakers. Through anecdotes about incessant cat lovers, proud mothers, and sports-obsessed grandparents, you'll see how passion for a subject makes words flow effortlessly. This is not about imagining your audience in their underwear but about embracing what you know and love. Whether you're gearing up for a big presentation or looking to improve everyday conversations, there's something here for every aspiring orator.

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Here For the Memories

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here for the memories thought-provoking audio memoir
shorts filled with stories,humor, anecdotes and commentary
on social, cultural, businessand religious issues.
Whatever Lyndon remembers andthinks will entertain, challenge
and inform is a possiblesubject.

(00:20):
The collection of memoriesabout one's life allows for the
development and refinement of asense of self, including who one
is, how one has changed andwhat one might be like in the
future.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Greetings and salutations.
This is Lyndon Wolfe and youhave providentially found my
audio memoir here for thememories, a podcast.
It's me sharing about my life,my experiences, my opinions, for
those that love me and even forthose who don't, if they want
to listen.
Usually people who don't loveyou don't want to listen to you,

(00:56):
but that's really not the pointhere.
Anyway, I I'm glad you youdropped by and I hope you do
want to listen to me and maybehope you love me.
Today we're going to talk aboutpublic speaking.
I've entitled this the SecretSauce of Self-Confident Public
Speaking.

(01:16):
That sounds like a massiveoxymoron.
People detest speaking inpublic.
When people are polled aboutthe things that they fear the
most, the list typically lookslike this Number one, snakes.

(01:36):
Number two, public speaking.
Number three, debt, which meansthat people would rather die
than speak in public.
I find that ironic in that mostall speaking is in public.
But I digress.
Why such nauseating dread toutter words that others can hear
?
We do it daily, don't we?

(01:57):
Why does the term speech elicitsuch strong negative emotions?
I'm not totally sure, but whatI do promise you is that I won't
mention imagining the audienceas naked as a possible solution
to the mortified paralysis thatyou might experience while

(02:17):
giving a speech.
Nor will I tell you thatleading with a story or anecdote
will go a long way in capturingthe audience's attention.
So here is my secret sauce toaid in overcoming the fear of
public speaking, you have tohave two elements primarily

(02:38):
Knowledge and emotionalattachment, which is passion.
If you have those two things,you should be fine.
You give someone a topic theyknow nothing about and engenders
no passion.
All they can think of is theirtrepidation of looking like an
idiot, which, by the way, isprobably what causes them to
look like an idiot.

(02:58):
Someone recently told me andthis is kind of a side issue
that I was making them.
But back to speaking.
Ask a mother to talk about herson, who just turned three years
old, and words flow like waterover the cliffs of niagara.

(03:20):
Ask a cat lover like my wife.
We have total of 13 in thehouse now.
Eight of those are our own andfive fosters.
Oh, and the five fosters, fivetiny all-black siblings that we
call by the colors of theircollars, since they are
indistinguishable.
Anyway, she can talk endlesslyand fluently about her latest

(03:43):
rescue or the new foster familyshe just found.
She can appear to be a subjectmatter expert by calling herself
an allurophile.
Allurophile, that's a cat lover, and she is a subject matter
expert, by the way.
Ask the shy kid to describetheir favorite toy or paw patrol
, and you have the otherwisemute demonstrate unequal

(04:06):
prolixity.
Ask the typically reservedgrandmother by the way, side
issue, my grandfather name isGrandest, Grandest.
Thought of it myself.
I'm sure that's surprising toyou.
Anyway, you ask the reservedgrandmother about their
grandkids or great-grandkids andyou have something akin to a

(04:27):
filibuster, and the man a fewwords becomes loquacious when
the Tennessee Vols football teamis referenced.
What is my point?
The combination of knowledgeand passion is 90% of being
poised and powerful as acommunicator, no matter the size

(04:48):
or makeup of the audience.
The other 10% is confidence,which is only gained by doing
the thing and then doing itagain in the end, until it
becomes not as frightening andmaybe even second nature.
During junior high, my parentsforced me to do something that I
an introvert, as I would laterdiscover abhorred.

(05:09):
It was a speech contest.
As a seventh grader, there wasno other endeavor I could
imagine more torturous.
Well, there were the six yearsof piano lessons that ultimately
trained me to find middle C andnothing else.
But at first I loathed the ideaof a public speaking

(05:31):
competition.
But with the success I had camethe awareness that being
recognized, even rewarded, for acertain art or skill was good
for my self-worth.
I won the Optimist Clubcompetition three years running,
even though I was the youngestparticipant in each of those
competitions.
My final competition, however,was a disappointment, as I

(05:52):
placed second to a youngerentrant.
One of the judges told myfather it just didn't seem right
for one person me to win everyyear that they competed.
So, abandoning any form ofmeritocracy, I was relegated to
silver medalist and given atrophy that never again saw the
light of day.
So my love and appreciation ofpublic speaking had been

(06:15):
unleashed.
I found myself intoxicated withoratory and powerful,
persuasive communication.
In that context, I even studiedgreat speakers as diverse as
Martin Luther King Jr and AdolfHitler who was, by the way, a
brilliant speaker Billy Graham,Winston Churchill and John F
Kennedy Jr, who sadly andtragically was assassinated on

(06:38):
my third birthday.
As you will learn in otherepisodes, public speaking became
an important andtransformational part of my life
and story.
It allowed me to speak withgreat ease in front of thousands
as a mere 18-year-old.
My comfort with it allowed methe honor of preaching my mother
and dad's funerals and so muchmore.

(06:59):
And if I can do it, I'mconvinced anyone can, and that
includes you.
Knowledge, passion and practice.
That's the secret sauce.
Or you could just imagine theaudience naked.
I'm Lyndon Wolfe.
This has been here for theMemories.

(07:20):
I'm so glad you joined andheard a little bit about my
thoughts on public speaking andsome experiences surrounding
that issue.
Come visit again.
Love having company.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
God bless, love having company.
God bless, that'sbuymeacoffeecom.
Much appreciated.