Public speaking. I joined Toastmasters [1] at the start of the year and highly recommend it. Friendly, supportive atmosphere. Challenging, assuming you're not currently comfortable speaking in front of groups. Lots of people who've been there a while comment on howit's improved their careers. One of the most useful bits is learning to evaluate other people's speeches, a skill which can be applied in a variety of situations, and (so I'm told - I'm still learning) leaves a very positive impression on people.
I am not the world's best public speaker, but I do enjoy it. Some of the things that have made me better at it include realizing:
* I will always be nervous before a performance.
* The audience doesn't know what I'm about to say, so they don't know if I "screw up" most of the time.
* Live demos will go wrong. :)
* Talking to 30 people is actually easier than talking to 3 people, because you don't have to pay individual attention to anyone.
The worst part for me anymore is preparing the slide decks.
Comments
Public speaking. I joined Toastmasters [1] at the start of the year and highly recommend it. Friendly, supportive atmosphere. Challenging, assuming you're not currently comfortable speaking in front of groups. Lots of people who've been there a while comment on howit's improved their careers. One of the most useful bits is learning to evaluate other people's speeches, a skill which can be applied in a variety of situations, and (so I'm told - I'm still learning) leaves a very positive impression on people.
[1] https://www.toastmasters.org/
I am not the world's best public speaker, but I do enjoy it. Some of the things that have made me better at it include realizing:
* I will always be nervous before a performance. * The audience doesn't know what I'm about to say, so they don't know if I "screw up" most of the time. * Live demos will go wrong. :) * Talking to 30 people is actually easier than talking to 3 people, because you don't have to pay individual attention to anyone.
The worst part for me anymore is preparing the slide decks.
What's so bad about preparing the deck?
Nothing, really. It's just time consuming and tedious.