I want to talk to you about public speaking and presentation skills from a different perspective. From the perspective of privilege. I know many of us fear public speaking as it makes us nervous and some of us even avoid it. But it is a privilege every time we get before an audience.
If you do get asked to speak to a group of people, I want you to understand that this is a privilege. It is a privilege to get before an audience that have given you their time, their attention and sometimes their money. This puts you in a privileged position and with that privilege comes responsibility.
That responsibility comes from your potential ability to transform and change people’s lives for the better.
I’ve just been working in the mining sector and the supervisors do daily pre-start meetings and weekly safety meetings. While it’s tempting for them to just stand up, speak and go through the agenda, the reality is that they are in a privilidged position. What they say could be transforming someone or they could be saving a fellow workers life through a well targeted safety message.
You may be in the financial advice industry and you’re speaking to a group of people about how to secure their retirement, how to reduce their debt or how to invest. It’s a privilege to stand before that group and someone in the group could be really stressed and in a bad place financially. Your message, your information, your passion gives them hope, a way forward and light at the end of the tunnel. You have transformed and have potentially saved someone’s life.
Another example is for people who speak and train in the area of mental well being. Every time they speak, they can potentially transform, uplift, and save someone’s life.
So regardless of what you speak about, I want you to consider that every time you get before a group of people even if it’s at work, remember that it is a privilege to have the opportunity to speak. And with that privilege comes the responsibility to share your message, your knowledge and to help people in whichever way your message can.