Thanks for this, Ross. I appreciated what you had to say.

In 1997, as a means to get better at networking and to drum up some business for myself as a professional organizer, I joined Toastmasters.

My first ten speeches were nerve-racking, as I struggled to keep to my memorized script, not losing my place.

Then, during a brief respite after my tenth speech, I got it about what I needed to do to make the process easier for myself: I needed to talk about something I cared about and knew well.

At that time, I had already been a public school teacher for thirty years. I wanted to orient my public speaking in the direction of parents, offering them information about how they could help their children do well in school.

Because it was a topic I knew well and cared about, I found that I never needed to use notes, which helped me to keep eye contact directly with members of the audience.

That was the key for me. All nervousness dropped away! The anxiousness that I had once experienced before and during my speeches was gone!

So, sure, it’s okay to suck at public speaking. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to!