I, on the otherhand, hate speaking in front of people, especially a crowd and I sometimes even get nervous in meetings with people that are higher up in my organization. I can't figure out why I am nervous because I usually know the information we are discussing. I would love to be a good public speaker and be able to get my message across to people without sounding nervous, sweating, and having my hands shake. My brother got married this summer and I had to do a speech at the reception and I was dreading it!! I wrote everything down word for word and read straight off the paper with little to no eye contact. I knew my hands would be shaking too and I am not sure why I have such anxiety about this. Maybe it is because I do not do it enough. The irony is if you want me to teach a lesson in front of a group of kids, any age, I could do it, no problem, but adults and formal speaking situations make me so nervous.
I think the reason Shawn is so good at communicating in these contexts is because he knows the content of what he is going to say so well and he has had so much practice at it. I also think for some people it comes very naturally to be a good speaker. I can also tell that when Shawn speaks, people take notice and listen (which could be because of his rank), but I would love to be able to come across as someone who is a great public speaker and has a lot of confidence in what they are talking about, so people want to listen to what I have to say.
Shawn with my cousin at a Veteran's Day assembly last year.
Shawn and I at the unit's Family Christmas Dinner last Dec.
I first want to start out by thanking your boyfriend for working so hard in order for us to live freely each day. I truly appraciate his time and dedication. It sounds like he is truly a great person to look up when it comes to communicating. I have to agree with you when it comes to public speaking it scares me to death and I applaud anyone who can do it with no worries!
ReplyDeleteTell your boyfriend Thank You!
ReplyDeleteok a funny little thing - Jerry Seinfeld has a bit about people's biggest fear is public speaking the second is death. He jokes, "that means you'd rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy"
I find public speaking both exciting and scary. It makes me thankful for all those presentations I had to do through school.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteThat was really specially talking about Shawn. He has no problem taling in front of people and you do not like to speak infront of people, a good combination. Thanks for sharing.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteShawn seems to love what he does. My father was in the Military and I certainly understand the means of having to speak to your unit and everyone else. I just wished I had built up the confidence as my father, mother and several others family members does. For my Assoicates in Arts degree, prior to graduating we had to attend a speech course. The Professor, commented how well my material and everything was, just want me to build the confidence to relate. She noticed how nervous I was and would help with helpful comments.
Like you, I do well when working with the children and my staff when I was Director, even with other outreach services such as First Steps and BabyNet, however, I guess with larger crowds, I panic.
This just goes to show, we are all different and some of us is comfortable with speaking with large crowds such as Shawn. This is natural to them and for others, we are just a bit shy.
Nice post.
Hi Amber!
ReplyDeleteNice to share another class with you. Ironically, I was watching the Lifetime Show Army Wives a few weeks ago and remarked how well they depict an army base and the military language. Then I started thinking how well our military communicates on a daily basis and how important communication is, especially if they are on the battlefield. So much of what they do involves communication, be it verbal or non-verbal and yet it's not really considered one of the major facts of the job. But, think about it-take away communication and we have a flat military, it's just a group of people with no direction, no aim and no meaning. Good luck to your boyfriend and good luck to you!