© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks. Ben Jonson (1573–1637)

There are many theories as to why this fear is so pervasive, but they don't really matter. All fears keep you back, but the fear of public speaking keeps you back from one of the most enriching areas of personal growth available to you. There is something magical about addressing a group, getting your point across. Thoughts come together in your mind. You leave the platform with more energy than when you stepped up to it. Public speaking is achievement.

Another key fact to remember is this: for a small effort, you take giant steps in personal growth. When you learn to speak you break through barrier after barrier. You move away from those comfort zones. You do something difficult that has immediate reward. You hone your communication skills at the highest level. Many complex personal and interpersonal areas interact when you speak. Even if the career you choose will never put you in front of an audience, the ability to speak will positively affect every other area of your life.

If your work doesn't put you in speaking situations, you'll have to become a serious amateur somewhere else to get the necessary skills. You can take a public speaking course somewhere, but the most accessible way to get practice speaking is to become a member of your local Toastmasters Club. There's a Toastmasters Club in nearly every town in North America; some cities have more than 50 separate clubs. Toastmasters is a non‑profit club rather than a course. Once you get involved, you'll be able to make short speeches in front of a supportive audience. You'll come into contact with others who are working to improve their communications skills. You'll get a tremendous amount of support and encouragement. Your listening skills will improve, and you'll have leadership opportunities.

 Once you become involved in public speaking, you'll begin to study the great speakers of past and present. You'll come to recognize and appreciate the different speaking styles, the varying ways speakers reach their audiences, the uses of gestures, humor, pauses and other techniques. You may even start to analyze the mediocre speakers you see in person or on television, realizing that you can do much better. You'll find that the world of public speaking is a high level interac­tive process, a process of constant challenge and achievement.

Jump into public speaking as soon as you can. Within a few months, perhaps even at your first exposure to the new world of speaking in front of groups, you'll begin to under­stand just what I mean when I tell you that public speaking is a non‑stop, straight ahead express route to accelerated success.