Public Speaking Can Be Learnt? Anonymous

Public speaking isn’t my forte and yet one day I found myself speaking in front of around 55 software engineers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t terrified of public speaking, but I was never good at it. My legs would shake, my voice would quiver and somehow season would turn into “sheason”. So I stopped signing up for public speaking events and stuck to being the one writing the speech. So how did I get to be in front of 55 people again? It started with my friend developing laryngitis, a late-night conference call, and my friends begging me to put aside my anxiety to speak on behalf of our organization TeenIn at the Oracle Women Empowerment Conference. My friends and I had started TeenIn during an internship with the well know organization LeanIn. LeanIn helps women by creating “circles” or environments where women are supported to achieve their professional goals. While Lean In targeted working women, we decided that with TeenIn we should help kids our age and foster an environment for teenagers where they continue to grow and support each other's dreams.

The talk at Oracle would be my first public speaking event and I didn’t want to fail my friends. It’s not that I didn’t want to speak; I wanted to be there for my teammates...