I use the plural because there has to be more than one fear when talking exposure of one’s knowledge, experience or research that may or may not interest an audience. A speaker’s goal is to convert them from a wish to be elsewhere, to pin down their interest like a WWE wrestler.
Simple, is it not? Well, no, not if you read all the horror stories of people pressed into a role they can’t handle. Being prepared is not only for the Boy and Girl Scouts; it’s the first rule of what my dad called “speaking while standing on your hind legs.” Dad found local political success by practicing on a cumbersome wire voice recorder that weighed a lot.
At 17, my nervous self was in front of a college speech class. It did not go well. I began by apologizing for what I was about to say. When I finished that was the first criticism by a fellow student. Shortly afterward, I took that lesson to heart by volunteering for the Air Force.
Years passed.
A civilian again, I went into the sales side of the automobile business, spending hours in classes about how to close the deal. I found speaking one-on-one with a prospect far easier than before a bunch of strangers.
Two examples: The Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce sponsored a 1986 Citizen of the Year dinner featuring yours truly, a car dealer. Three hundred civic boosters filled the Hilton ballroom. Humbly, I wondered if the whole crowd consisted of customers under warranty?
I got a few laughs and waited for the next time.
A full 25 years later, I was invited to speak at the 2011 St. Patrick’s Parade Committee’s annual breakfast! The long interval between Hilton speeches inspired jokes. My likely 2036 venue will be Hampshire Probate and Family Court — in celestial session, again before old friends.
Every sales course asks that you smile, shake hands, listen for the person’s name, and remember it. Also, to try to find common ground, like knowing people from their workplace. In the 1960s we sold young couples hundreds of Rambler station wagons to haul their kids around. As a young father with a growing breed I easily identified with their lives.
My sales spiel weakened if I got too deeply into professors’ fields of study. Mainly, I stuck to my English and business courses taken at Holyoke Community College. I relied on every salesperson’s basic tools — jokes, fast-made friends and new-model features.
Around that time, the Peter Principle became popular wisdom.
For example, a good salesperson is promoted to sales manager. Frequently, she or he performs well and are promoted to general sales manager. Once there, they land on the Peter Plateau of incompetence. It’s an old story.
At daily sales meetings, I discovered my enthusiasm for this week’s factory brainstorm wasn’t easily transferable to the sales force.
That morning’s coffee held their interest while I rattled on about end-of-month goals and cold calls. To get their attention you had to throw money at them! How about $50 for the first sale of the day? Next, promise $100 cash to this week’s high grosser.
It wasn’t rocket science, that’s for sure.
In the UK, a droning narrator out of touch with their audience will earn the backhanded compliment as being so boring as to “bore for England,” i.e., of Olympian dullness. In retrospect, I confess that I may have approached Team-USA blah levels. Or, conversely, I’d hired a lethargic sales team.
Multiple demerits in both cases, sadly.
Today’s lesson comes down to perseverance. Winston Churchill was full of quotable encouragements to himself and others. “Muddling through” was one and KBO (Google it), both say never quit even when you’re losing.
Utilizing a timely quote is one secret of good public speakers. They make he or she sound smarter while advancing their case. A few valuable tips below were inspired by a Rahar’s Inn photo of Mayor Jim and a novice salesman greeting two-time Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, and Smith College’s 1955 graduation speaker, Adlai Stevenson.
Shake On It
Giving a limp-wrist shake to Big Jim’s hand
Earns a dad’s retort: ‘Firm, like a man, son.’
You’ll never impress anyone. That pan
Of yours can’t look Coolidge-like: Sans a gland
For humor: Smile wide like a politician
Hold their hand, lock eyes. Shake hands like a man!
Northampton Senior Center Author of the Month, Jim Cahillane, has a reading at the Center today at 1 p.m. He lives in Williamsburg.