Best speaker Magazine Issue 2 - December 2017 | Page 12

WORLD CHAMPIONS
FEAR DEATH
NOT
PUBLIC SPEAKING
by MANOJ VASUDEVAN
Manoj won the first place in the World Championship
of Public Speaking in 2017. He is a leadership coach
and a management consultant with over two decades
of experience working in multinational companies
all around the world. He is a well renowned
transformational coach and he is also the author of
the Amazon bestseller “Mastering Leadership the
Mousetrap Way”
by anyone who can talk. With the right
help and guidance, you can learn the
skills required to speak in front of any
audience and convey your ideas with
clarity and confidence.
Then why don’t more people
become public speakers?
Most people believe that great
speakers are born with the gift of
I
n a recent Public Speaking Master
Class, I asked the participants the
following question: “Do you know
what percentage of people in the world
is afraid of public speaking?”
In came the answers, “Fifty percent?”,
“Seventy percent?”, ”Sixty-two percent!”,
“Ten percent?”....
“About 99 percent” I chimed in.
“Aaah!” The audience gasped.
I continued to prod. “What can you
become when you overcome that fear?”
One lady said, “We can be among the
top 1 percent in the world.”
That’s so true.
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BEST SPEAKER MAGAZINE 2017
It is said that the number-one fear
of most people is the fear of public
speaking.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld made this
view popular by saying: “Most people
fear public speaking more than death.
Which means at a funeral, the person
delivering the eulogy would rather be in
the casket than be speaking.”
That, however, is an unfair
comparison and the wrong conclusion.
Death is something you should fear
since it is not in your hands. However,
public speaking is different. Public
speaking is a skill that can be learned
speaking. Therefore, they often end up
listening to speakers in awe, without
realizing this is a skill they too can learn.
Here’s the irony. Every speaker I
have spoken to admits that they feel
nervous before each presentation. As
an international leadership coach and
public speaking coach, I have met
hundreds of people who have a morbid
fear of speaking. Even though some
people have an innate flair for speaking,
the vast majority don’t.
Perhaps more people would pick
up this skill if they realized its vital
relevance.