When did man first talk out loud to a group? Adam and Eve may not
count as more than one on one speaking unless you include the snake.
The skill does date back to nearly the beginning of time though.
Motivational public speaking was apparent as the early war leaders urged
their troops to battle. While the barbarians didn't spend a lot of time
trying to improve their communication skills, they also didn't suffer
public speaking panic attacks, but that's the only attack they didn't
suffer from.
The art of public speaking was certainly not lost on the Egyptians and Greeks. They loved to pontificate in front of thousands of listeners who had no choice but to laugh at all of their public speaking jokes. In America, Abraham Lincoln received his public speaking training while chopping down trees. Yet he never was worse the wear for it, and everyone loved his down home approach to effective public speaking. Although no tapes exist for us to critique his delivery. So I think we all agree that public speaking has been around for a long, long time. So when did we get so obsessed about it? That's a much better question, and much harder to answer.
The first books on public speaking skills date back to the mid 1800's. If self help books are any indication of popularity, then we could pick that date. However, there weren't a lot of books back then, and they were very expensive, so that might not be the best answer. Prior to the mid 1800's, other than politicians, who would be publicly speaking anyway? You didn't need many presentation skills to work in a factory, or farm a field. So when did people really need and use communication skills, and have a real interest in public speaking? The answer is the period between the 1900's and today. It was during this period that our nation began to promote the use of sales and presentations, and this was the key factor to improving communication skills. Nothing makes you more interested in improving your communication skills than cold, hard cash. With careers and jobs at stake for the first time, public speaking became an important skill after 1900.
If you read a lot of public speaking books, as I do, you will notice that there is a definite tie between the theme of these books and the rise of our nation. As we become more of a business power, we also become more of a public speaking power. Almost all of the public speaking self help books today originate in the U.S. Probably no nation in the world cares more about public speaking than our country.
So be proud that you are afraid of public speaking. The growth and power of the U.S. has caused your speaking anxiety, and we have only been working on how to cure this anxiety for about a century or so. If you lived in Spain, you would not have this problem. You could get better paella though.
The art of public speaking was certainly not lost on the Egyptians and Greeks. They loved to pontificate in front of thousands of listeners who had no choice but to laugh at all of their public speaking jokes. In America, Abraham Lincoln received his public speaking training while chopping down trees. Yet he never was worse the wear for it, and everyone loved his down home approach to effective public speaking. Although no tapes exist for us to critique his delivery. So I think we all agree that public speaking has been around for a long, long time. So when did we get so obsessed about it? That's a much better question, and much harder to answer.
The first books on public speaking skills date back to the mid 1800's. If self help books are any indication of popularity, then we could pick that date. However, there weren't a lot of books back then, and they were very expensive, so that might not be the best answer. Prior to the mid 1800's, other than politicians, who would be publicly speaking anyway? You didn't need many presentation skills to work in a factory, or farm a field. So when did people really need and use communication skills, and have a real interest in public speaking? The answer is the period between the 1900's and today. It was during this period that our nation began to promote the use of sales and presentations, and this was the key factor to improving communication skills. Nothing makes you more interested in improving your communication skills than cold, hard cash. With careers and jobs at stake for the first time, public speaking became an important skill after 1900.
If you read a lot of public speaking books, as I do, you will notice that there is a definite tie between the theme of these books and the rise of our nation. As we become more of a business power, we also become more of a public speaking power. Almost all of the public speaking self help books today originate in the U.S. Probably no nation in the world cares more about public speaking than our country.
So be proud that you are afraid of public speaking. The growth and power of the U.S. has caused your speaking anxiety, and we have only been working on how to cure this anxiety for about a century or so. If you lived in Spain, you would not have this problem. You could get better paella though.
For more articles on public speaking click here.
Frank Rolfe, author of One Day Master Speaker has spent over 25 years teaching public speaking classes at the college level.
He developed his method while teaching a five day immersion course on public speaking. Rolfe noticed that by focusing on the most important building blocks and eliminating minor items that few people use, he could get outstanding results from students extremely quickly.
Rolfe also developed unique "tricks" that students can use based on real-life shortcuts professionals use to improve the impact of their speaking. Some of these shortcuts are so simple and easy, but the impact is enormous.
Frank Rolfe, author of One Day Master Speaker has spent over 25 years teaching public speaking classes at the college level.
He developed his method while teaching a five day immersion course on public speaking. Rolfe noticed that by focusing on the most important building blocks and eliminating minor items that few people use, he could get outstanding results from students extremely quickly.
Rolfe also developed unique "tricks" that students can use based on real-life shortcuts professionals use to improve the impact of their speaking. Some of these shortcuts are so simple and easy, but the impact is enormous.
No comments:
Post a Comment