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Open your mind, then open your ears

What’s the point of Public Speaking?

My first steps

I lovedĀ Toastmasters International. Well, certainly the Brighton branch of it, Brighton & Hove Speakers Club.

But I didn’t arrive at it loving it. I was sceptical and just a little scared. You know the feeling? Trepidation? That feeling that you’re going to make a nit of yourself? Right.

The penny dropped

But I hadn’t quite got the gist. Because public speaking isn’t just about standing up in public and delivering an important speech or whatever. The secret of public speaking is listening. To other speakers. I listened to some wonderful stories at Toastmasters. And I’m grateful to them for it.

Listening is an important part of communication.

Do you have any lessons learnt from listening before you spoke?