Do People Really Care About Public Speaking?

I’ve been telling people for years that if they could only improve one skill, it should be their public speaking skills. Now you might think I say this because I help people improve their speaking skills. Well, ironically what got me interested in teaching people public speaking skills is that I realized how important it is to have public speaking skills myself.

Truthfully, I didn’t really “get” the importance of public speaking (nor the benefits) until I took the Dale Carnegie course back in 2002. Prior to that, I hated public speaking and saw no value in it — kind of the way many people feel today.

The bottom line is that most people don’t care about public speaking. They see it as a chore — a painful experience they avoid at all costs. It’s too bad because most people can benefit from better public speaking skills. Some of the obvious reasons why it can help people:

It’s needed to advance your career to the next level.
It’s a great way to promote your business or cause.
It’s required for many college level classes.
It’s needed to give a toast honoring a special person (or couple).

Of course, public speaking skills do so much more for you than help you speak to groups. The skills that you learn to be an effective presenter can also be used in one on one situations. These are especially helpful with job interviewing, networking and sales. It also increases your overall confidence as you’ve become good at something that 90% of the population fears (and many are terrified of).

So if you don’t think public speaking is worth caring about, I challenge you to look a little closer at the world around you. It could be the key to your next job, client and even your next date — yes public speaking skills can help you in personal situations as well. People are attracted to confident people in both personal and professional situations. So go out there and try giving a speech — after all, it’s the only to become a better speaker.

Do People Really Care About Public Speaking?