The Art of Public Speaking | Page 4

doing this right! How does my hair look? I know I
shall fail." Their prophetic souls are sure to be right.

It is not enough to be absorbed by your subject--to acquire
self-confidence you must have something in which to be confident. If
you go before an audience without any preparation, or previous
knowledge of your subject, you ought to be self-conscious--you ought
to be ashamed to steal the time of your audience. Prepare yourself.
Know what you are going to talk about, and, in general, how you are
going to say it. Have the first few sentences worked out completely so
that you may not be troubled in the beginning to find words. Know
your subject better than your hearers know it, and you have nothing to
fear.
After Preparing for Success, Expect It
Let your bearing be modestly confident, but most of all be modestly
confident within. Over-confidence is bad, but to tolerate premonitions
of failure is worse, for a bold man may win attention by his very
bearing, while a rabbit-hearted coward invites disaster.
Humility is not the personal discount that we must offer in the presence
of others--against this old interpretation there has been a most healthy
modern reaction. True humility any man who thoroughly knows
himself must feel; but it is not a humility that assumes a worm-like
meekness; it is rather a strong, vibrant prayer for greater power for
service--a prayer that Uriah Heep could never have uttered.
Washington Irving once introduced Charles Dickens at a dinner given
in the latter's honor. In the middle of his speech Irving hesitated,
became embarrassed, and sat down awkwardly. Turning to a friend
beside him he remarked, "There, I told you I would fail, and I did."
If you believe you will fail, there is no hope for you. You will.
Rid yourself of this I-am-a-poor-worm-in-the-dust idea. You are a god,
with infinite capabilities. "All things are ready if the mind be so." The
eagle looks the cloudless sun in the face.
Assume Mastery Over Your Audience

In public speech, as in electricity, there is a positive and a negative
force. Either you or your audience are going to possess the positive
factor. If you assume it you can almost invariably make it yours. If you
assume the negative you are sure to be negative. Assuming a virtue or a
vice vitalizes it. Summon all your power of self-direction, and
remember that though your audience is infinitely more important than
you, the truth is more important than both of you, because it is eternal.
If your mind falters in its leadership the sword will drop from your
hands. Your assumption of being able to instruct or lead or inspire a
multitude or even a small group of people may appall you as being
colossal impudence--as indeed it may be; but having once essayed to
speak, be courageous. BE courageous--it lies within you to be what you
will. MAKE yourself be calm and confident.
Reflect that your audience will not hurt you. If Beecher in Liverpool
had spoken behind a wire screen he would have invited the audience to
throw the over-ripe missiles with which they were loaded; but he was a
man, confronted his hostile hearers fearlessly--and won them.
In facing your audience, pause a moment and look them over--a
hundred chances to one they want you to succeed, for what man is so
foolish as to spend his time, perhaps his money, in the hope that you
will waste his investment by talking dully?
Concluding Hints
Do not make haste to begin--haste shows lack of control.
Do not apologize. It ought not to be necessary; and if it is, it will not
help. Go straight ahead.
Take a deep breath, relax, and begin in a quiet conversational tone as
though you were speaking to one large friend. You will not find it half
so bad as you imagined; really, it is like taking a cold plunge: after you
are in, the water is fine. In fact, having spoken a few times you will
even anticipate the plunge with exhilaration. To stand before an
audience and make them think your thoughts after you is one of the
greatest pleasures you can ever know. Instead of fearing it, you ought

to be as anxious as the fox hounds straining at their leashes, or the race
horses tugging at their reins.
So cast out fear, for fear is cowardly--when it is not mastered. The
bravest know fear, but they do not yield to it. Face your audience
pluckily--if your knees quake, MAKE them stop. In your audience lies
some victory for you and the cause you represent. Go win it. Suppose
Charles Martell had been afraid to hammer the Saracen at Tours;
suppose Columbus had feared to venture out into the unknown