I Thought I Knew Public Speaking (Until I Watched Us Try to Do It) - Kevin Sanchez

 I Thought I Knew Public Speaking (Until I Watched Us Try to Do It)

At the beginning of the semester, I logged into the dashboard, clicked on the SPC class, and read the syllabus to prepare for what was ahead. I’m going to be honest, I thought all of this was common sense. I read past the competencies and thought, "There's nothing new to learn here, but this class might be good practice."

I then went to the class modules to check the content. The book specifically described public speaking as a "dynamic art" influenced by technology, but to me, it seemed like talking was all there was to it.

Later in the semester, the group presentations began. My group was the first to present. I think we did okay, but honestly, how would I know? I wasn't watching myself perform; I was just performing.

It was in the following classes, while sitting through three or four other groups, that I realized something crucial. Knowing the rules and actually performing them are two completely different things. In fact, they are so far apart that it shattered my previous understanding of what "good presenting" actually is.

I don't mean the presentations were bad. There were people in each group that did a really good job, and others that struggled.. myself included. But watching them was exactly what I needed to realize just how important your ability to perform really is.

The Theory of Fear VS The Reality of Shaking Hands

The first place I saw this difference between the textbook theory and real life was in how we handled our nerves. Since in my group I covered chapter 2, I was already familiar with the logic behind our fears. The textbook explains that speech anxiety is evolutionary and stems from "uncertainty reduction theory," where we get scared simply because we find ourselves in an unfamiliar situation.

On paper the solutions seemed easy. The text suggest specific strategies like "cognitive reappraisal," where you trick your brain into thinking your nervousness is actually excitement. It also suggested "defusion" to weaken your negative thoughts and using "visualization" to imagine a successful speech. Reading this at home I thought.. Okay, simple enough. Just breathe and reframe.

But then I watched us actually try to do it.

Presenting felt easy enough afterwards, but sitting in the audience, I could see the spotlight effect happening in real time. The book describes this as the anxiety that comes form feeling like everyone is evaluating you. You could see it in the way some presenters stiffened up and rushed though their slides. Even though we supposedly knew the techniques, applying them in the heat of the moment is a completely different battle.

I saw how understanding the definition of anxiety and the strategies to avoid it doesn't magically fix it. You can tell yourself to reframe your fear as energy all you want, but when you are presenting in front of an audience, your body reacts faster than your brain. Watching my classmates push though that discomfort enlightened me to respect more the process. It wasn't just about delivering info it was about fighting your biology as a human.

Reading off slides

The biggest contrast between the textbook’s perfect world and our classroom reality appeared the moment the slides were shown. Chapter 11 is very specific about the role of technology: presentation media is supposed to "highlight, clarify, and complement" oral information, never replace it. The text explicitly warns us to limit bullet points and, most importantly, to "avoid reading off the slides".

In theory, we were all aiming for what the book calls Extemporaneous speaking, a speech that is carefully researched and organized, but spoken with spontaneity.

In reality I saw how it was very easy for us to slip into Manuscript speaking.

I noticed a pattern during the presentations. The second a slide clicked onto the screen, it acted like a magnet. The speaker’s eyes would glue themselves to the text, and the audience was bombarded with paragraphs of text on the screen. It's ok to use scripts, but the slide stopped being a "visual aid" and transformed into a teleprompter.

This had a domino effect on the performance. Chapter 12 focuses on "Vocal Mindfulness," telling presenters and speakers to vary their rate, pitch, and volume to keep people engaged. But when you are reading a paragraph off a slide, your voice naturally flattens out and become very, very boring. You lose that "Dynamism," that activity and enthusiasm that is required to build credibility and engagement.

As an audience member, this was a massive realization for me. I found that if a speaker was just reading the slide word for word, I naturally stopped listening. after all, why would I listen when I can read the slide faster than they can speak? I noticed how much your channel of communication matters. If the message is just text on a screen, the speaker basically becomes unnecessary noise. It showed me that true public speaking isn't about having the best slides, but about not hiding behind them, and being confident in yourself.

The Silent Half of Communication

While I was busy critiquing the speakers, I realized I had to critique myself as an audience member too. As I read in Chapter 3, which introduces the HURIER model, which breaks listening down into six steps: Hearing, Understanding, Remembering, Interpreting, Evaluating, and Responding. Before this I thought listening just meant not talking, but that's not it at all.

After sitting through four different presentations I learned that active listening is physically exhausting. The book talks about barriers like mindlessness, where we treat information as trivial and "pseudolistening," where we fake attention just to be polite. I find myself doing this constantly. If a speaker wasn't engaging, my brain very much check out.

As a nursing student, I won’t just be communicating with doctors; I’ll be the lifeline for patients. If I struggle to pay attention to a ten minute speech about communication theory, how will I have the patience to listen to patients describing their symptoms for the third time? (I know it's not the same but still) Thanks to this I've been improving my listening muscle ever since.

The Ultimate Hack

So, after analyzing the anxiety, the slides, and the listening, how do we solve all of this?? I spent the semester so far looking for a shortcut, a "hack" in the textbook that would make me a perfect speaker.

I realized the answer isn't in the book, It's in the doing.

This sounds silly I know, but the textbook describes Extemporaneous speaking as the gold standard, combining preparation with spontaneity. But spontaneity is not something you learn from reading a definition, you can read Chapter 12 on physical delivery and vocal mindfulness a hundred times, but until you are speaking in front of actual human beings listening to you, and you forcing yourself to not stumble with your words or thinking, it's all just theory.

If I could give you my biggest takeaway from all of this it would be to treat public speaking as a contact sport. You have to actually speak to people! You HAVE to feel the awkwardness, survive the mistakes, and realize you didn't die.

If you are reading this and feel like you are too shy, or you feel that you don't speak well enough to pass a class like this, I have a challenge for you. It’s not in the syllabus, but it works better than any flashcard:

Say "Hi" to one stranger every single day.

It sounds stupidly simple, but try it. The first time, it will be terrifying. The second time, it will be awkward. But each time, it will get easier and easier. Eventually, you won't just say "hi"; you will be able to keep the conversation going longer and longer. You build the speech muscle by using it.

That experience is worth more than memorizing the "Roman five arts" of rhetoric. The book gives you a guide, but the presentations forced us to experience the bumps and hills of the road. It’s just a series of awkward moments that you eventually get used to. And once you get used to them, you might even start to enjoy them (unlikely).