An explain article

Joy and Fear

It's the end of June in the year 2000 and I finally hold my high school diploma in my hand. Looking back, I mostly recall happy memories from the last 13 years of school. Learned a lot, celebrated a lot, had a lot of fun. But not always. Besides the fun, there were moments I was really afraid of. Afraid of giving presentations or talks in front of the class.

That sounds absurd to many people—especially those who know me. But that's how it was. I was glad when I finally turned 18 and could write my own excuses in upper school when I couldn't—or rather, didn't want to—come to a presentation. It was rarely a fever or a cold, but mostly the fear of speaking in front of the class.

In college, I always tried to present last, hoping that something would happen before my turn. Be it a fire alarm, the professor collapsing, or some similar incident. I skipped some lectures so often until I couldn't anymore and had to choose between presenting or not passing.

My first job was subsequently in the marketing department of a university. I was responsible for the exhibition area and had to set it up from scratch. This regularly took me to educational fairs, where I had to go on stage and give presentations in front of many strangers. Nobody told me this when I was hired. Had I known this back then, I probably wouldn't have taken the job. I had cold sweats, stomach aches, and, well, fear, before every presentation.

Looking back, I made a completely irrational decision a few years later. I applied to the leading presentation agency in Germany. Today, I regularly stand on stage in front of several hundred people, earn money with the topic, and show other people how they can move people with presentations. Had someone predicted that to me 20 years ago—after a presentation in my school days, for example—I would have laughed. If I had even managed to handle it mentally back then...

The Greatest Fear of People

Today I can view my fear of presentations differently. Strictly speaking, fear is just a feeling. Even if fear makes presenting more difficult, one shouldn't let it stop them. Stage fright can be relatively well managed as it's a completely normal process in the body. You just have to understand it.

In life-threatening situations—and that's what a presentation actually is for many people—the body releases more stress hormones. The consequences are, for instance, an accelerated heartbeat, masses of adrenaline release, rising blood pressure, or maximum muscle tension. Our ability to think complexly is completely gone. All of this is an ancient protective mechanism of humans. When danger lurks, we can flee or attack better through this reaction.

Neither of these is possible on stage. We can neither attack nor run away there. Hence, it often leads to a block or rather the famous blackout.

I know today that I wasn’t alone. According to many studies, public speaking is the undisputed number one of people's biggest fears. Presentation anxiety is, therefore, completely normal and has nothing to do with our actual presentation skills.

An example? John F. Kennedy has gone down in history as a convincing speaker and is a role model for many people as a speaker. His speech in 1962 gave the go-ahead for the first successful manned moon landing and won over a whole country. What many don't know is that he was so nervous while speaking that the people sitting behind him on the podium could see his legs shaking.

There are many other prominent examples that prove you are not born a speaker. Martin Luther King, for example, only completed his rhetoric seminar in college with an average grade. But he too, like JFK, significantly influenced recent history in the USA through his public speeches. Or King George VI of England, whose story was retold in the movie "The King’s Speech." He was certainly not a born speaker. He was a stutterer. Despite his severe stutter, he managed to motivate the whole nation for the upcoming war. On one hand, because his motivation was high enough—on the other, because he was also shown how to do it.

I am convinced that this is also one of the reasons why so few people like public speaking. In our school system—or at least during my school years—it was never a central part of education. And even in college, it was luck if you were shown how to deliver a good speech or presentation.

For this reason, I also try to convey to young people what no one showed me earlier. I now regularly go to schools to open new doors for students through the competence of presenting. What everyone learns:

The best idea is worthless if it cannot be presented properly. The world can only change if people can explain and present their ideas and visions properly.

Change the World

Martin Luther King changed the world with his speech at the March on Washington. Or John F. Kennedy at the Texas Stadium, when he inspired the whole nation with the goal of being the first people on the moon. Or Steve Jobs with his commencement speech to Stanford University graduates.

These examples are a few years old now. We are becoming increasingly accustomed, through digital communication forms in society, to talk less with each other and especially in front of other people. Yet personal contact is the only way to move or change something. Or would Martin Luther King have managed with a tweet "I have a dream"? Or JFK, if he had placed a PDF of his vision in the download section of the White House? Or Steve Jobs with the post "Stay hungry, stay foolish!" in the graduates’ WhatsApp group? Never.

Precisely because our current age is shaped by digital media and is becoming increasingly impersonal, a difference can be made through public speaking. And those who make a difference and are different are listened to. Those who are listened to inspire people. And that is the prerequisite for changing the world. I had this experience on a small scale for myself back then. I eventually noticed how people at the education fairs in the audience listened to me and that I could give them something through my presentation. I realized that even with such banal topics as introducing a university, some people were inspired and found a new way to shape their next phase of life. At that time, I inadvertently changed the world, even if only slightly. That's why I kept going up on stage afterward. Despite my fear. And over the years, this fear even became a passion.

Everyone can do it

If you look closely, each of us is a born speaker. Each of us can do it. Everyone has something to say. Everyone has a story. Everyone can inspire others in some way. The beauty is that speaking is a craft and can be learned. And the digital society makes it quite easy for us because we can stand out from the digital crowd with personal communication. Curtain up!