
Final week in Warsaw, it was chilly. Very chilly.
The temperature incessantly dipped under minus 20 levels Celsius.
The cobblestones of the Outdated City have been lined in ice.
You couldn’t rush.
Each step demanded consideration.
As I walked, I noticed how a lot this is applicable to public talking. When transferring over slippery terrain, it’s important to stroll with deliberation. When delivering a speech or presentation, it’s important to converse with deliberation.
Right here’s a brief video that I shot within the Outdated City. (For subscribers studying this publish through electronic mail, please click on this hyperlink.)
After we hurry:
our phrases blur
our concepts collide
our viewers struggles to comply with
Cobblestones don’t enable pace.
And neither does a transparent message.
Good talking, like cautious strolling, is deliberate:
one step at a time
one thought at a time
one message at a time
pauses to permit the viewers to suppose
While you converse too rapidly, your viewers struggles to maintain their footing, simply as I did on these icy streets. However once you decelerate, once you converse with deliberation, you create house for that means to land.
The cobblestones of the Outdated City in Warsaw compelled me to decelerate.
The stage teaches the identical lesson: converse with deliberation, and also you — and your viewers — will discover your stability.