KNOW THOROUGHLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT

Unless a person has thought out and planned his talk and knows what he is going to say, he can’t feel very comfortable when he faces his auditors. He is like the blind leading the blind. Under such circumstances, your speaker ought to be self-conscious, ought to feel repentant, and ought to be ashamed of his negligence. It will help you to throw off embarrassment if you can find something to do before an audience-if you can exhibit something, write a word on the blackboard, or point out a spot on the map, or move a table, or throw open a window, or shift some books and papers-any physical action with a purpose behind it may help you to feel more at home.

START WITH A STRONG AND PERSISTENT DESIRE

This is of far more importance than you probably realize. If an instructor could look into your mind and heart now and ascertain the depth of your desires, he could foretell, almost with certainty, the swiftness of the progress you will make. If your desire is pale and flabby, your achievements will also take on that hue and consistency. But, if you go after your subject with persistence and with the energy of a bulldog after a cat, nothing underneath the Milky Way will defeat you. Therefore, arouse your enthusiasm for this self-study. Enumerate its benefits. Think of what it may mean and what it ought to mean, in dollars and cents. Think of what it may mean to you socially; of the friends it will bring, of the increase of your personal influence, of the leadership it will give you. And it will give you leadership more rapidly than almost any other activity you can think of or imagine.

DEVELOPING COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE

The gaining of self-confidence and courage, and the ability to think calmly and clearly while talking to a group is not one-tenth as difficult as most people imagine. It is not a gift bestowed by Providence on only a few rarely endowed individuals. It is like the ability to play golf. Anyone can develop his own latent capacity if he has sufficient desire to do so. Is there the faintest shadow of a reason why you should not be able to think as well in a perpendicular position before an audience as you can when sitting down? Surely, you know there is not. In fact, you ought to think better when facing a group. Their presence ought to stir you and lift you. A great many speakers will tell you that the presence of audience is a stimulus, an inspiration that drives their brains to function more clearly, more keenly.