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Friday Aug 08, 2008
Speak up, Speak out!
The other week we published a new rant called Shy and mighty. The writer, Rosemary Munro, is angry that drugs companies get away with promoting pills that can apparently 'cure' shyness. She says:
"Tests have shown that this drug is more likely to make us approach strangers and give money to charity. Great, so we're going to end up broke and drugged, but at least we'll be sociable."
I think I can see her point. But what this rant has highlighted for us is that although drugs are probably not the way forward, shyness isn't to be scoffed at. It's a serious issue for many and lots of young people struggle to overcome it.
Just yesterday I attended a fun and useful training session on public speaking run through SpeakersBank. What really struck me about it was the trainer herself. Sam asked us to perform a two-minute speech on something about ourselves. Being asked to talk about myself is something I really dread and so I asked her for a quick example. I was blown away by her speech in which she explained how she was painfully shy in her teens and realised at university that it's something that she had to confront. She was persuaded to join a toast masters club and from there built her confidence on a weekly basis. These days she's an acclaimed speech trainer who has helped young people win awards for their speeches.
Now, the idea of toast masters sounded terrible to me, but I've since looked into it, and it sounds much better than I thought! Here's some information:
Toastmasters International has 200 clubs in the UK and Ireland and nearly 5000 members...nothing to do with red-coated gentleman by the way! The first club was formed in USA in the 1920s at a YMCA to help young men build their confidence and develop their communication skills. Now there are 10,500 clubs worldwide and members receive a monthly magazine and work through an internationally recognised programme of speaking assignments.
So, if you're struggling with shyness, and would like to try out something new and exciting where everyone else is in the same boat, have a look to see if there's anything in your area.
Posted by Helen ( 10:57 AM ) Link to this post | Comments[0]