Understand The Words You Speak

There is a reason that people teach classes in public speaking; there is much to learn about it. People all too often think that, since we speak every day, it is going to be easy to give a public performance - all you have to do is read the words on the page and say them out loud.

The reality is that the words on the page are a map. It may show you how to get from beginning to end, but it doesn't tell you how to do it. Words are written with intent, with meaning, with emotion. If you do not add those to your voice, then you have robbed those words of their soul.

If you are going to do a reading, study and practice. Understand what it is the author truly wishes to express, or at least the way they resonate within you. Even if you are the author of those words, you still need to practice how to deliver them with the same conviction that you wrote them.

It always surprises me to hear authors be poor performers, especially of their own work. I know I'm not perfect, and I know that they are not really the same skill set, but they are both so relevant and useful that they should be practiced and done well.