Miss Timid

I need to go back to office every wednesday night to attend conference call with Germany, U.S. and U.K. sites. Tonight after the conference call, I met a colleague at the W.C.. She is a very timid person, with very careful and polite manner. She was there to practise her 6th speech for her Toast Master session tomorrow, in front of the mirror. I was curious so I asked her about the session. She told me she will be presenting a speech with emphasis on vocal variety. Due to my 'kepo' nature, I volunteered to be her audience for her trial run. She seems very pleased and excited to hear that.

So we went back to the office and she started to present in front of me. She presented a story about 'Sunshine'. It went from how Malaysian hates the sun and how the european loves it. Then she told a story about one night the light bulb in her bathroom was blown so she lited a candle to take shower, which later the candle slowly went off and she got worried... Then she talked about one day while she was reading a book, she suddenly realized how bright the sun was outside her window. From there she concluded that we often take the sun for granted, just like how we often take many things and people for granted... ~ The End ~

I personally think it was a good speech with good starting to catch people's attention, followed by good story line and details that are able to attract people to follow it till the end. Somehow during her first trial run, she tends to memorize line by line, word by word, which makes the presentation a bit unnatural. So I told her to remember by key points and to increase her vocal variety. There we went for the second trial run, which she obviously looked more relax and did better.

After that, I shared with her on my learning from the Stress Management Talk today. I encouraged her to create positive self image and be less timid. Also to visualize herself as a good speaker and not to worry about making mistakes. The bottom line is to capture the audience's interest in listening to the story and not being distracted by her sudden pauses to correct mistakes. I also suggested to her to link the few parts of the story back together in her conclusion, so people can get her point easier. Another suggestion was may be she could ask the audience a simple question and pause for 2-3 seconds before she told them the answer, so that it can create some interactions etc.... Anyway, she gladly took note on my inputs.

On my way back home, I couldn't help but thinking about this lady. Somehow I admire her courage to strive for change. She is such a timid person that I remember during her first speech (which I was invited to present a speech too), her face was so red and she behaved like she was going to pass out anytime in front of everyone. Now, look at her, she is so full of enthusiasm in continuing this challenge on herself...

I admire her courage and I really like her for what she is doing. I think people who never stop evolving are simply adorable. Way to go!