Why would anyone pay attention to what you are saying?

Yes, why would anyone listen to you speak?

In the past week I made a speech at our local Toastmaster’s meeting. It was meant to entertain. While I am a confident person who does not mind sharing my opinions with others, this speech scared me. The reason why it scared me is that in order to entertain I felt that I had to tell stories about me and my family. I knew these stories as I had lived them, but I wasn’t sure that they would be entertaining. The bottom-line is that my fears were without cause, as the evaluations I received said that the audience were not bored or fidgeting, as I was an excellent story teller. Why did I tell you this?

It is because if you want to hold anyone’s attention you need to believe what you are saying and be passionate about it.

What can you do to improve your speaking skills the next time you are speaking to anyone?