My Beautiful Lies
Staying entirely truthful in public is a mission impossible. I will try to make the lies beautiful.
While practicing public speaking, I like to give the same speech multiple times in different clubs. Coming from different audience and different perspective, the feedback can be very insightful. A couple of weeks ago, I prepared a speech with the title “Spin the Wheel’. I wanted to deliver the message “Consistency over intensity”. I gave it to a Toastmasters club where all the members were native English speakers. They said the message was well received and they liked it, although some didn’t quite get the analogy of “Spin the Wheel”. They thought it was the game of fortune wheel spinning rather that the repetition that leads to growth. Two days later, I gave the same speech in another club. It’s an advanced bilingual club and most members are interpreters between English and Chinese. They focus more on pronunciation and grammar rather than the content. Some of them were friends of mine but they said I didn’t sound like myself. It appeared I was trying too hard, my voice high-pitched, my gesture exaggerated. As result, they were lost on my messages.
Both evaluations were well-intended and helpful. They highlighted the two ways to connect with the audience in public speaking. One is what we deliver, the other is how we…
