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"Do
you still get nervous before you speak?" This is
my most frequently asked question. My reply?
"Yes, a little." A touch of nervousness is
good, It means you care about your program and it's
effect on your audience.
Last
night I had a different experience. I was edgy, had
trouble sleeping and even experienced moments of panic
concerning a 15-minute program I was to deliver in the
morning. After a few hours of what passed for sleep, I
popped out of bed to practice my speech for the
umpteenth time. I knew it backwards and forwards, yet
I was as jumpy as a cat in a dog pound.
I
have delivered thousands of programs to some of our
largest companies and have been on stage in front of
the crême de la crême of the corporate world;
performed in top casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic
City, and on TV reaching millions of viewers but to
date I've never had a more important speech, with so
much riding on it.
Right
before I went on, my introducer gave me final
instructions, "Whatever you do just don't
embarrass me and I hope you're not going to tell any
of your jokes!" Ouch!
My
palms were actually sweating. I prayed, "God, if
You've ever thought about taking me young, let it be
now!" Then came my introduction:
"Our
speaker this morning is a professional speaker,
humorist and magician. The title of his program is
'Live, Laugh and Learn.' Please help me welcome the
commencement speaker for our fifth grade graduation,
Jeff Justice...my dad!"
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