A risk is a chance to lose or gain. Living well requires carefully calculating risks and rewards. A successful speech is a scaled down version of this dynamic. Far too often what we fear losing is a pittance compared to what we can receive. How you perceive risk shapes how you act, when you act, and what you act on, especially when speaking in public.
Do you seek out speaking opportunities or do you skillfully avoid them? Your answer depends upon how you calculate the risk level. The equation of
You + topic + Audience = V
has no definitive predetermined value for V. If you decide that the potential loss of face is not worth the esteem you could receive or the value you could share, you become a negative factor. Sharing your favorite subject with an interested audience won’t happen if your negative self talk sums up the opportunity to be worth less than the risk. Don’t be ignorant if you are a negative element in your formula for success.
Taking action is the natural result of determining that the rewards are more valuable than the risks. When you decide that what you have to say is worth more than any effort to organize, and potential discomfort to deliver, you will speak. Persevering presenters focus on creating meaningful moments for their listeners, realizing that the audience is the most important element in the equation. Each listener is risking their time and attention and your goal is to deliver a rewarding presentation.
The tone and tenor of your presentation as well as your life is determined by what you will and will not risk. Flat presentations become dynamic when you risk engaging your emotions. Static statistics become significant when you risk using creative analogies. Audience interest becomes inspired when you risk sharing what inspires you. Sure some people are put off by emotion. Sure some people are challenged by creativity. Sure some people will not care for your passions. It is worth risking the complacency of a few to reward the many.
What do you really have to lose? Wherever there is life there is danger. The potential loss is what makes it precious. Risk your ignorance to gain knowledge. Risk your moments to gain meaning. Risk complacency to gain connection. Imagine if the blessed Bard never risked putting pen to paper.
Cowards die many times before their deaths
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Julius Caesar (Act II, Scene ii,)
Risk living and you will gain a life.