Here’s some really great news and it might actually come as a bit of a surprise for many of you: most speeches in the world are simply awful. In fact, most public speakers in the world are awful. And i think that is great news. Why? Because that means that if you just practiced a little bit and shaved off a few rough edges, you will stand out not only as not incompetent, okay or above average- but as great. This is profoundly exciting because it means that any time you spend on improving your public speaking, it will pay off because you will stand out with good points and compelling stories.
Let’s take an example: Imagine that you are not a good golfer, but all of a sudden you have been put into play golf against a handful of people who’ve never played golf or watched it before. They don’t even know which end of the club they are supposed to use. All of a sudden, you are going to seem like Tiger Woods or Jack Nicholas in the crowd. You might still shoot a 150 but they would shoot 300! Which means that in comparison, you would be a superstar in that competitive arena.
That is how it is when it comes to public speaking with your colleagues, in your company or organization, and in the city council campaigning against fellow candidates. For the most part, everybody is awful. That can be good and bad news. Bad news because we all have to listen to them. So if you go to a religious service you may encounter a boring sermon at times.
Most speakers are simply not very good. They are nervous and commit the same blunders time and time again- being too abstract, data dumping, and being way too boring. That is good news for you and me. But to take advantage you have to take steps to improve your speaking and by following just a couple of tips, you can come out on top as a better speaker than most. So when you see an awful speaker, rejoice; that’s your competition.