Story from Pat Mathewson, President of the Students’ Association 2014/15 & 2015/16
By Pat Mathewson
I have always been interested in student advocacy, which requires public speaking skills. Lacking these skills made me feel like a failure. In my first year, when I had to present to the whole room, I would get unbelievably nervous. Even though I have always been a good writer, I couldn’t articulate my thoughts the way I wanted when speaking to a larger group. My speeches were boring, unenthusiastic and poorly delivered, I could tell by the reception of the audience how bad I was. It was disheartening, and I wanted to change, slowly but steadily. I was forcing myself into situations where I had to speak, whether it was a presentation in class or a quick announcement, no matter how much I hated it. I was not sure if the delivery was improving, but at least I knew I was becoming less nervous each time.
The most difficult part of developing was to be aware that the improvement wouldn’t come immediately. For a really long time I felt like nothing was getting better. This is when by no means you should give up and stop trying. Think about your incentive. My interest in student advocacy motivated me to work on my public speaking skills, I knew I had to inevitably become better at it. Make yourself aware of all the little details that you think are working and not so much. I developed a habit of keeping a journal, where I would take a note of how my most recent speech went, what I want to improve and what I am becoming better at. It was not the journal itself that helped me, instead it was taking a moment to reflect on the speech and examine how I did.
Now public speaking is a big part of my job. Looking back, I realise how difficult it was to stay resilient in the face of failure, but like with every self-improvement, it takes time for results to come, and you have to be aware of it.