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Chapel Talk by Phuong Vu '11 |
Hi Everyone,
For my last summer vacation, instead of following my parents’ suggestion to go back to Vietnam and take the SAT course for three months to improve my score, I decided to go to Stanford for their summer college program and try out a college life.
I would never ask you to give up 10 precious minutes to hear me talk about how great the summer school was, or how much I had fun making friends, but I’m hoping you’ll be willing to hear about how I faced one of my greatest fears-- taking what turned out to be one of my favorite courses at Stanford-- public speaking.
Before I start telling you about the course, I want to tell you that I’M TERRIFIED OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, especially speaking in English. But I decided to take the public speaking course in English anyway. I wanted to get over my fear.
I still remember the first night I went to class. And I still remember how much I hated it. After the first 10 minutes introducing himself, my teacher announced that this very night, every single person in the room had to give a speech.
After he told this to the class, a train of thoughts ran through my head: How can I escape from this class? Can I sneak out when we have a break? I can’t do this, I haven’t prepared anything! Should I just give a terrible speech and then drop out so I don’t have to look at these people again?
The intermission came, and that was my only chance to escape. But I knew, if I left then, I would never be able to conquer my fear, so I stayed and faced it.
Our assignment was to talk with someone you didn’t know, then introduce them to the class by giving a two minute speech about them. My partner introduced me first; with the talent of a journalist, he made me sound like the smartest and coolest person he had ever met. When it was my turn, even though he was a Stanford student with a taekwondo state championship and had 2010 Olympic participant status, I didn’t deliver this impressive information as I should have.
I talked as low as I could to hide my accent, which always becomes powerful when I’m nervous. My hands started shaking. My mouth went dry. My words didn’t come out right. I kept making grammatical mistakes. At that moment, more than anything, I wanted to dig a hole and jump right in. And I thought that would be the last time I had to give a speech in public.
That night I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept questioning myself, my ability and my future. Since I was young, I always wanted to be a successful, powerful, beautiful business woman. And to become one, I have to be able to persuasively share my ideas and my opinions, which means I have to be good at public speaking. I decided to return to the class.
Once a week, three hours a day, I went to face my fear. We had to give a speech every two weeks. The topic could range from personal experiences, to impromptu how-to demonstrations.
Speaking about impromptu speeches, I still remember that embarrassing day. It was the third time I had to give a speech. When I came up to the podium, the teacher gave me a question and I had to respond to it right away. The question was “What do you think is the most significant invention or event in the last 100 years?” And since it was impromptu, I was allowed to think for only one minute. And of course standing in front of 50 people with my legs shaking, I couldn’t think of anything better than “book.” So I went on blabbing about how great a book was, how Kindle couldn’t substitute for it, how much I love the touch of a book, and how important the invention of a book was. Then I got back to my seat. As I sat down, a girl sitting next to me leaned over and softly whispered into my ear “did they invent books in the last 100 years?”
My face went hot and I couldn’t hear anything else after her question. OMG, every single person in the class just heard my “intelligent” answer. Throughout the course, I had learned a lot of theory about public speaking. And according to the prevailing theory, after taking a public speaking class you will start timing people and yourself. After taking the class, you will start varying your tones, volumes, and rate while you talk. After taking the class, you will start moving your hand “outside the box” when you are explaining something. And after taking the class, you will gain more courage. I did. Not until I enrolled in this class did I understand this quote- “each time you face your fear, you will gain more strength, confidence and courage.”
The theory I learned from the class might have helped me improve my public speaking skill, but the practices that I had, the nervousness that I had to overcome and the speeches that I had to give, were the elements that helped me to be able to stand right here, and give this speech. Public speaking was my biggest fear. But I faced it. I might have not completely overcome it (as I’m shaking right now), but I DID face it! And I strongly believe all of you here would be able to do the same thing.
Your fear may not be Public Speaking. It could be Chemistry. It could be making friends with new people. It could be talking to someone you like. But whatever it is, I know you can find a way to face and overcome it. Just remember one thing from Dr. Seuss who I think start writing books in the last 100 years):
"Be who you are
And say what you feel,
Because those who mind don't matter,
And those who matter don't mind."
