Anytime you're presenting and you're coming up with your messages, you've always got to ask yourself, what is it I really care about? And why do I care about this? I've been teaching people on public speaking for 30 years. And I can tell you, it doesn't matter if it's somebody five years old, or at five years old, across the globe, what audiences like is when they're seeing somebody speak, who seems like they care about the topic, who seems passionate about the subject. Now, I understand you can't be passionate and exciting, excited about everything. Your teacher may give you some assignment.
And it's just not the most exciting one of the world you've still got to find. What about this particular topic is more interesting than other stuff. If you want people to pay attention to you, if you want to get a good grade, if you want to seem like you understand a subject, then you've got to talk about it with a little passion, you've got to seem like you care because here's the thing. If you don't care, no one else will either and everyone else will just be daydreaming, doodling they'll be thinking about something else. And they're just going to zone out. That's the biggest problem most people have when they are giving a talk or a speech or book report.
It's not that they look so nervous and there's sweat coming down their face and they have to run out of the room. The biggest problem most people have is they just present information in such a boring way. Here's a fact. Here's a fact of kind of reading the phone book. It, nobody pays attention. Nobody really listens.
And it's instantly forgotten. That's not a way to make a good impression on your teacher, on your fellow classmates, on anyone you're talking to at any point. Friends, family members. So part of what is important when you're coming up with your talk, when you're coming up with your messages with what to say, is you've somehow got to find something you care about. Now, it has nothing to do with the topic, you can be incredibly bored and soundboard, talking about the World Series. If you don't like baseball, on the other hand, you can be incredibly passionate and excited talking about math if you love math.
So don't give yourself the excuse that well this is just a boring topic. You've got to find something in that topic that excites you. If you want to give a great presentation and if you want to build your skills, get, you're going to have a long, long, long, lifetime of giving presentations. You're going to be giving talks, presentations, speeches, public speeches for decades. Why not learn how to get a little bit better every single time and learn how to make each one a little easier for the next one? That's what it's all about.
So, I want you to look at your messages that you're coming up with, and really figure out which ones do you care about the most? Why do you care about it? If you can put a spotlight on that? You're gonna be a lot more interesting to listen to. And that is half the battle.