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Samantha
“Great job, guys.” Igave them both a warm smile as we finished up calculus tutoring. I hadn’t done calculus in a while, and I forgot how much fun it was.
“You ready?” I asked Davis, who was still sitting at the table in the little study room.
“Yeah,” he grumbled, looking down at the table in front of him. The guy might be six feet four inches of solid muscle, but he was shy and quiet.
I slid a book across the table to him, and watched as he read the title. He flinched. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.” It was a book of poetry, and not something most jocks would care to be caught reading. “Trust me. Part of public speaking is figuring out how to phrase something, how to know when to hold a breath or pause for your audience. Poetry phrasing can help, you can’t just read it word for word, sentence for sentence, or it loses context.
“What’s your favorite song?”
“I don’t know. I like a lot of music.”
“Ok, so pick one.” I pulled out my tablet and turned it on while he thought of a song to give me.
“Simple Man. Lynard Skynard.”
“Nice choice. Ok.” I typed in the song and pulled up the lyrics for him to read and handed him my tablet. “Read the lyrics to yourself.”
I waited a few moments while he read over the song on the screen. “Ok. Did you read them or sing them in your head?”
His lips lifted in a small smirk. “I sang them.”
“Exactly, because the music and lyrics are phrased in your head. You know how it’s supposed to sound, so that’s how you read it. The same concept applies when you speak publicly. You need to know when to wait for cues, read the crowd. If you put a punch of humor in your speech, pause for the crowd to respond to it, just like a standup comedian would.
Poetry can help you learn to phrase things. Help you figure out where to pause, how to say something to get the most impact from the reader.”
“Can’t I just listen to music then?”
“Haha, no.” I pushed the poetry book back toward him. “This doesn’t have a set beat and familiar music behind it. You have to discover the flow for yourself, so I want you to take this book and practice at home in a mirror.”
He groaned. “I hate this already.”
“Once you get the hang of it, you build up your confidence and it’s not so bad.”
“You do a lot of public speaking?” he asked me as he started to load his books up.
“No. I used to have pitch meetings with board members at various companies, so I guess in a way I used to.” I shrugged and grabbed my purse.
“Thanks for today, Samantha.”
“You’re welcome, but you better get going for practice or your coach will kill me.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I groaned. “Dude, you’re only four years younger than me. I’m hardly a ma’am yet.”
He laughed, shook his head and waved goodbye. I looked down at my phone and saw it was almost two, so I still had time before I needed to be home for Bow.
I had an idea to help break the ice between Dax and me, but I had no idea if it would work. It was worth a try because I really wanted this to work. I wanted us to be friends, and hopefully one day a lot more.
