Forget snakes and heights, speaking in public features big in our own Fear Factor.

From the November 2009 issue of CLEO - Tanya Kovarsky is a member of CIS-Johannesburg.

I believe there are two types of people – those who don’t mind standing before an audience and having their every word heard, and those who’d rather find half a worm in their apple than put their heads on the public-speaking block... and I’m the latter.

But then I became an editor, and realised that I’d have to give presentations to clients and readers, so like any good publicspeaking phobic, I headed to Toastmasters. Surprisingly, and despite what the name suggests, it’s not a meeting with old fogeys making toasts to each other, but rather involves people like you and me making speeches on everything, from global warming to the benefits of chocolate.

Members get a manual of speech assignments to work from, which cover the basics (e.g. eye contact, speaking clearly) to the slightly more challenging (speaking without notes, using lots of body language). You can proceed at your own pace, and after each speech you get an evaluation.

There are also fun things to do at the meetings, if you’re not quite ready to launch into speech mode –presenting a “word of the day”, keeping time and counting everyone’s ums (not so fun on the receiving end, though!).

I’ve given 15 speeches so far (16 if you count the one I had to repeat after a failed attempt), and choked during one (I got up, greeted the audience and not a word came to mind or mouth). So, how have I fared? Well, I still don’t love getting in front of an audience, but it’s less torturous than before. I’m more confident, and feel more able to speak publicly.

At last year’s CLEO Bachelor of the Year Awards, it only took one tequila before I got up to copresent with speaker extraordinaire, Gareth Cliff. But it was a party, so it was only fitting that I had a drink, really. The end