“If you speak in public, you are a public speaker,” Daniel Pennington shared with leaders during a recent training session with Studer Family of Companies.

This is a great reminder for all of us who may not necessarily think of ourselves as a “public speaker.” The truth is that every day we communicate with people outside of our homes and therefore, we are all public speakers.

According to urban legend, public speaking is the number one fear in America. Death is, somehow, a distant second. As the Jerry Seinfeld punch line goes, “This means to the average person, if you must be at a funeral, you’d rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

Pennington also reminded us that 85 percent of your success in the next five years will result from your ability to speak and communicate your ideas, according to a Carnegie Institute of Technology study. So whether we like it or not, we need to get more comfortable with speaking to other groups of people.

At the next Studer Community Institute workshop on March 24 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Pensacola Little Theatre, Daniel Pennington will share tactical and practical techniques you can use right now to improve your speaking skills in a short amount of time.

To learn more and register click here