“Speak Your Heart Out” - A Public Speaking Workshop by Women Techmakers Islamabad & GDG Islamabad.
Public Speaking, the two words that fill up a majority of hearts with dread. I used to be one of those hearts.
“Used to be”… huh? 😏
Well if you consider the person who I was and the person who I am, I’m sure you’ll end up saying the same thing.
The session was splendid. Ever since I was a boy who couldn’t muster up the courage to speak in front of his friends, I used to wish for such an event. Where I could talk about this. This weird thing I have, where my care for people is not a good thing, rather a thing to get rid off.
I was asked a question in the workshop when my hand wasn’t one of those raised upon the question of “who here considers themselves a good speaker”
“Why don’t you consider yourself a good speaker Shahzeb?”
My answer was, I’m still on a journey. Having a belief that I’m a good speaker wouldn’t be wise, in fact, it’ll be a limiting belief. In my eyes, good speakers are the likes of Morgan Freeman and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Am I like them? HELL NO! 😅
At least not yet.
For the very first I saw other people perplexed by the very same issue I was. The only difference being, it was my past. I wasn’t terrorised by the fear of judgement anymore, I smothered that demon with exposing myself to critique and opinions. Thanks, YouTube and my haters. LY! ❤️
And you know what? It helped. It made it clear how foolish it was to care about others. They don’t have any power over you until you serve it to them on a silver platter.
Why was I afraid though? Strangers. I didn’t have any experience of speaking in front of strangers. I’ve spoken in front of friends, family, relatives and a camera but not in front of real, physical strangers.
I was scared to go up there on the stage, but then this thought swirled up in my mind,
“If you’re not gonna go up there, why the hell are you here in the first place? Go home and watch some Peaky Blinders in a warm blanket with a cup of coffee!”
It was this thought that I gave my camera to the person beside me, a total stranger and volunteered to go and speak.
Yes volunteered. The guy who turned down her teacher asking him to read in grade 7th.
It was scary. I didn’t do my best. I’ve been my best lately, last evening wasn’t one of them. But I discovered something.
Strangers don’t care either.
I knew strangers came under the same umbrella of “other people don’t care” but there’s a difference in hearing about something and discovering it on your own. This was mine. I cannot be certain that the next time I go up and speak in front of strangers, I’ll be how I am in front of a camera but I sure as hell would have the same amount of confidence and lack of care.
As for the guy filming me, Thank God he didn’t run away with it 😅, he was a stranger after all!
The speakers, Saad Hamid from Google and Sabah Bano Malik from Arab News & FM89 were spectacular.
In their entire talk, they were basically saying…
I can honestly say that I came back a better person. It seems far fetched, but I’m speaking my heart out. A few hours can do wonders if you utilize them purposefully.
I’d like to extend my gratitude to Women Techmakers Islamabad and GDG Islamabad for highlighting these overlooked factors in society and applaud their vision.
On my last note, I’d advise you all to not give in to fear. The consistent struggle does lead somewhere. That’s what worked for me.
