#pitnyc

I belong to a bevy of professional groups on LinkedIn.

Bevy.  I've always liked that word, so much nicer than 'bunch'.

Anyway, in one of the Irish cultural groups I follow a gentleman wanted to know if anyone would be interested in forming an informal public speaking group. I decided to throw my hat in the ring and contact this man. Ever since I became an improviser in 2007, I have noticed that public speaking isn't as difficult as it used to be for me. Sure, there's the initial fear of separating yourself from the herd while making loud, declarative statements-- an impulse that goes against every instinct in the human body. It's fun to be onstage and feel your brain fight millions of years of evolution that signal, 'safety in numbers, man, get back to the pack, we're gonna get eaten!'  But once you warm up and get into your material you realize that you're doing something very few people volunteer to do. It's never as bad as it seems at first. And once it's over you feel like you survived a disaster unscathed and you can't wait to do it again. It really is one of the best feelings in the world, aside from a free brunch or everyone in a room liking you for you.

I wish there were a way to teach this to everyone who fears public speaking, but I think most people don't move past the dread. In my case I'm very glad I did. In 2007 I had signed up for Level 0 at the People's Improv Theater here in NYC, worrying the whole way there that we were going to be required to do a long form Harold.  If you don't know what a Harold is, don't worry. It's now 7 years later and I'm still not 100% certain I've ever done one.  All I knew is that I had seen Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, and Seth Meyers and other great players do a fantastic one a few weeks earlier at UCB and I thought to myself, 'As scary as it looks to me right now, I need to do this terrifying and magical thing myself'. And I can safely say that it has improv-ed (ha! comedy! It's late here right now) my life in almost every way.

Had I not signed up for the class that day, I wouldn't have learned that successful public speaking and presentation is about connecting with your audience honestly, I wouldn't have excelled at my job, with involved almost all public speaking, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend, and i wouldn't have made a slew of very good friends who are all significantly younger than me.   

So when this gentleman asked for help, I offered to walk him through some improv exercises that would help people loosen up and "get out of their heads" a bit.  The best exercises are physical, silly and fast, so that the students have no choice but to respond and play without judging themselves. It's a very fun and unexpected place to find yourself. I found myself there in 2007 and I would love to help other people find it too. I hope he takes me up on my offer.