This is how I developed my public speaking skills:
- singing (for vocal control): 12 years of lessons
- playing piano (for rhythm): six years of lessons
- dance classes (coordination): hundreds of classes
- bandleading (stage presence): 18 years of work experience
- writing (general): since I was 6
- writing (speeches): 10 years of 70-hour (or more!) weeks
- bartending (audience management): three years in some pretty rough joints
- pitching: hundreds of pitches
- leading workshops and training sessions: hundreds of them
- speechmaking: dozens of public speeches
- speaker coaching: 10 years full-time, and 10 years part-time before that
- and leading up to, oh yeah, when I’m rattling off an Instant Speech example in a speaker coaching session, I’m practicing!