But stop biting your finger-nails. Public speaking is easy. It s just plain talking, and you talk all the time. Although I m basically shy(honest!), I ve been making speeches and talking on radio and television for more than 30 years, and I can tell you that public speaking is not a “gift” like musical talent or being able to draw. Anybody who can talk can speak in public. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

　　Keep it simple.

　　Your audience2 is going to come away with one or two of your main ideas. One or two. Not ten or 20. If you can t express in a sentence or two what you intend to get across3, then your speech is not focused well enough. And if you don t have a clear idea of what you want to say, there s no way your audience will.

　　Get organized.

　　No matter how long or short your speech, you ve got to get your ducks in a row—how you re going to open, what major points you want to make and how you re going to close.

　　When I do a radio or TV piece, I often write the last sentence first. When you know where you re headed, you can choose any route to get there. A strong close is critical4: the last thing you say is what your audience will most likely remember.

　　Keep it short.

　　the standard length of a vaudeville5 act was 12 minutes. If all those troupers6 singing and dancing their hearts out couldn t go on longer without boring the audience, what makes you think you can?

　　演讲其实很简单很少有人喜欢在公共场合演讲，原因是我们都怕出洋相，越是重要的演讲心里越恐慌。

　　但是你不必紧张兮兮的。演讲其实很容易。演讲就跟平常说话差不多，大家天天都在说话。我这个人尽管骨子里很害羞(这是实话!)，但却在广播电视节目里讲了30多年，说了30多年。可以这么跟你说，演讲跟音乐才华和绘画能力不一样，不靠“天赋”。只要会说话就能演讲。这里谈谈我自己的几点经验。

　　要简单明了别人听你讲话，总会记住你的一两个要点。一两点，不是一二十点。如果一两句话不能把你想说的意思表达出来，那说明你说话的重点不够突出。如果连你都不知道自己想说什么，怎么能指望别人听明白呢?

　　要有条理说话长也好，短也好，必须井井有条——开始说什么，主要想谈哪几点，最后怎么收尾。

　　我做广播电视节目的时候，常常先把最后一句话写好。一旦你知道了目标，路径就可以任你挑选了。关键是收尾要有力：最后说的话别人可能记得最清楚。

　　话不宜长一个杂耍节目的标准长度是12分钟。如果这些演员尽情歌舞超过12分钟都会让观众厌倦的话，你说你还能怎么样呢?