#118: From Shy & Self-Conscious to World-Class Speaker, Mary Cheyne

The Toastmasters Podcast with Greg Gazin with Ryan Levesque and Bo Bennett

The Toastmasters Podcast is a talkshow designed to amplify the Toastmaster magazine content, featuring interviews with Toastmasters, contributors and those connected with the articles of this monthly publication. ALL 250+ Episodes can be found at ToastmastersPodcast.com.

[24:00] In 2009, Mary Cheyne competed in the World Championship of Public Speaking, and placed second out of 25,000 contestants from 14 countries.

Today, she is a professional speaker and trainer, leading workshops at corporations and organizations on how to become a better public speaker and communicator. Mary has trained over 15,000 people in more than 25 cities around the world and she also teaches communications-related classes at Northeastern University in Boston. 

In this episode, Mary shares her transformation from a shy, self-conscious computer programmer into a world-class public speaker. She also addresses an often-overlooked component of speaking—dealing with one's "inner critic”, which is the topic of her recently published book, “Present” Yourself in Public Speaking—Tell Your Inner Critic to SHUT UP! And the Real You to SPEAK UP!