Dale Carnegie began teaching his first public speaking course in 1912 for the YMCA at 125th Street in New York City. In those days, public speaking was regarded as an art, rather than as a skill, and its teaching aims were directed toward producing orators and platform giants of the silver-tongued variety. The average business or professional man who merely wanted to express himself with more e…
When people are asked what their greatest fear is, the most frequent response is dying and the second most frequent is speaking in public. True, many people, who are intelligent, articulate, and at ease in expressing their ideas on a one-to-one basis, become tongue-tied and terrified when faced with even a small audience. Businesspeople have been stymied in their careers because they fear speak…