Welcome to my new blog about Public Speaking. 

According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.

In 2004 I was invited to the Corona/Norco Realtors Association to give them a presentation on Marketing. I said “sure, why not, this is my field and it was a great opportunity to promote myself in front of a great targeted audience”… my presentation was a disaster, not the material, I certainly knew what I was talking about, but I didn’t reflect self-confidence, my voice was shaky, I practically freaked out. After that meeting I decided to join Toastmasters International.

My name is Marcy Decato, I was born and raced in Colombia, South America, went to college there, then came to America in 1987, went to college here, became a business owner in 2001 and got very involved in the business community thru the Chamber of Commerce as an Ambassador, and the Board of Directors. During my business career I have been part of various networking and non-profits organizations in which I have been the President or have taken a leadership role at some point.

So you may ask, why is she sharing that information with us, what does that have to do with public speaking? A GREAT DEAL, I must say!!!

Without public speaking skills, my leadership roles would have been extremely difficult to accomplish. A few years after I started my business I was invited to the Corona/Norco Realtors Association to give them a presentation on Marketing. I said “sure, why not, this is my field and it was a great opportunity to promote myself in front of a great targeted audience”… my presentation was a disaster, not the material, I certainly knew what I was talking about, but I didn’t reflect self-confidence, my voice was shaky, I practically freaked out. After that meeting I decided to join Toastmasters International. That was in 2006, and I have to tell you that the tools that I have learned have helped me tremendously to overcome my fear to public speaking and made me a confident an effective speaker (not a professional speaker) and it doesn’t mean that I don’t get nervous, or that I don’t get the butterflies in my stomach, I just know how to control them and how to use them to my benefit.

So, I have been asked a couple of times by Soroptimist International to talk about Public Speaking for Leadership Training, and I said it again “sure, why not”… but this time, I am confident that I can help them to get valuable information for leadership roles!

Hey… if this Colombian with an accent could do it, so could you,  RIGHT?