Page 283 - ConvinceThemFlip

13
The Show
Must Go On
A few years ago, I was the guest on The Debra
Duncan Show in Houston, Texas. It was a one-
hour special titled America’s Biggest Fear, and
it was about public speaking. The producers had previ-
ously solicited viewers who had trouble talking to groups,
yet whose jobs required them to make presentations on
an ongoing basis. I was supposed to come in and teach
them how to overcome this fear. Five people were chosen;
three of them chickened out at the last minute.
The day before the show, I had the pleasure of meeting
one of them, the heroic Teresa. My job was to guide her from
panic to poise. Teresa is a sweetheart, a CPR instructor in
her mid-thirties whose job requires her to visit organizations
and businesses and teach people how to save lives. The only
trouble is that she is petrified of talking to groups.
A few hours before we met, the station had taped
her making a presentation to a group of strangers in a