fandomhigh | Public Speaking, Tuesday, January 8, 2013

"Hey there," Josh said, standing behind a rostrum at the front of the room. "I'm Josh Lyman. You may all be suitably impressed now."

Yeah, it never worked in Fandom, but a guy's gotta try, right?

"Before I returned in glory to Fandom High School to teach you fine students, I was the Chief of Staff to President Matt Santos," he continued, "and before that I was the deputy chief of Staff for President Josiah Bartlet, and before that, I worked for various House and Senate members on the Hill. And before that, I got degrees from Harvard and Yale."

Be impressed, dammit!

"And in all of those places the ability to be articulate in front of large groups was absolutely crucial," Josh added. "If you can't make your point in a way people'll remember, there's no point in you even being in the room. This class will teach you how to be remembered."

He reached onto the shelf on the rostrum and pulled out a bullhorn, then tossed it to the nearest student. "And the first part of being remembered is making a good first impression. You each have fifteen seconds to get me to remember your name. Go."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's public speaking," Josh pointed out, "not mime. So I'm teaching you."

"You could learn our names by using the syllabus and basic facial recognition," Gert countered. "Teaching us public speaking would mean actually talking to us yourself."

"I already know how to speak in public," Josh said. "I've been on many, many nationally televised shows. I've been quoted in most newspapers in my dimension. Me talking at you only tells you about me, and I already know about me."

He thought him was pretty fantastic, but it wasn't exactly a class syllabus.

"Yeah, congratulations," Gert said dryly. "I've been on the news a lot too. That doesn't make me special."

Granted, that press had mostly been of the 'Have you seen these kids?' variety, but still.

"You could maybe try giving us advice or something," she continued. "As in teaching."

Edited 2013-01-08 15:08 (UTC)

"First day," Josh pointed out. "This shows me what levels of speaking ability I'm dealing with."

"And you got students to give you personal information by scaring them into thinking you wouldn't remember them otherwise," Gert said. "Good job. Does that tell us that your public speaking skills are focused on lying, or you're just a teacher who doesn't care about his students?"

Josh arched up an eyebrow. "Quite a conclusion to jump to there, skippy."

"You mean interpreting what you said literally and assuming you meant it?" Gert inquired. "Yeah, I bet."

Gert, please stop.

Edited 2013-01-08 19:49 (UTC)

"I said you have fifteen seconds to make an impression. I've given you way more time than that, and trust me, you've made an impression."

She was like a shorter Toby with weirder hair.

"That wasn't what I was going for," Gert assured him, "but yippee, I pass.

Public Speaking, Tuesday, January 8, 2013

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