How to Become Good at Public Speaking
When I was an Uchideshi of Koichi Tohei Sensei, I asked him how I might become good at public speaking. He told me “Go to Yose.” (This is a place in Japan where you watch Japanese comedy)
Luckily, I was in Tokyo to otomo Tohei Sensei, so I could easily access Shinjuku Suehirotei, the “Yose”.
One day I was able to go, but I could only watch the last half of the show, because of my work schedule. Every comedian I saw on that evening was an expert, and I enjoyed the show very much with the other audience members. I felt the time passed by like a flash.
Next week, Koichi Tohei Sensei asked me, “I heard you have been to Yose. How was it?” and I answered “Yes, I have been there. It was really fun!”
I saw his face and recognized my answer was beyond the mark.
“It was good that you enjoyed it, but I would like to hear what interested you the most, and why you thought it was fun.” As he asked me this, I noticed that I had perhaps forgotten the purpose of his recommending this adventure to me.
“I will visit there again.” I told him and then he gave me another bit of advice, “Ok, when you go there, you better watch from the beginning to the end.”
I visited Yose again next week. This time, I was there from the beginning. There were very few audience members this time. In fact, it was almost empty.
The comedians came on stage one at a time. All were very young, but some of them were very good entertainers, and some were inexperienced.
At first, I did not know what the differences were. However, while I was watching them carefully, I found the huge differences were in their state of mind before coming up on stage, their facial expression, their breathing, and “Ma”, which means “the moment of each movements and words.” In English this is called “their timing.”
The later the show went on, the better the comedian who came on stage, the more audience filled in the hall, and the more laughter, and the more to learn. I studied all the people around me and I tried to observe the whole atmosphere.
I decided to get permission from Koichi Tohei Sensei for me to visit Yose every week. While practicing uchideshi training, we do not earn much money, and I spent most of what I earned to visit there. It was an investment for my future.
Not only money was spent, but time was also invested. It takes about 4 hours if you stay at Yose from the beginning to the end. I do not remember how many times I have been there!
Live shows are very “perishable,” and you can never receive the full impact of by watching the same kind of information through internet screen or just listening to someone’s feedback. This is why Koichi Tohei Sensei did not teach me how but told me “Go to Yose”.
“You often visit Yose recently, right?” He asked me. “Yes! Last week I noticed that….”
I could never forget his happy face when he listened to my reports of what I have learned.
