SPEAK UP, DON'T BE SHY

From an introverted teen, 3rd Sergeant (3SG) (NS) Eric Feng learnt to become an outspoken and charismatic speaker and has even gone on to make a career of teaching others how to make the same change.

At the age of 15, a bad experience during a speech contest convinced 3SG (NS) Feng that speaking was not his forte. He had to deliver a speech on nuclear energy to hundreds of secondary school students, but froze halfway when stage fright got the better of him.

Today, he is a confident and eloquent man who looks set to make a name for himself in the world of public speaking.

The 28-year-old is the co-author of best-seller The FAQ Book On Public Speaking which was written in 2007. In the same year, he was ranked among the top 25 young entrepreneurs of Asia by Business Week (USA). He has since published his second book, Get To The Point, a guide to presenting with more confidence and charisma in front of any audience. His first book was well received and opened up many doors for him in the corporate market.

A professional public speaking coach certified by the International Coach Federation (USA), 3SG (NS) Feng is also the proud owner of public speaking consultancy Releve Singapore. Among his notable achievements was being crowned the division champion at the International Speech Contest in 2007 and 2008.

Speak up

Earning all those accolades was no easy feat for the Computing graduate who once suffered from low self-esteem. "I used to feel awkward around people, and even my best friend said I was 'Mr Invisible'. I couldn t make a stand for myself and I didn't know how to cope," recounted 3SG (NS) Feng, who is from 3rd Division Headquarters.

One of the people who contributed to his transformation to a confident speaker was his Officer Commanding (OC) at the then 1st People s Defence Force, where he served his National Service as an Assistant Training Specialist.

Having noticed that 3SG (NS) Feng was not coping well with negative feedback from others, his OC encouraged him to learn to take criticisms in his stride. "He said I was too mild mannered so I had to toughen up," said 3SG (NS) Feng, who was in charge of facilitating NS training.

"My OC gave me the confidence to speak up and I thought to myself 'Hey, I'm actually not that bad'. And so I started speaking up for my specialists. I was like the spokesperson for my company because I knew I had my OC s support as long as I showed that my points were valid," he added.

3SG (NS) Feng also attributed his success to two mentors who sparked his interest in running a public speaking consultancy. His first mentor, a senior at the National University of Singapore (NUS), started a training company and roped him in to manage the administrative aspects of the firm in 2002. His second mentor was a friend he made at a public speaking workshop in his university days who encouraged him to join Toastmasters, a public speaking organisation, the following year.

And while his peers busied themselves with studies and co-curricular activities, 3SG (NS) Feng never stopped honing his craft through his participation in Toastmasters. In those early years, 3SG (NS) Feng also gave free speech coaching to the public in classes of varying sizes outside of his curriculum time. These days, he no longer runs public programmes and conducts personal coaching instead.

Through his public speaking consultancy established in late 2009, 3SG (NS) Feng provides one-to-one executive speech training and corporate market-specific training to individuals holding senior management positions in the health care, manufacturing and finance industries.

With clients located throughout Asia, 3SG (NS) Feng finds himself travelling to places like Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia to conduct these personalised coaching sessions on a weekly basis.

During his university days, 3SG (NS) Feng busied himself with honing his public speaking skills whenever he got a chance.

Take a chance

But taking the road less travelled of building a career in the public speaking industry brought on many doubts initially. "People questioned how much I could earn when I told them I wanted to teach public speaking. They said that many had switched to teaching other subjects like leadership, team-building, marketing or public relations because few people wanted to learn about public speaking," he noted.

Despite the scepticism of others, 3SG (NS) Feng stood by his decision. "I just went by faith and the next thing I knew, it turned out to be a blessing because few others ventured into public speaking. If you ask who is a public speaking coach in Singapore, it's hard to think of one. It's very niche and that was where I was able to find my ground," he said.

His advice for those venturing into unfamiliar territory? "When the opportunity arises, just go for it. What's the worst that can happen? That you fail? When you fall down, don't just pick yourself up. Pick something up as well and that something is experience. Because no one can take that experience away from you," he said.

Confidence & Charisma

Here are some choice excerpts from 3rd Sergeant (NS) Eric Feng s latest book Get To The Point.

"No matter how persuasive you are, you will never make your audience take action and improve their lives unless they want to!"

"The essence of public speaking can be summarised in six words: Tell a story, make a point."

"Fast talk is like fine print. It gets ignored and you end up having listeners who have absolutely no clue what you have just said."