Try and find a word starting with an “x” to do with public speaking and…well…not easy! At the time of compiling the editorial calendar for this challenge I had just watched X-Men: Days of Future Past and an idea struck.

So even though the X-Men characters are supposed to be mutants they are also superheroes with superpowers right? And in public speaking there are those skills that if honed will make you into a super-public-speaker. A bit of a long shot? Yeah, probably, but I’m going with it.

So, who are the X-Men of public speaking?

**** Roundup post alert****

Top of the list is being able to control any nervousness and anxiety and making them work for you. F is for Fluttering Butterflies is a short interview with an experienced speaker. My take-home from this post is his mantra ““I am here and I am still breathing” which helps the butterflies to fly in formation.

Each and every opportunity in front of an audience, no matter how big or small is an opportunity to lead from the lectern. It touches on the correlation between Thought Leadership and building a personal brand.

My favourite-favourite is M is for Mentor. It goes into the importance of mentorship and that is a sure fire way to success in whatever you do. Mentors are not only for novices, they are for anyone, no matter what experience level, to become better at something.

Aaaaaand…being able to condense a talk or presentation into a manageable capsule of time will ensure that you will not lose your audience. Most people cannot focus for longer than twenty minutes without a break. I am one of those people. T is for Time touches on the TED Talk duration of 18-minutes.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the superheroes of public speaking…

I hope these have served to recap some of the important skills mentioned in previous posts. Tomorrow it is Y is for You and the Yin and Yang of public speaking.

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge and Twitter id is @AprilA2Z