This is what prevents timid people from accomplishing anything. From the moment of the first failure they become panic-stricken and can no longer go on speaking connectedly.
Those who would acquire poise must act quite otherwise.
Instead of avoiding occasions of speaking in public, they should seek for them. But first of all they must make some trials upon audiences who are in sympathy with them.
They should experiment upon their own families and should never fail to enlarge upon their theme. If need be, they can prepare the matter for a short address or a friendly argument.
If they find themselves stammering or panic-stricken, they must strive to recall the phrase that caused the trouble and endeavor to repeat it very emphatically without stuttering.
For the rest, it is always a dangerous thing to talk too fast. Words that are pronounced more slowly are always much better articulated, and in speaking leisurely one is more likely to avoid the embarrassment in talking that attacks those whose education in the direction of the acquiring of poise is not yet complete.
One of the most important exercises in the search for poise consists in accustoming oneself to speak slowly and very distinctly.
If one stammers in the least degree, especially if this fault is due to nervousness, one should begin again at the word which caused the trouble, pronouncing each syllable slowly and distinctly. Then one should incorporate it in one or two sentences and should not cease to utter it until one can enunciate it clearly and without any trouble.
In order to combine theory with practise, one should seek opportunities for entering public assemblies, striving to do so without awkwardness.
One should choose the time when the audience is not yet fully arrived, since, unless one is very sure of oneself, it is a risky matter to appear upon the scene when the house is full, or the guests for the most part assembled. By this means one is much more likely to be able to emerge victorious from the ordeal of the stares of the curious.