I have something to say: mastering the art of public speaking in an age of disconnection

Includes bibliographical references.

In eleventh grade, John Bowe's cousin Bill asked a classmate to prom. She said no. Bill responded by moving to the family basement--and staying there for the next forty-three years. But in 1992, at the age of fifty-nine, Bill surprised everyone who knew him: He got married. Bowe learned that Bill credited his turnaround to a non-profit club he'd joined called Toastmasters International. Fascinated by the idea that speech training seemed to foster the kind of psychological well-being more commonly sought through expensive psychiatric treatment, and intrigued by the notion that words could serve as medicine-- healing the shy, connecting the disconnected, and mending our frayed social fabric--Bowe sets out to learn for himself what he'd gathered from so many others: When you learn to speak in public, you undergo a profound transformation that has very little to do with standing at a podium. Through his own Toastmasters journey, Bowe learns much more than how to overcome the nervousness associated with giving a speech. He learns that public speaking is really about the audience--it's the art of paying attention. Ultimately, Bowe finds that the key to eloquence, to overcoming shyness, is not mastering one's self or one's fears, but honing one's ability to empathize, pay attention to other people, and connect.