Hi, My Name Is...

"Hi."

That's how any exchange between two of more people starts (usually followed by "My name is" or "Nice to meet you" or some sort of variation on that). And as it's my hope that two or more people will be reading this blog, that is how I'll start my first post.

"Hi. My name is Spadaque Volcimus."

Ever since I was young I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life; I wanted to act. And while it's fair to call me an actor (cause that's what I am), technically that's not what I do. What I really do is communicate.  Whenever you watch someone playing a character in a movie or television show they're communicating something to you. The actor, if she's good, is getting an idea across to the audience. The idea can be about what kind of person the character is, their social status, or what type of world they live in. So you can imagine that would put actors in a unique position to understand the importance of good communication.

That brings me to how the idea for this blog was born.

Please allow me to be saucy for a minute (Don't worry there's a point to the madness). Communication is like sex; a lot of people think they're good at it but they're just letting the other person do all the work. Why do you think there's so many sex advice columns out there?; sometimes people just need help doing something that seems to come easy (no pun intended) to others. The truth is, communication is a complex process but learning how to do it effectively can be more rewarding than you can ever imagine (kind of like sex).

All of the most successful people on the planet have been, to a great extent, good public speakers and communicators (Steve Jobs and his Mac presentations come to mind). The German author Thomas Mann once defined communication or, more to the point, speech as "civilization itself."  That's a pretty "whoa" inducing thought isn't it? But it's true. From philosophers to politicians, the ideas that are conveyed better and clearer, are the ones that are adopted by society and subsequently become part of who we are.

But it seems that with the increase use of technology, the classic sender-receiver roles involved with communicating  has been augmented, fragmented and every other kind of "mented" you could think of. It's a little sad. All over the world we have people who just don't know how to talk to each other anymore. I'm not talking about texting or facebooking. I mean the good old face to face back and forth. The kind of thing that can land you a job at the interview, a date at that party, confidence in front of an audience.

How to talk in America.

Uta Hagen was a legendary actress and acting teacher who many actors turned to at the start of their training. In her book, "A Challenge for the Actor" (which every actor owns or should own) she writes, "As actors we must not consider ourselves immune from the need to learn about our world, our country."  Through sharing my notes, tips, exercises, musings on public speaking and communication I hope to also get something from you, the one or more people reading this. Through this blog I hope we can make each other more aware of how important it is to stay connected to the world we live in.

Let's start this journey together.


"Bye"

That's how most exchanges between two or more people end. Usually followed by "It was nice meeting you"  or "see you later" or some variation on that. So that's how I'm going to end my first post.

"Bye. It was nice meeting you. Hope to see you later."

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I welcome questions, comments, or corrections. Leave them here of send them to HowToTalkInAmerica@Gmail.com