PowerPoint presentations are different from elevator pitches. Keynote speaking is different from seminar conducting. Being a panelist is different from being a moderator. Speaking to millions on TV is different from speaking to 1000 at a convention. Speaking on a video webcast is different from being on a teleseminar. And being a guest on a talk show is different from being the host.

Every speaking opportunity is a little bit different. Nobody is 100% great at every type of presentation opportunity. Both Presidents Reagan and Obama are (were) better at delivering the big speech off of the TelePrompTer that they are (were) at speaking to reporters in interviews. (Reagan got his facts wrong. Obama says “uh” a lot.)

I’ve met broadcast TV network reporters who speak to million each night in their newscasts who were afraid to death of giving a speech to 50 people, live, in the same room. Some of the world’s greatest talk radio hosts can’t give a speech worth beans to a live audience.

The key to being an effective or even great communicator is to seek out and try as many different speaking opportunities as possible. You won’t necessarily become great in every format, but you can become proficient in most and excellent in a few.

Personally, I haven’t hosted any live broadcast talk radio shows in a number of years (I used to do daily 3 and 4 hour talk shows in the 90s), so I’d become a little rusty.  On Monday, I was asked to guest-host the Lou Rom show, an AM talk radio show in Lafayette, La (1330 AM). I could have said, “No thanks!” Or, “You’re not paying me enough!”

Instead, I just did it. As a host, you must smoothly enter and exit a time block, always reintroduce the topics, mention  the time, promo upcoming guest, interview quests, solicit callers, chit chat with the co-host, lead the interviews with some intelligence, and know when to conclude interviews, segments and the shows itself. Host who are really skillful make all of this seem 100% natural and seamless; but it’s not. It takes focus, and conscious thought. It’s not that any of it is extremely difficult (unless you’re talking about being really funny—fortunately, something I wasn’t asked to do), but it does involve metaphorically spinning a number of plates in the air at once and having to think about numerous things at once as well as planning for what will happen in just a few minutes.

Did I embarrass myself? No. Did I do OK? Yes. Was I so great that the network owners who have to replace Dr. Laura to go on 700 stations worldwide are calling me repeatedly? No, not quite, but that’s OK.

Being an occasional host makes me a better guest and that is something I do half a dozen times a week. So it was a good experience. It did, however, stretch me. I had to prepare differently than when I am a guest. I had to tape the station’s call letter and phone number to my wall. I had to worry about pronouncing Acadiana, La correctly. All good speaking muscles to flex from time to time.

What speaking opportunities would take you out of your comfort zone and what are you doing to seek them out? If you aren’t growing as a communicator there is always the chance you will stagnate and get worse.

My next challenge? Standup comedy, which is in many ways the hardest type of speaking to do. I tried it briefly 15 years ago without getting to the point of feeling confident enough to do it in front of a live audience. The next step for me will be signing up for a standup comedy class in the next 6 months and the just doing it.