Chennai: Motivational speaker and international trainer, M Chidambaram, a Chennaiite living in Mylapore, has been giving training programmes in public speaking, helping many individuals overcome fear of speaking, over the last 30 years.
Inspiring many individuals in the last three decades, he reaches a landmark in his career next week as he is set to conduct his 200th training programme. It is scheduled for 8 June.
Speaking to News Today ahead of the event, Chidambaram explains about his career as a trainer and his goals.
When asked how he entered the field, he says, “As a school boy, I was very diffident and had inferiority complex, however without getting bogged down, I was good at writing and continued doing that. Later, I became a banker and continued writing jokes and impressed people with my writing. I was introduced to Junior Chamber International, an organisation meant for personality and skill development. I joined as a trainer there in 1984 and within six years became an international trainer. My career in training began there. I then retired in 2006 from the bank and became a full-time trainer.”
Currently an international corporate trainer, Chidambaram has also won the most outstanding trainer of India award. He says that public speaking training is important to any individual.
“Public speaking improves their confidence, ability to think on one’s feet, acceptability and power of convincing,” he says.
“Over the years of my training career, I have seen different people attending the training, where some may already speak well without fear while some will be an introvert. This training is for all as we focus on overcoming stage fear, improving voice modulation, facial expressions, gestures and body language, and develop the art of story telling and narrating anecdotes. At one session, we also conduct theatre activity and make the participants act,” he adds.
When asked what kind of improvement an introvert can get, if the person attends the session which will usually be conducted only for a day, he says, “Attending the sessions really helps one come out of their shell. Throughout the day we give all the participants a chance to speak and at the end of the day we also give suggestions for further improvement. So at the end of the session people can see some change in themselves but it is also important for every individual to put their own effort to improve further.”
However, he is of the opinion that it is important to follow the progress of every person. He says that plans are on to form a speakers forum, comprising people attending the session so that they can meet once a month and have a group discussion.
“We earlier had a similar activity but it was discontinued due to several reasons. We are now planning to kickstart the initiative so that if discussions happen in a commonplace there are chances of more people joining the forum. We are planning to conduct the activity in Nageshwara Rao Park,” he says.
When asked what more he intends to do in the field, he says, “A trainer is more concerned about society and helps in bringing out a positive change among people. I intend to do 100 more trainer workshops in the next 10 years for people including teachers and want to create more trainers and good teachers.”
His 200th training programme is being conducted by Kaveri Academy of Creative Excellence and will be held at Hotel Metro Manor Periamet, opposite Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, from 9.30 am to 6 pm, 8 June. It is for people above the age of 10.
For details, contact Chidambaram at 99410 07068.