A CRASH COURSE ON THE ACT OF PUBLIC SPEAKING.
Public speaking is as important to us as air. It is so sought after that people spend millions of dollars globally to get a hang on it. It involves a lot of things but most of them can be pushed under any of the 4 sub headings. So you could call this your crash course on public speaking. A do it your self kit.
1. Dress well
“Seldom do people discern
Eloquence under a threadbare cloak.”
Juvenal
The first thing listeners peruse is a speaker’s dressing. We’ve all done it in church when the first thing you look at and analyze is the pastor’s suit, his tie, is the tie a good match for the shirt? Atimes if the speaker is a first timer to you, rating of his dressing is equaled to his speaking prowess. Don’t forget that and as Anne Hollander said “Clothes can suggest, persuade, connote, insinuate, or indeed lie, and apply subtle pressure while their wearer is speaking frankly and straightforwardly of other matters.” So dress well and make sure your dress is saying the same thing with your mouth.
2. Know the stuff
Public speaking is all about passing across information and how absurd it would look if you dressed well and you didn’t really have an idea of what you were passing across. As the foremost scientist of the last century Albert Einstein said “If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies…. It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.”
Rehearse and research the subject of discussion adequately. Don’t just mumble something and run off the podium. Know your onions and do have a superb time speaking to us. Expect questions and remarks and do well to decide your reaction and answers to them before the talk.
3. Art of delivery
This is the true art of public speaking. The art of delivery sets apart the amateurs, professionals and others from orators. The art of delivery consists of the following:
i. Facial expression – look happy to be on the podium to speak and your listeners would become excited and listen patiently to you after all if you are not excited about your speech there’s no reason to suggest your listeners would be enthusiastic about it.
ii. Gestures and body expression – communication is partially equal to verbal communication. There is body language there, gestures with your feet, hands and legs. Don’t describe something with your mouth only, gestures could be more appropriate.
iii. Tone of voice – this is a skill that should be learnt as it could make the difference between an excellent and a mediocre talk. If you want to ginger people to take action, stimulate them with not just only your talk but raise the pitch of your voice, likewise at different condition a particular tone is most suitable for your talk or for that segment of your talk, stick with it.
iv. The pause – the pause is the professional silence you chip into your talk to allow your listeners ponder over a statement or for a loaded statement you have just made to sink in. The people also want to listen to your next statement. It keeps you in charge of the talk and gives you time to gather your thoughts.
v. On your mark – never rush into a presentation. Before you start you could just take a couple of seconds. It shows professionalism when you pause.
vi. Opening – your opening should most of the time includes a quote from a notable personality or source, statement of fact etc. Bottom line it should be striking. For instance imagine yourself a guest speaker at an AIDS conference. You could start by saying ” according to the World Health Organization 15 people die every minute in sub Saharan Africa from AIDS and related opportunistic infections which means by the time I conclude this speech 900 people would have died. The question is what can we do or should be doing to stop this scourge before it wipes us out.” Now that’s an opening.
vii. Closing – continuing with the example above you could close with “shall we stand and observe a minute silence for the souls that just died from AIDS”. Your closing should be obvious, don’t just roam about some points then sign off, that’s pretty bad.
viii. Stories and sayings – we all like this during public presentations in fact it constitutes the major buck of what is remembered after the speech so spice your talk up with it. People want stories,
ix. Your style – this is your personality nobody knows it better than you. Let it sing across during the speech.
“Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.”
Janet Lane
4. RELAX
Just relax, after all your audience consists of human beings not aliens.
