Art Of Great Speaking

The third characteristic of an effective speaker is likeability. In public speaking as with day to day conversation people will respond to your message more favourably if they like you.

Your audience want to like you.  They will enjoy listening to you and will not be as skeptical about what you have to say. It is a hard characteristic to have and it can take time to develop it in public speaking.

The qualities that will help improve your likeability quotient are:-

1.  Be interested in your audience – Take an active and genuine interest in what they have   to say and show that you care about them. Developing your active listening skills will help immensely. The interest needs to genuine or people will find out and you will lose their goodwill.

2. Be positve, have an upbeat tone,  and smile. As in all works of life, your audience will enjoy listening to a message that is upbeat and accentuates the positive. It makes them feel better. A negative and dull delivery is a big turn off.  

Smile and look upwards and it will make you feel more upbeat and positive. Conversely looking downwards and frowning will dampen your mood. As a rule people like to smile and it is contagious. 

Another technique is to consciously choose your attitude. If you are going to ther you might as well as enjoy it.

3. Keep their point of view in mind when developing your speech. This will demonstrate that you care about them through your speech.

If you are not naturally that way it will take some effort to develop. It is worth persevering with because your speech will be better received, it will be easier to achieve your objective and your audience will want you back. 

For more tips on public speaking and conversation visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to claim a free preview of The Art of Great conversation

My previous post covered the first characteristic required for effective public speaking -confidence. The second quality to discuss is is persistence.

Public speaking more than any other human skill is learnt by doing. The more you speak in public the more self-confidence will be developed in public speaking. The more frequently that you speak in public the more quickly you will improve your public speaking. The speech you give does not need to be long. A short speech given frequently is more effective than a long speech delivered infrequently in developing your skills and confidence in public speaking.

Each time you speak set yourself a target of improving by 1%. You can set it higher if you like. By using 1% it means that after 72 speeches you will be twice the speaker you were when you began. Review each speech and ask yourself:-

What worked well?

What will I do better next time?

As with any worthwhile endeavour there will be setbacks on the road to mastering speaking with confidence. It is important to see these as learning opportunities – difficult as that maybe. Everyone has had them. Success, they say, lies on the other side of adversity.

When you were learning to swim you found a swimming pool to practice. In public speaking you need a meeting to practice your skills. Most companies and organisation have opportunities to speak in front of groups for their employees – in team or departmental meetings. These are great places to practice your new found public speaking skills. Also within most communities there are civic and service club forums, P.T.A. meetings, community gatherings etc, that will provide ample opportunity for you to be heard.

For more tips on public speaking and conversation please visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com for a free preview of The Art of Great Conversation

Public speaking today is about delivering a speech that is worthwhile to your audience in a clear and interesting way.  Being prepared to apply yourself and learn the skills  will make it  possible to become an effective speaker. The style of public speaking popular today is more like conversation rather than grammatically correct English and the use of flowery phrases of yesteryear.  This puts effective public speaking in the reach of more people as content is more impotant.

The development of the right characteristics and qualities will help in acquiring the skills of delivery and preparation needed to become a more effective speaker.

1. Confidence – Your audience will become doubtful if you are not confident in your delivery. Self confidence comes from preparing thoroughly and practicing until you are fully conversant with your speech.  The first part of the preparation is to know your audience. Getting to know your audience helps you in two ways:-

(a) It is normally easier to speak to people you know – like day to day conversation

(b) You will be able to choose a topic that not only interests you but more importantly the audience will find interesting

Many experienced speakers suffer from nerves before they go on to deliver their speech.  They use this as motivation to do their best and some call it anticipation. They will take a few deep breaths and concentrate on the important speech they are about to deliver.

The first step for anyone new to speaking in front of group of people is the most important. The step for the new speaker is to realise that it is not the crowd they fear but themselves, in the same way that a first time swimmer must realise it is not the water they fear but themselves. From this small bud of courage, if properly tendered, will flower the full bloom of confidence.

If you are not confident now, don’t worry there are many resources and organisations available to help you – on the internet and offline as well.

In my next blog post I will discuss further the characteristics needed to beome an effective speaker.

In the meantime for tips on public speaking and great conversation please visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to claim a free preview of The Art of Great Conversation

A great way to continue to build confidence in public speaking is to take on the role of introducing other public speakers. Many clubs and organisations rotate this role among their members.  

In this role you are reponsible for introducing the speaker to the audience and to create an environment where the audience is ready to listen.

As in when you are preparing for public speaking you want to plan your introduction and know your subject thorougly ie. get to know the speaker. The areas for you to acquaint yourself with are their subject, the nature of their expertise, their character, what others say about them.  If you don’t know them, introduce yourself to them and get to know them.

There is only one real rule about introductions is that the better known the speaker the shorter the introduction needs to be, for example the President of the United States is introduced with 9 words:-

“Ladies and Gentleman, the President of the United States”

A proven structure for an introduction for other than the above is;

1. Speakers name and last name. State it clearly and pronounce it correctly.

2. Their business or title. In some cases the stating of their business may be the only payment they are receiving.

3. A brief biography – keep it relevant.

4. The topic of their speech and possibly a brief overview of the content of the sppech.

5. Thank them and give their name again

It is best to keep the introduction simple and sincere. Don’t go over the top as this may give the speaker too much to live up to.

Take the time to prepare the introduction and keep it brief.  You are not their to give the speech (don’t try to steal the show) but to spur the speaker on and create the right atmosphere for the speaker.

 For more information on confident public speaking and conversation please visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com and claim a free preview of The Art of Great Conversation

There are many situations when you will not really have a choice of topic. Circumstances and situations can dictate it. But where there is no such dictate it can be difficult to choose. Outlined below are some considerations in choosing your public speaking topic.

1. Determine the subjects you know about.

Your choice is limited to the subjects you are familiar with. It is best to stick with what you know and are interested in . You can then speak with confidence on it. It is possible to choose topics you have no experience in but it will take time to gather the research. And it is more difficult to speak confidently on a topic you have no personal experience in. Can you speak with authority on the subject and will that come over in your delivery?

2. Consider your audience

The speech should fit with the type of audience you are going to speak to. A serious topic is probably not appropriate at a banquet where entertainment is what the audience will want.

Will the subject you have chosen interest the audience and will it be worthwhile to them to listen? This is the best test of your subject. Therefore get to know your audience – their age, interests, reasons for attending, who is organising etc?  

3. Choose as soon as you can.

Do not spend too much time in choosing your subject. Come up with your topic as quickly as you can so that you can swiftly move on to preparating and practicing your speech.    

In summary know your audience, choose a subject that interests them and you. Choose it as soon as you can and this will leave you time to get your speech thoroughly prepared and practiced.

for more information on speaking with confidence in public speaking and conversation visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to claim a free preview of The Art of Great Conversation.