Art Of Great Speaking

Are you a more persuasive speaker when you know who you are talking to?

Obviously an able persona is more effective as a persuasive force when audience members know the speaker personally. But even when a public speaker is unknown these excellent personal characteristics will create to some degree at least, favorable impressions.
Conversely poor character traits will detract from persuasiveness.
By way of example, a college student named Dean, was a red-haired twenty-four-year-old ball of human dynamite. He was neither tall nor very short yet keg-chested having a mouth just like a miniature Grand Canyon. Whenever he spoke he bounced across the stage as if he were an Indian rubber ball. He pounded the table with his freckled fists. Sometimes he hopped on to the table and shook an accusing forefinger at his listeners as he talked. He was high in volume and beneficial. He thundered, pleaded, and tried hard to convince, but most individuals, especially those who knew him would not yield to his persuasion.

The reason why? Due to the fact public speaker was animated and enthusiastic? Absolutely no. Those characteristics are effective except if they call attention to themselves rather than the concepts and emotions a speaker wants to convey.
Did Dean not convince because he was eccentric? Absolutely no, not so much because of that but mostly as he didn’t win over people as being an able, sincere individual.
He gave a talk in favor of truthfulness but while he spoke, his mail was stuffed with bills he did not intend to take care of. Among his themes was unselfishness. However , he bought himself expensive suits while his wife and children were made to wear little better than rags.
This may be an excessive scenario but it’s true, and a vivid indication of the fact that just what a someone is may well shout so loudly people will not be able to hear what is being spoken.
Another illustration of this truth is the situation of Professor Z.
Z tags him nicely, as he is the sleepy, elbows-on-the-desk-chin-in-hands kind. A Ph.D. taught to the tips of his gray, thinning hair. Frail, slightly bent, having an apologetic, slouching gait, and a “have I a right” facial expression: His tone of voice is weak and without substance. He speaks with an odd nasal twang. He is an only child, many miles away from mom, yet at the age of 35, still in her kitchen apron pocket. Unmarried.
Observe him in the college dining area, shyly eating boiled eggs sent to him from mom via parcel post! Dr. Z will need to have his special vitamins. Or see him at the merest hint of rain grab his hat, raincoat, overshoes, and umbrella. He must not expose himself to a drop of water.
Then watch him  lecturing to his class. He talks of tough historical characters and their acts, but the class can’t become excited about his speech since they can’t sense he is an able, self-assured, grown-up individual.

What do you think? Can fake it until you make it? May be, may be not. I do know you can become a confident and effective public speaker if you apply yourself. If you want some tips and hints check out our free e-course on public speaking by entering your details in box to the right.

How do you feel when you are about to speak in front of an audience?

When a public speaker walks out in front of an audience believing that, as opposed to being on trial, he and his ideas are completely acceptable, his self-confidence immediately begins motivating this positive condition. Of course his liking and respect for the audience prevents his self-confidence from turning into severe or reaching the stage of egotism.
Confidence builds more confidence. Notice just how this functions when a team has a significant rally in a baseball game. 2 or 3 batters hit the baseball, yet another walks. The successful spirit is there. With extra self-confidence and eagerness the batters step up to the batting zone. The opposing pitcher will lose some self-confidence. He thinks about the clubhouse and a bath. He sees his name in the losing column on the neighborhood sports page. Every one of these influences have got their effects.
Likewise, whenever a public speaker steps out on a platform already possessing a winning spirit, his attitude definitely promotes that result. Obviously the opposite outcome is suggested when he arrives beaten just before he begins.
We see a victor as being a content, pleasant, smiling person. Notice a team which has only just lost a significant baseball competition. The players are an image of gloom, dejection, and defeat. But look at the delighted winners! In a somewhat comparable manner, a public speaker that feels himself to be a winner will appear like one. His smile, nevertheless, will come from deep inside. It will be natural, not added on. There will be nothing artificial or insincere about him because he has a deep affinity for his subject matter, and an keen want to discuss it with listeners he likes and sincerely respects.
Any “put on” manner will be resented by audiences. As Cecil B. DeMille said, “Affectedness in speech is the worst fault of all … Be yourself; your individuality is the most precious thing you possess. Let your voice be forthright and honest.”
Be your finest natural personal self.
When we purposely try to replicate somebody, or proceed through our life playing a part as though we were perpetually in a play, our personalities basically do not ring true, and dislike instead of persuasion is the outcome of our speaking endeavors.

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Public speaking gestures are important in conveying your message effectively. What does your body language say about you?

There’s no 1 certain way to make any gesture. However UP and OUT (within reason obviously) are helpful terms to remember and use in connection with gestures. Actions that are up and out can be easily observed by an audience. Such actions are also usually far more positive and powerful than modest unsure motions made close to a speaker’s body. Then, also, when hands and arms move on a high sphere they are closer to the speaker’s facial area, which usually enables an audience to obtain a unified emotional impact from the hands, arms and face.
Whenever possible ideas ought to be illustrated with bodily action. For instance, whenever a speaker tells about the huge bass which got away he can picture the idea with facial and bodily action – if he can reach that far!
1 need not be absolutely exact when doing illustrative movements. They may be portrayed just as accurately as 1 readily can. Obviously the pace of the movement is going to be governed from the feeling that the idea encourages. “The train crawled around a bend,” will incite a far different sort of movement than, “A jet crashed in to the building!” As with all effective bodily action this is simply a case of talking naturally and openly with the muscles.
Healthy, successful gestures are not planned, even though at the beginning a student speaker might have to force his body and face, along with his tongue in order to tell his story. Nevertheless he needs to encourage body language right up until it becomes so natural he won’t need to give it second thought.
A presenter who refuses or fails to use natural gestures is similar to a boxer with a hand behind his back, or like somebody speaking through a television set that has no image. Such a speaker will be lacking a visual appeal which will certainly take away from his ability to persuade.
William Shakespeare reminds us, “Action is eloquence; the eyes of the ignorant are more learned than their ears.”
Perhaps the same could be said in all honesty regarding the very clever listeners in an audience, too.
And Demosthenes, who has a high ranking amongst speakers of all time stated, “The first qualification of the orator is action; the second, action; and the third, action.”
Act! – but as naturally when you would play your best game.

I hope you have enjoyed this series on public speaking gestures. If you want to know how you can improve your public speaking to be more effective and confident please fill in your details in the space on the above right.

Do you use word whiskers in your public speaking?

The behavior of expressing “ur, uh, mm,” or some other noise similar to a grunt other than a word, contributes nothing to the meaning of a speech and can easily become extremely maddening for audience members.
These vocalized breaks, word whiskers, or conversational burs occur like a worthless habit (as dry washing the hands) or when a speaker is sparring for words. Perhaps subconsciously feeling he or she must be speaking some thing continuously he / she tosses in the “urs” and “ahs” while he / she is thinking of what he / she will say next. In these kinds of cases the remedy can be a vivid knowing of the behavior and constant alertness to stop it.
Recording and replaying a speech or two will probably point out whether or not a presenter has the practice of saying “uh” or not. As well as giving someone a dollar every time he is overheard saying a vocalized pause will quickly break him, 1 way or another.
An additional weak personal tendency, evident sometimes in speaking, is physical indirectness or “very poor eye-to-eye contact.” A few speakers manage to prefer looking out a window or perhaps at the floor instead of at somebody in the audience.- This may be due to intense shyness, insufficient practice, or possessing little interest in the subject or audience.
The real “contact” in verbal communication of course comes from the speaker’s mind and soul. His / her eyes are just the devices” by which his / her feelings and thoughts are portrayed. When he or she is deeply serious about a subject and enthusiastic to share this topic the mental and emotional communication is vital and strong. Under these kinds of circumstances eyes aren’t shifty or evasive. They’re positively communicating! At the same time a speaker talks he / she ought to be looking straight at someone. And he / she ought to give all sections of his audiences around equal attention.
An appealing speaker typically, however, not all the time, moves around some as he speaks. A bit of this affords interesting variety by changing the actual physical picture. If it is overdone or simply to grab attention to the speaker, however, the effect could impede communication.
A valuable maxim of effective bodily action is doing what comes naturally with regards to ideas that are being portrayed. Muscles, along with the intellect and voice, ought to freely express those concepts.

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How are your gestures when you give a speech? What do they say about you?

Some speakers seem to believe that gesturing is a lot like having red hair or the measles – either you have the capability to gesture or you don’t, and very little may be done about it.
But gesturing is as natural as walking and as easy as counting to 3. The challenge is that people have merely walked and counted to 3 far much more frequently than they have gestured whilst giving a speech. But how well could an individual walk if he had been using a push chair all his life?
Whilst people will gesture as many different ways as they walk there’s a fundamental principle in gesturing which, when practiced, will probably make this activity much more understandable and easier to do.
Each gesture, regardless of whether or not it stresses or describes a concept, has three distinct parts: 1. The approach, 2. Stroke! and 3. The release.
For instance when a girl slaps a boy she draws back her hand, (approach), Wham! (stroke), then she lets her hands fall to her side, (release). Or a baseball pitcher winds up -approach, throws – stroke, then releases his hand.
Whether gestures are made with the hands (in almost any position), the head, face, shoulders, or feet, the principle is the same – approach, stroke, release.
Some speakers simply make a weak approach, leaving their hands hanging in the air without a stroke or release. Some make the approach and stroke but no release. Still other people merely start an approach without finishing it.
Gestures should be produced positively, with reason and confidence. Naturally, weak, uncertain, timid bodily action leads to an audience to feel that a speaker is unclear about his ability, probably not well prepared to speak, and generally ineffective as a persuader.
When gesturing a person’s whole body should work as a unified method of communication. A speaker should “lean into” his gestures instead of throw out his hands like leaves falling from a tree, or as though he had been a mechanical man loosely connected at the wrists. Also he should encourage large curved movements instead of short, angular, jerky ones. Let a speaker reach up and out in all directions, freely using the cubic feet of air about him.
Naturally effective gestures will match with the meaning of speech material. Sometimes a conflict occurs, as the time the priest announced, “When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!” As he talked he pointed emphatically straight down! But he didn’t mean that in any way!

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