Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Public Speaking – Become an Effective Speaker – Likeability
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
Public Speaking – A Short History and Importance
The following short paragraphs demonstrate that by learning public speaking we are “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” and exercising the rights our forebears have won for us:
The “art” of public speaking has been with us for a long time as evidenced by books written 5000 years ago. Homer’s epic poems written in the 9th century B.C. contain speeches.
The first book written to help the reader in public speaking is believed to have been written by Coax in 500 B.C. and it is to him along with the early beginnings democrary that the roots of public speaking.
The Ancient Greeks recognized public speaking and rhetoric to be an important field of study. In 300 B.C Aristotle wrote the Rhetoric , where he discussed public speaking theory of his time. Quintilian in the 1st Century taught public speaking and wrote 12 volumes called The Education of an Orator. He believed that public speaking training should begin at 6 and carry on through their formal education. Cicero, the greatest Roman orator made orginal contributions to speech theory. Other significant contributors are Socrates, Gorgias, Pericles, Isocrates, St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, Sir Francis Bacon, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Woodrow Wilson.
Public speaking has always prospered in times of democracy where freedom of speech and the right to assemble in groups are core principles. These rights have been won through bloodshed and even now must be watched closely to ensure they are not eroded. To effectively exercise and preserve those rights it is important that we develop our public speaking ability – and it could even be considered one of our obligations to speak effectively.
It could also be considered that by learning to speak effectively in groups and in public speaking we improve ourselves but also exercising our democratic rights we are also helping to preserve them.
Fortunately we live in a time where public speaking has evolved where it easier than ever before to be proficient because of the great information available and it is the ideas conveyed that are of more importance than showmanship or the 100% grammatically correct use of English.
(Information courtesy of Willim S. Smith & Donald J. Canty)
Please visit my website http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to claim a free preview of my resource “The Art Of Great Conversation”
Preparing Your Speech – The Working Outline
After you have completed your research and decided on the purpose and developed your theme, and before you start to write your speech, it is a good idea to prepare a working outline. This is used to plan and develop the speech. It briefly states the theme, headings and subheadings of the speech.
Good houses are usually built with a well prepared plan. It is the same with good speeches. They need a good working outline. The outline will ensure the speech has harmony, sequence and completeness.
Harmony
You are able to view the speech as a whole with out the distractions of a written speech such as the language used. This helps to check the harmony by:-
(i) Is there an effective link between the theme of the speech and it purpose
(ii) Do each of the headings and subheadings support and/or develop the theme
(iii) Enables all supporting information to be united into a single piece of communication
(iv) The speaker can see and remove any overlapping portions of the speech that could be confusing to the listener.
Sequence
The outline will help you determine the best sequence for the speech. As in harmony you are able to see the sequence of the ideas without the distractions of a speech written out in full. You are able to “visualise” the speech and see the ideas in relation to each other. You can re-sequence the speech until you achieve the most effective order for your speech.
Completeness
You can readily assess the completeness of the headings and supporting information in this form. You are able to spot gaps in any missing sub headings and supporting information.
By completing a working outline it makes the organisation of your speech easier by giving you an overview of your speech, enabling you to check the completeness of theme and supporting information and sequence your speech in the most effective way.
For more public speaking tips, please claim your free preview of my resource “The Art of Great Conversation” by visiting http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com