Art Of Great Speaking

There are a number of things an effective speaker will check to reduce the number of things that may compete with them when speaking.

As a favorable appearance can be helpful, an able speaker is always clean and neat. And he never wears anything so unusual that it attracts prolonged attention from an audience. No wise speaker will invite unnecessary competition against the persuasiveness of his ideas and feelings.
This competition may come in other ways, too. Pictures, or novel items such as a stuffed deer’s head or college pennants on the wall behind a speaker may attract some listeners’ complete attention. A row of dignitaries sitting behind a speaker can be¬come a distracting element. One person may lean over and whisper to another, or even if one scratches his nose he will get some attention which he really doesn’t deserve. When a speaker can he should tactfully move people and clap-trap from behind him. The platform and everything around it should emphasize the speaker’s ideas rather than steal attention from them. At least, insofar as possible, the setting should favor the speaker’s purpose.
Physical conditions in an auditorium can definitely influence persuasion. Naturally when people are shivering they are not in a very agreeable mood. And when a room is too warm or air is stale listeners may become drowsy. Obviously persuasion doesn’t thrive in a sleepy atmosphere. Also uncomfortable chairs, chairs that are too soft, or poor lighting may make persuasion more difficult than it would be under ideal conditions.
Of course a speaker may not always be able to control these conditions but he should be constantly alert to make the entire setting as conducive as possible for persuasion.

Getting a checklist together can help you make sure conditions help you speak in public with persuasiveness and confidence.

What makes for successful speaking? Here are some of the ingredients that make a presentation successful-

Successful speaking is a shared experience. An able speaker cannot be a miser with ideas and inspiration. Instead of having a selfish, unconcerned attitude he is intensely interested and eager to share his knowledge and experiences — not to glorify
himself, but to bring a mutual glow of understanding and inspir­ation to his listeners.
A speaker who has little or no desire to share his ideas or experiences soon makes his attitude evident. For instance, a col­lege freshman named Jane spoke in a basic speech course about how thrilled she was when she attended her first formal party.
“I never had such” a beautiful-dress-before,” she said, in limp dishrag tones. Actually some speakers would have spoken more enthusiastically about a dishrag.
“The orchestra was wonderful,” she declared. But who could have believed it from the way she spoke?
Then she told about a terrible automobile accident they had when returning home. But it sounded more like a peaceful ride in a little red wagon.
She was not much interested in her subject and really she had no desire to share what little interest she did have with her classmates. Naturally there was no sharing and the speech flopped miserably.
But another girl named Joyce sparkled as she talked with in­tense interest about her home state, Kentucky. Blue skies. Blue eyes. Blue grass — she must have been in love with every blade of it. And she eagerly wanted listeners to share that love. And race horses! We could almost hear them romping around the turn. She “sold” that “you-all” state because she was competely and sincerely sold on it herself. Also she had an eager desire to share this state with all the listeners.
When a person speaks from both his mind and the depths of his heart, with all the sincere enthusiasm of his nature, his speaking will get favorable results. Wendell Phillips, a profes­sional speaker, would go any place, any time, and speak free of charge against slavery. Could anyone doubt his effectiveness? Would Horace Greely have had any difficulty speaking on the same subject?
A man who spoke occasionally on safety was only mildly in­terested in his subject, and he had but a synthetic desire to share this interest. Consequently his speaking had little effect upon audiences. But when his little son was hit and killed by a reck­less -driver he had a deep experience with a reality of life. This enabled him to put “heart” in his speaking and he spoke with effectiveness that was not possible before. In fact he dedicated his life to the cause of safety.

It is a useful exercise to compare good speeches with speeches that have ample room for improvement. By doing this it is possible to learn from both examples to improve your own public and persuasive speaking skills.

Visual aids can make a big impact in your speech if they are used the right way. Here are some further examples of how to use them for the most impact:

A young businessman started a speech by blowing a blast on a referee’s whistle and asking, “How would you like to hear that early in the morning when you are dreaming of bright blue eyes and Tennessee moonlight? Or would you rather hear this?”
Then he played You’re in the Army Now on a toy bugle. While the audience was still smiling he told how he had used that bugle in the army to promote good human relations between himself, as charge of quarters, and soldiers in the barracks.
He had seen the soldiers wake up frowning and cursing under their breath when they heard the shrill, irritating whistle. But the toy bugle actually caused them to smile as they awoke. And on the drill field sometimes a Tennessean would grin as he pointed him out and said, “There’s that feller with the funny whistle.” His point was that good human relations are effective even in a tough place like the army.
Visual aids not only get attention, but they may also be used to help make a difficult subject clear and easily understood. A high school boy illustrated this truth when he used a toy balloon to explain jet propulsion. He blew up the balloon, turned it loose, and said, “Jet propulsion acts like that.” And quickly he chalked a rough likeness of the balloon on the blackboard. He also drew a lopsided rectangle to represent a jet motor. As he scribbled with the chalk he piped, “Grandma Moses taught me
to draw in ten easy lessons.”
Then by referring to the drawing, and in simple language, he explained jet propulsion so that nearly everyone in the au¬dience could understand it.
Maybe the Chinese who said, “One demonstration is worth a thousand words,” wasn’t talking through his queue. Demon¬strate!
Although a speaker is not expected to be a magician, listeners welcome visual aids any time during a speech because things furnish interesting variety from so many words. Such variety rests minds and makes ideas more vivid. Besides people will more likely remember what they see than what they hear. Using a tan¬gible object in connection with an idea will surely make that idea more memorable. -     . ‘   ‘
Using common, aids such as a pencil, handkerchief, book, news¬paper and so on, can be helpful. A simple aid such as an old-fashioned bird’s-eye match will help an audience “see” as well as hear a speaker say, “He started the fire with a big match like grandpa used.”
Several objects can be used throughout a speech. A speaker can hardly use too many if they make good sense and are in line with the points he is making.

In my net post on using visual aids in persuasive speaking I’ll talk about the big mistake to avoid when using visual aids in your speech.

In public speaking one of the keys is to get and keep your audience’s attention.  Here is a way to get their attention quickly that uses an advertising secret.

Advertisers know the value of moving objects. Notice the many lively neon lights inviting people into front doors. Every­thing from multicolored dancing pigs to starry rockets. But how active are exit signs? One never dances a jig. Customers must be attracted to enter, so “Come on in” signs are made to grab attention. As a departing customer adds nothing to company-funds, exit signs are made no more attractive than necessary.

Objects which appear or move in unusual ways compel at­tention. For instance, J. C. Penney store managers have displayed a floating hat in their front windows. Air pressure from a con­cealed source caused a man’s hat to “float” in the air. A person who is at all observant could hardly pass one of those windows without noticing the floating hat, and consequently the brief ad­vertising statements about it.

Speakers can use this natural attention-getting principle to advantage. For instance, an insurance agent, who was taking a course in business and professional speaking, used a set of “magic”‘ false teeth to show that many people talk without saying much.

As he tossed the teeth upon a table, a hidden spring caused them to bounce around and go, clack-a-tee, clack-a-tee, clack, clack, clackl

“That’s all some people do!” declared the speaker. “They just ‘yak-a-tee-yak!’ ”

Another speaker used a similar set o£ teeth to “break the ice” after being introduced to an audience. He said, “I must be care­ful what I say tonight. I’ve found it, pays, ever since a man in one of my audiences looked at me with narrow eyes like a TV cowboy about ready to draw his six-shooter. Very slowly he put his hand into his coat pocket, like this. Was he going to shoot me? He pulled from his pocket not a gun, but this.” When the speaker displayed the clattering teeth the audience laughed. And they laughed again when a well-known dentist called from the front row, “Say, I’ll buy those!”

Think about how you can use a visual aid in your next speech to break the ice or illustrate a point. I’ll follow up with some more examples of visual aids speakers have used in their speeches in my next post.

Preparation in public speaking is key to a successful speech.  It helps build self -confidence.

However, skimpy, half-baked preparation causes lack of self-confidence and encourages forgetting. Adequate preparation will also prevent rambling from the subject or bringing in unimportant, trivial material.

Talking well without notes is not a lazy method of delivery. It does require some more work and preparation than the other methods, but surely the, rewards are greater. When a person speaks effectively without notes he becomes what Quintilian would have called, “A gentleman conversing.”

A speech should be talked to an audience much like you would tell an interesting story to a neighbor across the back yard fence. Suppose the neighbor left his hearing aid in the house. Then you will talk about twice as loudly as you would in ordinary conversation. This same principle applies to public speaking. It is “enlarged” conversation.

The speaker must speak up and out so that the listener farthest away can hear without having to make an effort to do so. Listeners who cannot hear a speaker distinctly will simply “drop out of the race.” A speaker cannot justly expect to hold them under such conditions. This is a simple principle, yet how often it is violated!

On the other hand,’ a speaker who shouts constantly or vocally blasts his audience will probably not be persuasive. Such talking is usually not conversational. It produces a monotony of force which is just as distracting and disgusting as speaking that cannot be heard. Speaking force should be natural, in keeping with the situation and expressed feeling.

So if you take the time to prepare your public speaking and presentation occasions will go much better than if you leave it. It is important to see each time you talk as a learning experience and a time to learn what works and what doesn’t. It is like any skill that is worth learning – it doesn’t happen all at once and it is through doing that it is learnt.