Art Of Great Speaking

Stories play a big part in people’s lives. People can relate to them and remember them better than facts and figures. Here is a tip about what type of story works best.

Even the most timid and cultured people enjoy some type of conflict. This natural tendency may have been the one that prompted a prim bachelor girl to say, “I like to read novels because I can associate with such daring people without ruin¬ing my reputation.”
How much conflict, dramatic action, or suspense is in a usual trip on a bus? None. A person simply buys a ticket, gets on the bus, sits if there is room, and finally, arrives safely at his destina¬tion.
Would telling this be interesting speech material? No. Yet how many speakers simply relate as part of their speeches, dull travelogues in which nothing “different” is seen or done.
Thousands of people buy bus tickets every day. Most buyers always get the right change from ticket agents. But one young businessman did not. That little unusual event was the beginning of a human interest illustration which the young man used to start a speech called “Hair-trigger Thinking.”
This is the illustration he used:
It was time for the bus to have been gone two minutes ago when I rushed into the bus depot at Kankakee and said to the agent, “Round trip to Chicago, please!”
I put my last ten on the, counter, grabbed my ticket, the change, and hurried to the bus.
Just as I was about to sit back for a somewhat comfortable ride I looked at the money in my hand and saw that the agent had •given me change for a five instead of a ten.
Usually my thinking is about like molasses coming out of grandpa’s brown jug on a winter morning. But with five dollars hanging in the balance I got the old gray matter in high gear.
Of course there was only one thing to do — make a dash for the five, hope I would get it, and pray that the driver could wait.
“Be back in a jiffy,” I called to the driver as I left the bus.
I broke all track records getting back into that station.
Yes, the agent said he had noticed his error just after I had left. Honest man!
Clutching tightly that long green picture of Abe Lincoln, I got back on the bus much faster than I had the first time.
Somehow I don’t think the driver appreciated my hair-trigger thinking and action. But it saved me five dollars. And that isn’t hay for a young fellow who doesn’t have a rich uncle.

Stories are great for illustrating a point and listeners are more likely to remember a story and thereby the point than they are facts and figures, but do try to make them interesting.

Here is a view on reading a speech and comparing it to a marriage proposal.

Reading a speech is like leaning on crutches. Talking with notes is at least using a cane. The best way for a speaker to come before an audience is with nothing in his hands, but with his heart and mind so full of his subject he could talk fluently all day about it.
Imagine a young ‘man with one handful of note cards proposing marriage to his sweetheart. He looks at a card and says, “Darling, in the first place I have admired you, lo these many years.” Then he looks at another card and continues, “Secondly …” And by the time he reaches, “Thirdly,” how does the girl feel?
Of course people in an audience may not want to feel that a speaker is their fiance, but they would like to know that the speaker is interested enough in them to prepare his speech well, that he has an eager desire to share his thoughts and feelings with them.
When a person can talk “from his heart,” without memorizing, there is nothing in his way to mar direct communication. Furthermore such speaking is more likely to be like animated, enthusiastic conversation than any other style of delivery.
But without notes a speaker might forget. Yes, we sacrifice some advantages for more vital ones. When a speaker chooses the right subject, however — one in which he is deeply interested, and willing to share — usually he won’t have much difficulty re¬membering. He should mull the subject over in his mind and practice the speech until it has become as much a part of him as his eyes and ears.

What are your thoughts on reading a speech? How about read your presentation from a powerpoint slide? What is the most persuasive way to deliver your speech?

There are many different ways you can use to help keep your speech on track. Here are a few examples:

Some speakers use numerous note cards. These require considerable handling which may distract an audience’s attention, to some extent at least, from the speaker’s ideas. A less obtrusive method is to use a standard sheet of typing paper for the notes. After this paper is placed upon a speaker’s stand it need not be touched again until after the speaker has concluded his talk.
There should be enough notes to jog a speaker’s memory suf¬ficiently. But no more. Leaning heavily upon notes detracts from a direct communication between speaker and audience. Usually a few words on any one point is enough. Simply the letters, T. R., for instance, would remind a speaker to1 use his illustration about Theodore Roosevelt. Mark Twain liked to sketch pictures on his note paper to remind him of points.
Use anything that works for you. The point is not to make an artisticor “correct” outline but one that will help you communicate ideas effectively to an audience.
Never try to hide the notes or to conceal the fact that you are using them, as one speaker is said to have done. He kept the notes in his inside coat pocket. Occasionally he turned from the audience and took a peek. But once he became excited and said, “The next point is … The next point is — Montgomery Ward and Company!”

Have you got any favorite ways you use? Whwt works best for you?

There are many ways to get the attention of an audience by planning your opening carefully.

Each speaker must decide which opening will be his best mental hook for the speech he has planned to deliver and for the audience that will hear it.

Commenting favorably on a local situation, talking about something in which the audience is already deeply interested, or telling a harmless joke on a popular local person (the chairman, perhaps), will also get attention.

Attention must be favorable. A speaker could get undivided attention by literally throwing rotten apples at an audience. But this beginning would not get favorable attention for the speaker. It is never necessary to be ridiculous or melodramatic to get attention and hold it. If a speaker, however, must lean in either the direction of sensationalism or dull, stiff formalism he will be more’ interesting if he favors the former.

Attention comes and goes somewhat like waves on the ocean. A highly able speaker keeps it coming all the time.

Psychologist, William James said, “What holds attention de­termines action.”

Holding attention may not always assure desired action at the completion of a speech, but one conclusion is certain: with­out having attention a speaker cannot reasonably hope to get any type of desired action or decision.

A speaker can be reasonably sure that an effective human interest illustration will hold attention at any point in a speech. Therefore, knowing how to recognize and use such illustrations should help a person speak more effectively.

Have you got any favorite ways to get and keep the attention of your audience?

A question should really cause an audience to think. Questions such as, “Would you like to inherit some money? Do you know what day of the week this is? or, Can you add two and two?” do not require enough thinking to stimulate interest.
On the other hand, a question which is so complex it cannot be understood by an audience will also be unsuitable for a speaker to use. The average listener will simply refuse to think when the process becomes too difficult.
A startling, or unusual statement will usually attract atten¬tion. A businessman applied this principle when he started a speech by saying, “When I tell you this the boss may fire me, but anyway …”
Another speaker started a talk on safety by saying, “Three hundred coffins were shipped into this city yesterday. Will you inhabit one of them before the holiday week-end is over?”
Compare this beginning with a common one such as, “Many people will be killed in accidents over this holiday week-end. It always happens. Be careful or you may be one of the victims.”
Another way to begin a speech effectively is to present a stimulating challenge to an audience, compliment them sincerely, or to tell a new joke’ that is really humorous, well-suited to the occasion, and in harmony with the speaker’s subject.

There is a real power in questions when used the right way in public speaking . They get the audience thinking and get their attention. When you are asking thought provoking questions you are in control. You can lead them to where you want to go.  Have you tried using a question at the  beginning of your speech.