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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Here is an example of using an interesting story about Harry Houdini for effective public speaking.

An illustration which specifically interests a speaker can be an effective one for him to use in a speech. Following, is a story about Harry Houdini which a speaker listened to and enjoyed: The great magician, Harry Houdini, pressed his nose against a window on a passenger coach, and looked anxiously for the truck that would bring his luggage from a local theater to the railway station. The conductor had shouted, “All aboard!” And it was time for the train to start out chugging away. “Please hold the train a few moments for my baggage,” said Houdini. “Nothing doing,” replied the conductor. “This train leaves on time.” “But you can’t start without my luggage!” cried the magician. . Oh, no?,The conductor thought in another way. He declared he couldn’t hold the train for anyone. “You can not leave without my luggage,” declared Houdini, a lot more determined than ever. He then rushed to the entrance and departed the coach! Passengers wondered what he would do – appeal to the station agent? Shortly word came back that a man had run down in front of the engine, flung his entire body all over the tracks, and grasped a rail so tightly nobody could pry him loose. They continued to wait for Houdini’s baggage! The speaker employed this story to illustrate how determined a person may be. An effective speaker chooses his material with consideration, just as a big league baseball player thoroughly selects a bat. Babe Ruth would certainly never have become the home run king if he had batted with a broom handle. In the same way, a speaker will never become a “big leaguer” on the platform if he uses weak, unexciting material. Being truly interesting calls for more time and effort than being unexciting. But definitely the results warrant the effort and time. An able speaker is consistently watchful for unusually interesting material and that he doesn’t wait to use it freely. Instead of using poor stories which incite just a sleepy “so what?” from listeners, he chooses material that induces an involuntary “WHAT! SO?” and expresses it in a way which causes listeners to say, “More – please reveal more!”

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The spectators at a game of basketball game can be transfixed by it or sometimes they couldn’t care about the outcome.

Similar situations may define speaker-audience relationships. Upon one occasion the speaker is deeply enthusiastic about making points and discussing them with his listeners. Listeners respond to his ideas. They listen attentively as they do not wish to miss a thing he says. They have fun at his humor, feel sad when he relates a heartbreaking story, or tingle with anticipation as the speaker’s material and attitude directs.
The feeling goes “round and round.” From speaker to audience, returning to the speaker, also, the spirit of empathy becomes stronger because individuals in the audience catch it from one another. George M. Cohan designated this tendency for emotion to spread, “the contagion of emotion.” When an audience has shared interests, in keeping with the speaker’s, and when an auditorium is well-filled with people sitting shoulder to shoulder, empathy is far more likely to happen than when a speaker is failing to effect springs of interest or when there are wide-open spaces between dispersed listeners.
When mutual empathy is being experienced by a speaker and an audience a definite physical effect is clear in both. Listeners may even lean forward with wide eyes and parted lips when the speaker pictures a thrilling event. They’re alert physically and mentally, in a state of readiness to receive every idea.
The speaker is likewise alert, fully alive and so on fire with ideas and feelings. Physically he is just like an professional shortstop all set and eager to pounce upon any ball that comes in his direction. Observe a ball player whose spirit is completely in the game. He is not standing listlessly or dejected like a commuter who has just missed his train. Neither is he stargazing or daydreaming about last night’s date. Alertly he is on his toes desperate to contribute his entire self for triumph.
Such an athlete is not stiff or tense like a totem pole or collapsed like an exhausted tap dancer. He is relaxed but his condition is a relaxation of readiness rather than the relaxation of total unconcern. He has got muscle “tone”, the sort of relaxed alertness a speaker needs. There is tremendous gap between being relaxed and collapsed!

My next post we’ll see what happens when the speaker appears not to care.

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What stories do you tell when you are public speaking? And where do you get them from?

Certainly newspapers are just one source of material for speeches. Countless magazines and books are stuffed with human interest stories. Literature, history,as well as biography are fertile fields. A speaker should read plenty of biographies, searching for human interest to assist his speech subject. The principle of selection is significantly the same regardless of the source. Have a preference for material that puts a man rather than a bird in the tree, the kind that is unusual, but quite credible. Seek out real human interest, unusual action, drama, or suspense.
Speakers ought to avoid old chestnuts which have been “cracked” too often.
Not too long ago during a public speaking class, for examplea speaker used Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the new world to illustrate courage and determination. Listeners seemed to be uninterested, probably since they had heard this particular story so frequently it had grown to be trite. The tale of Fridtjof Nansen’s battle for three years on the ice in search of the North Pole, or Mary Lyon’s determination to build a school for women would have been just as remarkable plus more fascinating because, although these stories are old, they are not nearly so well-known as Columbus’ ordeals. The average listener has not heard them from the first grade to the current moment. So many people have talked about Columbus! He needs a rest.
Effective speech material is a lot like gold -when you find it. A chat, a sign on the highway, a joke overheard, anything at all read or heard, or illustrations other speakers use can be great ideas which can be used in other speeches.

I hope this short post has got you thinking about they types of stories to relate when public speaking. If you want to kept up to date with tips and techniques for confident public speaking please enter your details and receive them direct to your inbox.

My previous post on stories in public speaking highlighted how important they are. They do need to have real human drama to keep your listeners engaged.

Now getting back to the daily news: McSimpson Elected Fire Chief. So what? It is merely a routine item. Wait until Mac begins chasing after fires. Then maybe he will be fascinating good enough to read about.
But here’s one that may be interesting: Attorney Fined for Shooting Newsboy.
It is morbid, but different. One wonders why it occurred.
Reading the piece, however, revealed that the title is the most interesting part of this story. The attorney said the shooting was an accident. And the boy lived.
That’s all there was to it. There was really no drama, no conflict, little action. No real human interest. Therefore the speaker passed it, realizing a story should be a lot more than strange or unusual to be beneficial.
Here is one a couple of pages over: Hidden Mike’ Found in Auto Trunk.
This does not sound unusually interesting, and the heading does not indicate exactly what the story is about. But it hints mystery. So he read:
Dover, Ohio – Farmers at nearby Newcomerstown were telling a good story today about a “hidden mike.” “Mike,” a coon hound owned by Kenneth Welch, was hidden accidentally for ten days in the trunk of an automobile.
The dog leaped into the trunk when Paul Miller was making a delivery at Welch’s farm, and Miller closed the trunk with out realizing “Mike.”
Welch made several searches for the dog and advertised his loss.
Miller said he used his car daily while Mike was in the trunk and even made one trip returning to the Welch farm. But he never heard a bark.
A bit fragile when found, “Mike” came around rapidly when given water and food.
This is an unusual bit of real life which might be used to reveal that treasures can be unseen right at a individuals feet – the theme of Acres of Diamonds, a speech by Russell Conwell, that audiences paid a total of approximately seven million dollars to listen to.

If you like this brief post on stories for public speaking please let me know by leaving a comment and if you didn’t please let me know how it could be improved. Speak in a few days.

In public speaking stories play a big part in drawing your listeners in, if they are interesting. But where can you find them?

A speaker who’s serious about giving inspirational talks reviewed a daily paper for subject matter. He wanted “WHAT SO?” stories instead of those that might cause audiences to yawn and say, “So what?”
Glancing at the first page the speaker noticed news about politics, crime, weather, and people killed in accidents. But this was just not the kind of news he wanted.
He turned the page and read: 3 Pay Fines on Traffic Charge.
So what? Nothing strange, taking into consideration the way some individuals drive today. . . .
Now what’s that? Ladies Aid Society Meets. So what? Maybe pink tea is going to be served. Such uneventful meetings occur frequently around the world.
At a peek the speaker knows he need not read those items.
But there is an unusual one – Man Pays $555.38 For Turkey Dinner. WHAT! SO?
Why? (Tell us much more!) Most likely this story could be different, unusual. The reader’s curiosity was aroused. Upon reading through the story he found that a guy, red with anger, had screamed at a waitress, “I won’t pay $12.88 for a chicken dinner!”
The angry customer stormed and ranted until the police arrived. He then paid $12.88 for the meal, plus a fine of $542.50 for dis-orderly conduct. In fact an overall total of $555.38 for a turkey dinner.
This is action. Human nature at work in an abnormal way. It is a little bit of real life to support a concept: An out of control outburst might be costly.
Upon examining his files, this speaker discovered he had forty-two stories about this subject alone. This is a common one:
Jim’s Burned Up – And So’s His Car By Anderson, S. C. – It was 103 in the shade here and James McDowell 22, was out in the sun half the day attempting to fix the carburetor on his 1946 car.
He couldn’t fix it. So he purchased a dollars worth, of gasoline, sloshed it on the car, and tossed a match onto it. Then he relaxed in a rocker on a nearby porch, remarking, “Let ‘er burn.”
The breach of “a city ordinance against starting a fire near a home cost him a $525 fine.
Within this story the speaker found unusual action, genuine human interest. He used it in a speech called: Spin your top – don’t “blow” it.

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You need to show some caution in the language you use in public speaking to make sure you don’t upset your audience,

Seasoning your speech with a appropriate slang expression or inventing a phrase may add interest and color to your presenting. But avoid the “youse guys” or poolroom style of speaking. That may add color, as well, but the wrong kind of color for an typical audience.
A slight grammatical error or a mispronounced word will not kill a spirited speech. An occasional flaw in speech marks a speaker as being human. A number of mistakes, however, will distract hearers. So studying English grammar is helpful because most people can make sufficient mistakes accidentally to give us the human touch. Comprehending all of the fine points of grammar may not be required, yet everybody should learn to speak without making grammatical errors that stand out just like a black eye on a blonde.
Continuously attempting to express life-like ideas and feelings while reading aloud will make a speaking voice more expressive. Read out loud from the classics or the comics, from the Bible, plays, the news, poetry – anything, constantly making the thoughts live.
An additional way to put effective vocal expression into speaking would be to emphasize the key words in a sentence.
Pay attention to this statement: A child caught ten fish in the city lake. As “child” and “ten” are the most important words and phrases within this sentence they ought to get more vocal force compared to other words.
However look at this sentence: The man threw a bag of gold into the city lake. In this instance the element of interest isn’t who, or how many, but what and where.
A little thought and practice will enable a speaker to form the habit of “punching” or “squeezing” essential words when he speaks. Abraham Lincoln did. When he spoke, the conjunctions and prepositions flowed easily – however when he came to a key phrase he stressed it. This emphasis requires increased spirit along with more vocal force.

Lincoln took the time and effort to season his speeches appropriately. When you are public speaking, don’t think you should. This will help to make you an exceptional presenter and speaker.

If a fast or rushed speed of delivery in public speaking can tire an audience. (see my last post)

In contrast a very sluggish, dragging type of delivery will certainly motivate a listeners’ focus to go elsewhere, or the audience may say mentally, “Seriously, speaker, let’s go! I’m way ahead of you.” There is a reasonable medium pace of speaking in keeping with a speaker’s personality and the character of his speech.
A sing-song rhythmical delivery, beginning or closing all sentences on the very same pitch level, or raising the voice at the finish of statements may become monotonous habits. These tendencies can be avoided when a speaker talks as though he were having a lively, interesting chat with his audience.
Recording a lengthy speech and listening thoroughly to the recording will reveal any tedious speaking patterns. A speaker should invite other listeners to discover the monotony, as well. Then he should get active and put more vocal shades into his tone of voice, making certain he speaks in a conversational tone.
Speech that is far too precise or too exacting will destroy the purpose of effective oral communication because this practice calls attention to words and sounds instead of ideas. Such speaking may weary or disgust an audience. A speech trainer, or anyone else, who holds final consonants like he owns them, or who makes an apparent conscious effort to speak carefully may actually cause listeners to desire he’ll trip his tongue sometime.
However, loose, careless talk, or perhaps the use of inappropriate slang in his speech may draw attention to his manner of speaking instead of to the ideas he expresses. This careless speaking habit could also label him as being a lazy individual who would not use very much energy to find fascinating speech material for any audience.
We can have an informal, folksy speaking style, if we wish, without using lazy diction. Or we are able to be formal and “businesslike” without being starchy or “nasty nice.” Either way time invested studying the meaning of words and how to articulate them is worthwhile.

To sound more interesting in public speaking it is about reviewing how you sound and then taking action to improve any areas that may need some attention . It is in this way that we get better. An important element of this is having the information to know what to do. By signing up to my blog on the right you can receive tip information on better public speaking direct to your in-box.

As with most things, force in public speaking can be abused and lose its effectiveness.

At times force is misused, like when a speaker feels he must stress everything in his presentation. Thus he uses as much force when talking about a bag of peanuts as he or she would when telling of a crazy elephant’s rampages. This produces a monotony of force. It is somewhat like putting an exclamation point after every sentence on a page or shouting “Wolf!” when only a mouse has shown up.

A radio news commentator at one time exclaimed, “It’s happened! Yes, it’s happened at last! They’ve finally done it!”
Naturally his claims got attention. Listeners wondered exactly what had occurred. Had yet another war been announced? Had taxes been decreased?
The commentator continued, “Yes, it’s happened! They’ve raised the price of an ice cream cone from a nickel to a dime!
What a catastrophe!
This speaker’s force kept attention and interest, but certainly listeners felt let down emotionally when they discovered he had linked so much tragedy to a fragile ice cream cone. Be reasonable with hearers’ feelings but do not think twice to excite them in vital, sensible ways.
Another error, common regularly for young presenters, is the practice of rushing with words, rushing to the conclusion of a presentation. Obviously there is no one proper rate for any person to talk, but a speaker should remember that words, like bullets from a rifle, are fired only once. They are not respoken or reread and too much rushing may not give an audience time to get the full meaning of the speech. This is especially true when a speaker’s material is rather complicated.

I’ll post more in a few days on using your voice in public speaking to maintain and get interest from oyur audience.

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Following on from my last post on using variety in public speaking, how much “force” do you have in your voice.

Observe this statement: “The policeman stopped me and said, ‘Pull over to the curb, Junior!’” When stating this a speaker could boost the force when he or she quotes the policeman, and thereby get variation in the force of his speaking. Some speakers, however, will make a daunting policeman appear as if he were a floor-walker in a trendy department shop.
In public speaking, when relating conversations, use direct quotations – use the exact words each character said, as opposed to to expressing indirectly what was said.
For example, a speaker could say, “Bill said that he had a toothache.” But using these words would not give the opportunity to put variety in vocal tones nearly so well as if the speaker had said, “Bill yelled, Oh-h-h, Oh-h-h-h! This tooth is killin’ me!”
A speaker doesn’t need to be an actor to do this. All he or she has to do would be to make each character speak in his or her own words and manner, to alter his voice naturally and as well as he can to mimic each character. This often gives one a chance to get variety in force, rate and pitch. It also allows an audience a restful chance to hear several words spoken in a tone which is somewhat different than the one typically.used by the speaker. A speaker who is fairly good at mimicking characters may use this skill to add fascinating variety to his speaking.
For practice, say this, “We stopped at a cabin. A feeble old man came to the door and said, ‘Good morning, strangers. What can I do for you?’ ”
As you speak the old man’s words, “Good morning, strangers. What can I do for you?” is your voice slow, rather high-pitched, and without much force?
Now say, somewhat as a rough sailor would speak, “My name is Barney O’Day, and I can wipe up the deck with any man, I can!”
Does this seaman speak faster, deeper, with much more force compared to feeble old man?
Imagining those two characters sounding alike is difficult, yet some speakers would make them sound exactly alike. Of course all speaking will not consist of such vivid contrasts as just indicated, although every speech will offer you possibilities to vary vocal rate, pitch, or force.
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Variety in your voice helps to keep your public speaking interesting. No-one likes listening to a dull monotone voice.

Thoroughly feeling a talk puts interesting natural variety in a speaker’s tones. And how refreshing variety is! Change, change, CHANGE. Appropriate variety holds interest, stimulates thinking, and revives an audience’s spirits.
Using variety is not a new idea. About two hundred years ago, William Cowper, a poet, said, “Variety’s the very spice of life.” And although this truth is time worn, some speakers still do not realize its value or surely they wouldn’t continue torturing audiences with monotony.
Variety’s The Very Spice of Life. Keep this truth handy and use it when you select and arrange materials for a speech. Also, when you practice, make that speech “live” through vocal in¬flection, variation of force, rate, and bodily action.
Get variety in your speaking by coloring your vocal tones with feeling to match your ideas.
Say, “The knife was sharp,” and as you speak, feel a sharp, bright blade cutting your finger.
Now say, “The old ax was dull.” And picture yourself sweating while trying to chop a tough green log with a rusty, ragged-edged ax. Feel the hopelessness of ever chopping that green log with a dull ax. When a speaker can mix a generous portion of feeling with his thoughts, his words will surely be expressive. Usually a dull, monotonous speaker is one who gives little thought and no feeling to the ideas he expresses.

If you think about what you are going to say it will help to variety to your voice. By caring what you are saying will help you be more expressive in your public speaking. It you want to find out more on confident public speaking please enter your details on the right and receive a 7 day course on confident public speaking plus hints and tips.

My previous post on public speaking voice was about don’t be boring. In this post here is tip to help put more feeling into your public speaking voice.

Speakers can put restful variety into their speaking by thoroughly feeling the ideas they express, and by willingly letting this feeling show freely in their tones.
Seeing mental pictures of expressed ideas will help a speaker put expressive color in his tones. For practice, say, as you toss an imaginary handful of feathers into the air, “Light as feathers.” Mentally see the light feathers fluttering in the air. Feel and show the lightness in your tones and speaking manner.
Now say, “Heavy as lead,” as you mentally see yourself seriously struggling to lift a big- bag of lead. Suit your bodily action to the thought as you say the words. Do this several times. As you say these words is your vocal tone different than it was when you said, “Light as feathers?”
Say “smooth” and make it sound smooth. Say “rough” and and notice the difference.
A speaker once told about the wash rag his mother used on him when he was a child. He paused and then said, “ROUGH,” as if a garden rake was being pulled over his face. Although this was only a simple thought, the speaker’s manner of expressing it gave variety to. his tones. It was very effective.
The tragic fact is that some speakers show no variation of feeling in their tones. They say everything alike. We are all too familiar with that type of talking.
Lively tones spring from a lively interest in life. So many effective speaking habits stem from that basic principle of being deeply interested in what we say and having an eager desire to share this interest. Will a speaker who is highly enthusiastic and excited about his subject ever speak in monotones? How could he?

To help you:- take an interest in life and practice using your voice to reflect what you are saying you will have a more interesting public speaking voice without thinking when in front of an audience.

Continuing on my theme of your public speaking voice.  Speak up and out to be heard by all your audience. Get your public speaking voice heard.

Move your lips as you talk. Few people have lazy lips in the moonlight, but speaking seems to be different! Speak up and out — probably about twice as loudly as you would in a personal conversation. When you speak in public, some of your listeners will be further away from you than a friend in s. personal conversation would be. They must hear every word you say.

Prevent Your Public Speaking Voice Sounding The Same

In addition to having sufficient force or volume a speaker’s tones should vary in pitch and inflection to correspond naturally with the thoughts and feelings he expresses. Sameness of tone induces monotony. In fact sameness of almost anything may be¬come boring.
For instance, a motorist, after driving .for several days over mountain roads, exclaimed, “I hope I never see another mountain!” But later, after traveling many scorchy miles through deserts, the same motorist sighed, “Oh, how I’d like to feel a cool mountain breeze again.”
Similarly, audiences like for speakers to put some “hills and Valleys” in their speaking. When speakers say everything at about the same pitch level, without shifting vocal gears, their voices become monotonous and tiresome.
Imagine a song being sung on one note only — la — la— la — la.” Would it ever make the hit parade?
Picture a speaker then, going la —la —la —la for an hour, or even half an hour. Could anyone blame people in his audience for silently screaming for some “hills and valleys?”

In summary, the two public speaking voice tips presented here are make sure you can be heard and don’t speak in a boring monotone voice.

Here are a couple of quick tips on how to manage the fear of public speaking:
Another cause of fear is the feeling that a speech may be criticized either secretly or openly by a listener or a speech teacher. A helpful teacher offers no adverse criticism until a student speaker has gained enough self-confidence to control his fear.
The speaker’s attitude should be, “I’m giving them my best. I hope that’s good enough. At this point I couldn’t do better. And if someone is unhappy with my speech, so what? Without worrying a second about any speech I’ve already delivered I’m going to put all my energy into the next speech.”
Tenseness may come when a speaker starts thinking about re-sults, or when he mentally compares himself unfavorably with other speakers. But this condition can be avoided when the speak¬er mentally plays down the importance of his speech. Who is going to remember it a hundred years later anyway? Nobody remem¬bers the score long. Ask a dozen people to tell you the exact score of a last year’s basketball game. How many could do it?
Then too, a speaker may become afraid when he thinks he could twist his tongue or mispronounce a word — when all those brilliant people are out there listening, maybe hoping he’ll fum¬ble. If a speaker could learn to grin at an audience and go right
on speaking when he makes a mistake, people would forget the mistake and remember the grin. A mistake always looks much bigger in the mind of the person who made it than in anyone else’s thinking because he is so near it. Other people are so busy thinking about themselves (and their own mistakes) they won’t remember someone else’s error long.

So, do your best, be prepared and people are already pre-occupied to be to worried about any mistake you may make. Thinking this way will will help to reduce the stress and fear of public speaking.

Here is another great way to make your speech sparkle.

Still another way to make speech vivid or colorful is to use exaggerated pictures, or hyperbole.
For instance, a businessman said in a speech, “I thought this family was poor, but when I walked into the house the first thing I saw was a television set as big as that piano!”
Of course, he knew, and his listeners knew, that the television set was not half as large as the upright piano to which he referred. But making this comparison was far more impressive than simply saying, “When I entered the room I saw a big television set.” And this type of exaggeration is ethical in public speaking because it is not really an attempt to deceive an audience.
Another speaker, when talking about a gossiping woman said, “Her tongue was so long she could sit in the parlor and lick a skillet in the kitchen!”
Still another remarked, “The restaurant was so crowded that when a man bent over to tie his shoe, a waitress slapped a table-cloth and four plates on his back before he could straighten up.”
Ridiculous? Yes. But it vividly supports a point, and adds interest to a speech which might otherwise be dull.
Also understatements, such as, “Her mouth looked like a button-hole that had been washed in alum,” or, “I could have stuffed his toothpick body into my shirt pocket and have had plenty of room to spare,” may add color and interest to a speech.
All figures of speech should be chosen with care and used only when and where they aptly fit the situation or speech theme. They should never be “pulled in by the ears,” misused, or over-used. Rather, they should be used as verbal salt to season a speech and make it palatable for listeners’ minds.

I hope you have found this series on adding interest and color to your public speaking through similes and exaggerations useful. Let me know if you’ve found it useful,

When you are public speaking, you are speaking on purpose. Don’t let your speech be overtaken by humor and stories.

Similes, interesting as they are, should be used sparingly in persuasive speeches. A few of them aptly used will tend to help an audience relax, will make listeners more receptive to serious ideas that follow. But using many of them in any one speech may simply amuse an audience rather than persuade it. Mark Twain found this to be true. He had used so much humor in his speeches that when he did upon occasions try to become serious and persuasive his listeners simply grinned at him. A persuasive speaker must never let the “side shows” crowd out the main tent. The real purpose of his speech, what he wants the audience to do or believe — the central theme of his talk, should receive constant attention. He uses illustrations, similes, or other speech materials for the sole purpose of skillfully impressing upon audiences’ minds and hearts the desire to comply willingly with the reasonable main point he is making. An able persuasive speaker will not try to be a platform come-dian. His purpose, is not to have audiences say, “How clever you are!” He will merely be a human instrument through which per-suasion operates. A simile is usually brief. When it is extended it becomes an analogy, such as Wendell Phillips’ statement: “Our republic is a raft, hard to steer and your feet are always wet; but nothing can sink her.” Another example of an analogy is this comparison between life and a game of football: “It is easy to sit on the sidelines of the great game of life and find fault with those who are on the gridiron bucking the line.”

To follow on in this series of making your public speaking interesting will be a post on one a further technique.

When public speaking a great way to add sparkle and interest is through the use of similes.

Similes may be found in literature, speeches, poetry, in magazines, the news, on radio or TV, in plays, stories, or in almost any source of communication wherein writers or speakers try to be interesting.
Following are a few similes which were created by well-known authors:
Free as mountain winds. — Shakespeare.
Her face was white and colorless as an icicle. — Channing Pollack.
Hairless as an egg. — Robert Herrick.
He felt like the symptom on a medicine bottle. — George Ade.
Hysterical as a tree full of chickens. — Irvin S. Cobb.
Poor and forgotten  like  a cloud upon the field. — Hugo.
He looked like a composite picture of five thousand orphans
too late to catch a picnic steamboat. — O. Henry.
God pardons like a mother who kisses away the repentant tears
of her child. — Henry Ward Beecher.
He is a steam roller in a pair of pants. — Sherwin L. Cook.
The human mind should be like a good hotel, open the year around. — William Lyon Phelps.
He had a hand like a bunch of bananas. — R. F. Outcault.
A person who intends to speak frequently should- jot down for future reference any impressive simile he reads, or hears. It may just fit some idea he wishes to express in a speech.
Similes to avoid are those that do not create an interesting mental picture, and probably those that grandfather smiled at when he was in the third grade — similes such as the following which were actually turned in by college students. Those students, having misinterpreted the meaning of effective similes, of¬fered these trite comparisons as being useful speech material:
He was as sober as a judge.
It was as weak as water.
The meat was as tough as leather.
He turned as white as a sheet.
The girl was as ugly as sin.
His joke went over like a ton of bricks.
He was slow as a snail.
The night was as silent as a grave.
The family was as poor as a church mouse.
She sang like a lark.
It was as welcome as the flowers in May.
Cold as ice.
Slick as a button.
Red as a rose.
Black as the ace of spades.
He behaved like a bull in a china shop.
The moon  was shining bright as day.
As clean as a towel that has just been washed.

As nervous as a June bride.

Hearing a simile like those listed above is somewhat like looking at an ordinary pebble on a beach. It gets, no attention and does nothing to help make a speech interesting.
A helpful mental exercise for a student o£ public speaking is creating original similes for old, worn-out ones. For instance, one student substituted, “Slick as an eel in a barrel of motor oil” for “slick as a button.”
Another student came up with “Happy as a baby with his hands in cool mush,” for “happy as a lark.” Still another said, “Black as a wet skunk,” instead of “Black as the ace of spades.”

My next post on using similes in public speaking starts with a mistake to avoid that Mark Twain made.

How do you make public speaking interesting? It’s how you use words and the pictures you paint with them.

Following on from my previous post here are some more examples of how to paint pictures:-

Using names, dates, and places also make a talk authentic. It impresses audiences with the fact that the speaker is really telling the truth.
Using colorful similes is another way to make speaking vivid and interesting. The word, simile, may be a first cousin to similar It really means word pictures which show how things, people, or ideas are alike or how they differ. These pictures may be exaggerated. This helps make speaking clear, often amusing, and usually interesting.
A speaker might say, “That would be hard to do.” Or he
could say, “That would be as difficult as trying to dam Niagara Falls with cobwebs.” The first statement is foggy. The second is as clear as an August sunbeam.
To say, “His manner was cold,” tells something. But to say “His manner was as cold as a mother-in-law’s kiss,” tells more. A speaker could say, “He walked slowly, and with a swagger,” or he could say, “He walked like a cowboy on vacation.”
One could say, “She was excited.” Or, “She was as excited as an old maid after a bedbug on a hot June night.”
A teacher of speech who encourages his students to create or collect apt similes contributed the following as a few of the hundreds assembled by the students:
Flat as a soup sandwich.
Empty as a gigolo’s promise.
As unplanned as a hiccup.
As popular as prohibition in Milwaukee.
His mouth felt as if a Russian army had walked through it.
Her hat always looked as if it had made a forced landing upon
her head.
She charged into the room with her four children like a bomber
escorted by fighters.
She made as much sense as a tailor in a nudist camp.
Busy as a politician trying to save both his faces.
The ball slipped between his legs, like a pig dipped in lard.
His dull past was like a bucket of ashes.
White and beautiful as the snow looks before you  think of
shoveling it.
Slick” as a buttered bullfrog.
His   head   looked  like   a  white  watermelon   gleaming  in   the
sunlight.
About as fast as a feather sinking in syrup.
Innocent as a girl on her first day at kindergarten.
She looked like warmed-over death.
He shook like a shirt in a hurricane.

I’ve got some more similes to follow in my next post to help you in creating your picture talk for you next public speaking engagement or presentation.

The words used in public speaking make a big difference to the effectiveness of a speech. Painting pictures with words.

Picture talk! Then minds meet minds. There is understand­ing, attention, interest!

Some words create only general pictures, but others etch vivid, concrete images. “I stood open-mouthed,” for instance, paints a picture of surprise, whereas, “I was surprised” paints nothing. Or so much the mind is cluttered.

Listeners can see a fat man waddle or wobble easier than they can see him go to the front door of his cabin.

A speaker should choose and use words that create vivid moving pictures which cause listeners to see and feel clearly
exactly what he means — words that cut, sting, stare, glare, grind, shock, slush, smother, soothe, or cuddle. Words as real as pizza
pie, soft as a maiden’s blush, or seedy as the hairy wart on grand­ pa’s weather-beaten nose.                          .

Never tell about an event, person, or thing. Show the event happening. Relive it. Picture the person as he really is. Make the thing so real listeners can see, feel, touch, taste or smell it. Create graphic colored, moving, mental pictures. And paint them red when necessary! Paint them gay and bright, blue, or as dark as midnight in a cyclone cellar, according to the mood which is suitable for the speech material.

Speaking should be clear and specific. An author, Rudyard Kipling, said his six “serving men” helped him in this respect. The servants he referred to are waiting to serve anyone. They are who, when, where, what, why, and how? When a speaker answers those questions specifically (not in any special order) in his il­lustrations, his speaking leaves the rambling weed fields of gener­alities to become as real and clear-cut as a row of Irish potatoes that has just been hoed by a careful gardener.

What words do you used when you are public speaking to an audience of one or to a larger gathering? Do you use picture talk?