Art Of Great Speaking

Gestures in public speaking out to be natural but there are some natural gestures to avoide.

Sometimes a person, sensing that gestures of any style can enhance his presenting, makes continual pointless motions with his hands. This naturally is annoying for audience members and worse than no gesturing. A speaker need not feel obliged to make overt motions continuously. Frequently his hands ought to hang in a natural way at his / her sides, but always his / her entire body ought to be in a condition of readiness to gesture. Once this condition prevails he will “believe” and respond sensibly with his body.
Any form of doodling, both with or without a pencil, is an irritating behavior that a few speakers have. The speaker who shuffles his paperwork, removes and restores his / her spectacles periodically, rattles the change in their own pocket, scratches his scalp regularly, twirls his / her key chain, drums the stand with his / her fingers, gives his hands dry wipes, paces in a routine as he / she speaks, or even makes any unnecessary motions repeatedly, actually creates needless competition for himself. Clearly such movements shortly attract attention from a crowd and might result in listeners to think only -when is he going to cease that.
Generally, however, whenever a speaker is vitally interested in communicating ideas to an audience he / she will have neither the interest nor time to engage in distracting physical mannerisms. But even a professional speaker may have established a distracting habit so firmly he can continue it while seriously communicating. In such a case his / her coach or someone else should call his attention to the habit. Next, by becoming painfully aware of the mannerism, he / she could defeat it.
Any inclination a speaker might have to wrap himself/herself up should be avoided. Holding a speaker’s lectern and hanging on, for instance, will occupy the hands to such an degree they simply won’t bother to produce any illustrative or emphatic movements. Clasping the hands in front of the body, at the rear of the back, or folding the arms are habits that motivate a presenter to make use of little if any bodily action. A successful speaker isn’t like a soldier at parade rest, or an Indian chief during a peace treaty. However his manner is similar to that of an able boxer in boxing ring that is constantly prepared to move any part of his/her body harmoniously with the particular situation.

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Is your public speaking and your business presentations emotional? Or do you think emotion is unprofessional?

Just as a neat business letter has margins so does effective emotional speaking. Usually you will find threads of control. However these threads by no means turn out to be cables which choke out reasonable feeling. Many speakers, nevertheless, with regards to these analogies use only margins and cables. They talk as though their hearts were on holiday.
An additional cause of this tragedy may be because some adults believe that expressing any emotion is childish and immature, or that honest feeling will make them appear weak and ridiculous. So having been indoctrinated with this mindset for years, although they are tempted to express emotion from a speaker’s platform, they manfully suppress it.
But surely the millions of individuals who watch dramatic programs on Television every day, for example, indicates that emotion is popular and not to be feared. Feeling is natural, easy, and satisfying. What would remain if all feeling were removed from life? Life consists largely of the emotional experiences people have although some of those experiences may be as simple as the taste of ice cream.
When a speaker is willing to express freely the natural emotional content of his material his body will respond, also naturally, to the emotion. A twinkle in his eye, a smile, frown, nod of the head, lifting of an eyebrow, a shrug of the shoulders, shaking of a fist, opening of the hands, even a kick of the foot, or any one of many other overt actions might become a component of the speaking. Also small muscles that cannot be seen moving are contributing to the total speaking effect. In fact whenever a speaker willingly “lets his feelings show” he could make an extremely effective “speech without visibly moving a muscle!
But more likely most people who are honestly showing their feelings do use considerable overt bodily action. Obviously these movements ought to never be definitively planned, and as individuals walk in different manners, so will their physical expression of ideas differ.
For instance, each of five speakers may express “Get out of here!” in a different way. One may point a stern forefinger toward an imaginary door as he spoke. Another may make an open sweep with his hand, and the third may jerk a thumb over his shoulder toward a back door. The fourth speaker’s eyelids narrow as he slightly moves his head toward the door. The final speaker might stamp a foot and reach out as if he would choke anybody who refused to get out. There isn’t any 1 particular right way to express an emotion physically. Every speaker should feel deeply, then “do just what comes naturally.” But he should willingly do without restraining the doing.

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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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Vocal power can help in getting across oyur ideas and concepts in public speaking as well as conversation.

Forming a habit of taking a few very deep breaths every day will promote a speaker’s vocal power. Force by itself, or loud speaking, is not good of course except if it suits the event. Sometimes a whisper will be more successful than a shout, but each speaking voice ought to have what is oftentimes referred to as vocal “presence.” That is, a speaker’s voice should tag him as being a real person, one who has sufficient spirit and force in his speaking to generate attention.
A great demonstration of vocal presence can be seen in the recorded voice of a radio announcer at the Greyhound Bus station in Chicago. This man announces the arrival and departure of numerous buses. When he says, “May I have your attention please?” the listener hears a friendly, yet powerful voice which immediately grabs his attention and holds it. Occasionally someone may add an announcement in rather weak, non-committal tones. The contrast is vivid, highlighting the value of voice presence.
Each day everybody has numerous chances to participate in public speaking because each and every conversation is, in a way, a speech. Why not make your daily conversations vital, vivid, and realistic? When you speak with one individual or to groups of people color your words and phrases and concepts so that they will appeal to hearers’ natural senses. Make your word pictures so vivid an audience can feel, hear, and see them as plainly as a talking picture on the wall and you’ll be a fascinating, persuasive speaker.

Being able to have vocal presence and to speak with confidence in public speaking  and conversation is something anyone can achieve if they want to do. Click on speaking with confidence to find out more.