Art Of Great Speaking

Being able to develop self-confidence doesn’t usually happen at once.

An able showman, having complete self-confidence and not depending upon a canned speech, has the ability to ad-lib when unusual circumstances occur.
For instance, when a college professor was introduced as a speaker for an audience of business executives he didn’t get any applause. In fact, his audience just sat and looked as though they were angry for having to be present.
Of course the speaker expected some applause, but when he didn’t get any he completely changed the beginning of his speech. Instead of starting immediately with an illustration, as he had planned, he applauded himself as he said, while grinning widely, “Why shouldn’t I applaud me? The good Lord knows if any¬one needs encouragement I do!”
Then, entirely unplanned, he continued with this illustration:
College professors can be dull. I know! — because two of us were on a speaking program recently. One’s bad enough, but think of two!
Well, he spoke first, and I went to sleep.
Then I spoke and he went to sleep.
Now I don’t blame him for going to sleep, of course, but why did that buzzard have to snore?
A fat man in the second row grinned. Other listeners loosened up a bit. And soon they willingly listened to a speaker they thought would not be worth hearing. The speaker had used showmanship to get interest. What would have been the effect if he had showed himself displeased with his audience, if he had reprimanded the listeners for their lack of courtesy or enthusiasm?
A tactful, persuasive speaker recognizes adverse conditions instantly and adjusts harmoniously to them.
Abraham Lincoln, for example, became highly successful in winning the goodwill of unfriendly audiences. Notice his speak¬ing approach to some people in Southern Illinois who had seriously threatened to “nail his hide on a barn door” if he tried speaking to them against slavery:
Fellow citizens of Southern Illinois, fellow citizens of the State of Kentucky, fellow citizens of Missouri — I am told there are some of you here present who would like to make trouble for me. I don’t understand, why they should. I am a plain, common man, like the rest of you; and why should I not have as good a right to speak my sentiments as the rest of you? Why, good friends, I am one of you. I am not an interloper here. I was born in Kentucky, and raised in Illinois, just like the most of you, and worked my way along by hard scratching. I know the people of Kentucky, and I know the people of Southern Illinois, and I think I know the Missourians. I am one of them, and therefore ought to know them; and they ought to know me better, and if they did know me better, they would know that I am not disposed to make , them trouble. Then, why should they, or any of them, want _ to make trouble for me? Don’t do any such foolish thing, fellow citizens. Let us be friends, and treat each other like friends. I am one of the humblest and most peaceful men in the world —would wrong no man, would interfere with no man’s rights. And all I ask is that, having something to say, you give me a decent hearing. And, being Illinoisans, Kentuckians, and Missourians — brave and gallant people — I feel sure that you will do that. And now let us reason together, like the honest fellows we are.

Understanding your audience is an important part of succeeding as a public speaker. If you want to learn more about being a successful public speaker, try out our free e-course delivered direct to your inbox by typing your name and email into the box to the right and get sent direct to you.

An effective speaker thoroughly prepares for each time they speak, so they can speak with confidence because they know their audience, their subject and the speech is benefits their listeners.

After they have researched the audience and their subject they  consider the type of speech they are going to make. Are they going to:

(a)    impart information;
(b)    persuade;
(c)    inspire;
(d)    make an after-dinner speech which might well incorporate all three, or perhaps just be something in a lighter vein ?

The above, in the main, covers the majority of speeches.

Impart information
This comes very close to a lecture. However, many speakers do have to impart information so that listeners can form their own judgments. For example, a shop steward talking to the men in his union about the new rates is imparting information. A sales mana¬ger at a conference imparts information. A technician, talking about the technical aspects of his work, imparts information . . .
In a speech of this kind, some important points must be remembered.

(a) Don’t try to cram years of experience into twenty minutes. Preferably, take one aspect of your subject and deal with that thoroughly.
(b) You must be ruthless, and cut and cut. We often elaborate merely to show how able we are. Keep to your time-table, and leave the audience wanting more information. Better that than that the speech should fail because the audience has heard everything and under¬stood nothing.
(c)    Don’t talk over the heads of the audience to prove your ability. Only deal with intricate technicalities if the audience understands
them.
I once heard a speaker talking in public on aero¬dynamics and not half a dozen people in the audience knew what he was talking about. He could have sim¬plified matters considerably and cut out many words which only experts understand, or he could have re¬fused to speak to an audience not made up of aero¬dynamic engineers.
(d)    An effective speaker makes every point clear. If you feel that you have not done so, you can repeat a part of your speech, but word it differently.
(e)    However involved their subject may be, an effective speaker is not as dry as dust. They make their speech interesting. Anecdotes can be told to liven up the most difficult of subjects.
(ƒ) An effect speaker will summarize their main points both during the speech and at the end of the speech.

An effective speaker is able to speak with confidence when imparting information because they are delivering the speech for the benefit of the audience, not to impress them with their knowledge. They are providing worthwhile content.

In my next posts I will cover further the next 3 types of speeches.

To be able to speak with confidence in public speaking is much easier when you know your subject and can give the audience what they want. This knowledge comes from;

1.From your own experiences

2. Researching other sources such as newspapers, the internet etc.

3. Asking questtions

Audiences like to hear stories about themselves. They also like to hear their own names mentioned.

In the new building for a golf club example introduced in part 1 you could;-

Ask the members about their experiences in raising money to support the club’s activities. Ask the grounds­man to tell you some stories about how the ground was developed. Try to find stories of determination which have resulted in the building being built in spite of difficulties.

After this work has been completed you will have dozens of facts around which you can build your speech.

Now prune. Discard all those facts which you find you can do without — duplicate stories — historical facts which are of little interest to the audience; these must be abandoned to enhance the value of the one histori­cal fact that is worth talking about. Remember now, you are planning your speech step by step, and if you keep to the steps you can’t go wrong.

So far, therefore, you have learned that a speech is an accumulation of facts, either thought out for your­self or found out from others. Having obtained this information, you have the framework of your speech.

You now have a good foundation to build your speech on. One of the keys to enable a speaker to speak with confidence is having this knowledge of the audience. The confidence to prepare and deliver an effective speech is based upon understanding the topic and the wants of your audience.

Your personal experiences primarily are your foremost source of speech material; those things that happened to you and around you in the course of your lifetime furnish a storehouse of material. You have talked about these incidents and now you extend those conversations to a larger audience.

Another source of material is the written word. The effective public speaker broadens his understanding by extensive reading. He keeps his storehouse from becoming lopsided by digesting editorials, news columns, sports pages, and even the comic strips. By reading, he can mull over the material and what he reads has more time to register than the things he hears. A further source of material covers the broad field of luncheon meetings, dinners, banquets, the theatre, concerts, lectures, and regular radio and TV pro¬grams covering current events.

The outcome of any or all of these is your own analytical and imaginative thinking in reviewing the experiences you have had and the things you have read, heard and seen.

In my previous post on effective speech building I gave the example of the golf club= to follow on that example your research phrase for the golf club could cover:

Can you dig up some little-known historical fact about the club? It isn’t always a good thing to give past history, but on this occasion all the listeners will want to hear how the club achieved success. When was the old clubhouse first built? How was it built? Did the members of the club put it up with their own hands?
Visit the offices of the local newspaper. Ask to be allowed to look through the back files. You may well be able to impart some information to the audience which may not be known even by the oldest inhabitant.

My next post will cover the asking questions step.

Speaking with confidence is very important to being truly effective in your personal and business life. Acquiring skills in public speaking can also help in gaining confidence in day to day conversation.
However, there is a stumbling block for many of us. It is the fear of public speaking. But in overcoming that fear it helps with our everyday communications, such as speaking to groups, presenting at work, social gatherings, family discussions, interviews etc.
The skills attained from public speaking such as preparing your speech and presenting in a clear and effective way are the same skills required to being effective in other speaking situations.
Speaking with confidence comes from making the decision to make the first step. The first step need only be brief, you may only give your name and position or something similar and the first bud of confidence will appear. With careful nurture that first bud will bloom into a truly confident speaker.
I have made a number of recent posts on how to speak with confidence:
How to use your voice to speak with confidence
How to use your body language to convey confidence
The importance of preparation and preparation in confident public speaking

Eric Dana Hansen in a comment to my post on how preparation and practice build confidence made a great suggestion on how meeting the audience before you speak can help with overcoming the nerves.
Nerves, jitters or fear felt about speaking in public probably never goes completely away. This is a good thing! As many experienced speakers mention the feeling before they start to speak. However, the feeling is usually not as strong and they use it s a motivation to deliver their best.
Speaking with confidence comes from doing, practicing, preparing and learning the techniques of confident and effective speaking. Most people have the ability within them to become confident public speakers and in conversation. It starts with the decision to get started.

For further information on speaking with confidence please visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to recieve a free preview of The Art Of Great Conversation