Art Of Great Speaking

There are many myths around public speaking anxiety.  One of these is that public speaking anxiety is bad for you. It can in fact increase your level of performance and make you come across better to the audience. In fact it is normal for an audience to rate the speaker’s performance much higher than the speaker themselves.

Here is a great video that discusses the myths of public speaking anxiety and provides information on public speaking. The sound quality isn’t great but it is worth persevering with.

The Confident Speaker by Larina Kase and Harrison Monarth is well written and will help people to speak confidently in front of groups of any size. It is great for beginners and people finding advancement in their careers been held back by their fear of public speaking.

You can find the The Confident Speaker: Beat Your Nerves and Communicate at Your Best in Any Situation here

In the previous post Jack had seen a man in a tree and was thinking about how he could start his speech about humor.  On with the story……

What shall it be? A Pat and Mike joke? No. Chances are most of the students would have heard it already. They’re pretty sharp.
“I know! A personal experience. That’ll be different. Or will it? Depends upon what it is, I suppose. Shall I tell about how much I always laugh at all the professors’ thrice-told jokes and still get C’s in their courses? No. That might get a laugh on me, but it is not directly related to my subject. Besides I think I can find a more interesting beginning.”
Risking the wear and tear on his brain, Jack kept thinking of the few personal experiences he had had in relation to humor. Finally he came up with this true story:
One day last summer when I was riding on a city bus the driver had to stop suddenly to keep from smashing a loose taxi.
Scr-r-r-eech went the brakes. And before you could say “Blue goose!” an old man with thin white hair was sitting in-my lap as squarely as if you’d placed him there. He had been standing, but the sudden stop had swept him completely off his feet.
“Oh, young man’ he whined. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too, that you couldn’t have been a gorgeous blonde,” I said. “But it’s all right. You’re not hurt are you?”
“Oh, no.” By that time he was off my lap.
Nobody was hurt, and the incident struck me as being so ridiculous it was funny. So I gave the old man a big popsicle grin.
But other people on the bus looked as if they had swallowed their popsicles — especially one slender red haired woman of uncertain age who stood near the front. She looked down at the driver as though she could gladly chew up his chauffeur’s license and spit it out at his feet. But the poor driver couldn’t help what had happened.
About two blocks later Miss Redhead left the bus, but as she did so she glared back at the driver and said, “You ought to be a cowboy instead of a bus driver!”
Do you know what Red needed? A little oil on her funny bone.

Stories and anecdotes are a great way to start any form of speaking especially personal stories  and are relevant to the topic of your speech. Let me know what you thought.

Once you have written a speech or presentation then it is important to practise your delivery. There are basically two ways to practise a speech, inputting and outputting. Inputting is reading your speech to yourself whereas outputting is actually delivering your speech out loud. You should practise using both methods but there are ways to maximize your results.

To input your speech all you need to do is sit down in a quiet room, free from disturbances, and read your notes to yourself. This aides in memorizing your speech so you can make eye contact with your audience as opposed to just reading from your notes. You may also spot small mistakes at this stage that you can correct before moving to the outputting process. There are no real keys or tricks to this method, only constant repetition.

There any many different tricks you can use to improve your outputting your speech. To perform at your best on the day of your speech you should aim to replicate the conditions you will be giving your speech in during practice.

Variables you need to consider when outputting your speech include whether you’ll be stood up or sat down, if you’ll have a microphone to speak into, if you have technology such as a laptop and projector at your disposal and what type of clothes you’ll be wearing. The more accurately you can simulate the conditions in which you are giving your speech the better prepared you will be.

With practice you can perfect your delivery and timing and really get to grips with what it is you are saying. However even after much practise you will probably want to write down some key notes on a piece of paper or a number of small cards. Well written notes/bullet points will help keep you on track and provide a reminder of the details you want to get across.

As one last little tip I would recommend practising your speech in front of a mirror. This will help you get used to making eye contact with an audience and quell any nerves you have about speaking in public. Just remember practice makes perfect! Jake Rhodes is the author of many self-help articles and currently runs top hypnosis site http://www.hypnobusters.com along with professional hypnotherapist, Jon Rhodes.

Whenever a survey is published on biggest fears you can always guarantee that public speaking will be towards the top of the list. It’s easy to why this is the case – you’re stood up in front of a group of your peers purveying your thoughts and ideas. The nerves and anxiety felt by many just thinking about being in this situation is enough to put them off public speaking for life. However with correct preparation public speaking can actually be very easy and create an adrenaline rush unequalled by anything else.

Whether you just have one speech to deliver as a best man or matron of honour, or you’re a businessperson who wants to make confident presentations to enhance your position in the company then ask yourself the following questions to fully prepare for your speaking duties.

Who Will The Audience Be?

Before you give a presentation or a speech you should carefully consider exactly who the audience will comprise of. This includes how many people you will be speaking to and the relationship between yourself and the audience. The more you learn about your prospective audience the easier it will be to prepare your speech.

What Do Your Audience Want To Hear?

If you’ve been asked to give a presentation to upper management types then they’ll want to hear a lot of stats, facts and ideas for the future. On the other hand a best man’s speech will be a lot more humour based with a couple of stories and is generally best kept to a short length of time so that the festivities can continue.

How Long Do You Need To Speak For?

Always ask how long you need to speak for. “Just get up and say a few words” isn’t specific enough, push for an exact length of time. The vast majority of public speaking doesn’t last much more than five or ten minutes.

What Should The Tone Be?

Depending on who the audience are and the purpose of the speech you should be able to grasp what the tone should be. If you’re making a short speech at a close friend’s birthday party then you can afford to be a little more risqué than you could giving a eulogy at a funeral. Similarly when you’re giving a business presentation there are circumstances where you can be more informal than usual depending on who the audience are.

Where Will You Be Speaking?

Always consider where it is you’ll be speaking as it makes a big difference. If you have access to a laptop and a projector then you have the option to use visual aids which makes public speaking easier as you no longer have to worry about the audience visually focusing on you. If you’re making a wedding/party speech then there’s a good chance you’ll have a lot of background noise to contend with. Will you have a microphone or will you just have the power of your voice?

The more information you have the better. With clear guidelines you are much more likely to make a speech that stays on point and serves the purpose it was intended Jake Rhodes is the author of many self-help articles and currently runs top hypnosis site http://www.hypnobusters.com along with professional hypnotherapist, Jon Rhodes.