How to Speak Effectively
Introduction
Recent
studies show that speaking in front of a group is by far the greatest fear of
most people. It ranks ahead of the fear of dying, riding in an airplane, or
failure in other areas of one’s personal life. Unless you are highly unusual,
at some time in your life you have talked to a group of people and your knees
began shaking, your voice quivered, your head ached, and the only dry place on
your body was the inside of your mouth. Then the strange muscle spasms began.
One eyelid began to twitch uncontrollably. Your legs felt like soft rubber. And
then it happened: Your memory, on its own and for no apparent reason, left you.
At this point you promised yourself that you would never get yourself in this
situation again. Although the fear of speaking is common, studies show that one
of the most admired qualities in others is their ability to speak in front of a
group. Furthermore, other things being equal, the person who can communicate
ideas clearly will be more successful. The remainder of this post is directed
toward helping you be the kind of speaker others admire—the kind who gets the
job done in every speaking situation.
Public Speaking:
Let’s suppose
you became a Politian you want to speak about goals of you political party. You
need to communicate and talk with general public. If your communication and
speaking skill will on top definitely you will get attention of your listeners.
Or if you became a business person and you are invited to a party and is asked
to give a motivational speech you need to be a good speaker. Such kind of
situations are called as public speaking. Public speaking skill may be defined
as the art of appearing in front of an audience, facing the audience,
presenting your speech and making them understand what you want them to
understand within the limited time and resources given to you.
Tips for Public Speaking
·
Do your homework.
·
Organize ideas logically.
·
Employ quotations, Facts and statistics.
·
Start strong and close stronger.
·
Incorporate humor.
·
Analyze your audience- deliver the message they want
to hear.
·
Eye Contact.
·
Engage with audience.
·
Time Management.
·
Do not repeat yourself.
·
Show positive attitude.
·
Seek and utilize feedback.
·
Handle unexpected issues smoothly ex. Power cut,
projector is not working.
Things you shouldn’t do:
1. Reading directly
from notes.
2. Turn back on
audience.
3. Hands in pockets
4. No um, ah, you
know.
5. No nervous
gestures.
6. Talking too fast
or talking too quietly.
Things You Should Do:
1. Eye Contact.
2. Can glance at
notes.
3. Appropriate
gestures.
4. Rhetorical
questions to involve audience.
How do I prepare for
Presentation?
Well if you
have read it till here then believe me you really want to improve your speaking
skills, okay as you gave this much time to this blog now it’s time for me to
share few of my secrets of good presentations, public speeches and all that
speaking stuff. Before I go for a presentation, the day before I do collect all
the important information about my topic. I almost master that topic and you
will ask what is benefit of that well the answer is simple I will give you confidence
boost. And that is good for a good presentation then I organize all the ideas
and things I am going to present, after that I stand before mirror start my
stop watch and count that how much time I am taking if its good enough then I tell
myself “Hey mate that much information is enough”. If it is less then, I do add
more ideas, and if it is more then I make it concise. When it’s all done. I want
to get good sleep at the night before the presentation. As if you don’t get
proper sleep believe me your eyes will look like an alcoholic’s eye. And then I
pick up a formal dress and then go for the presentation. But if you don’t have
one don’t worry I have done it in formal dress too. During the presentation be positive
and relax engage with your audience.
