Each person, at any given point in her life will have the
opportunity to speak in public. It may be in a speech class, a
presentation at work, or a funeral speech. The person may end up as a
politician, TV host, a beauty queen, lawyer, CEO, preacher, or
motivational speaker. In all these careers or calling, effective public
speaking is required.
Before I share with you some tips, let me share with you first what effective public speaking is about.
An
effective public speaker can capture the audience's attention quickly
and can hold it until the end of her talk. She can move her audience's
emotions and stimulate their minds. She is convincing, encouraging, and
"impactful". She can instill change in her audience. People carry with
them and remember what she said during her talk. She keeps her audience
involved which makes them feel that they are a part of her. She also
keeps her audience entertained; there is no dull moment with her. She
empathizes with her audience and they feel that they are understood,
which makes it easy for them to trust her. She walks her talk and
understands her accountability.
The question now is: how do you get to this point in public speaking? How do you develop these skills?
While
some are naturally gifted in this area, there are those who are so
fearful of it. For those who are fearful, let me encourage you by saying
that even the best public speakers get jittery at times.
Being
effective in public speaking is more than just how you talk, what you
say, the way you move, and your posture. Though all of these are
important, they don't make up the baseline or foundation of effective
public speaking. You can practice in front of the mirror for all you
want and just have a mental block during your actual speaking
engagement. You can have the best speech written and memorized but
forget all about it.
Effective public speaking works from the
inside-out. It is more of a mental and emotional state than a physical
state. The best way to describe this is Out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). The mental and emotional condition
of the speaker will always reflect in her talk, and will be the factor
that will make or break her being a public speaker.
A person needs
empathy to be effective in public speaking. This is the only way she
will be able to reach out to her audience. It is only when she knows and
cares about where her audience is coming from that she can tailor-fit
her speech to suit their needs and interests.
Being
people-oriented is a prerequisite to any public speaker who wants to be
effective. When I say "people-oriented", I just don't mean wanting to be
around people or enjoying the company of people, or enjoying the
attention from people. The being "people-oriented" that I am talking
about here is being genuinely concerned about people. A speaker who has
this kind of concern for her audience will be able to move their
emotions and stimulate their minds.
Another primary characteristic
that is needed in effective public speaking is conviction and passion
for the subject matter. I wouldn't advice any speaker to speak about a
topic that she doesn't have a passion for. Of course you can't control
this when it is an assigned topic in school. Still, you can always
manipulate it to gear towards something you are more interested in. When
you are talking about something you are very passionate about, there is
no way you won't be carried away. This is what makes speakers very
convincing and encouraging.
One thing I can guarantee is this...
if a speaker is just all about herself and how good she is in public
speaking, she will never be effective in reaching out to her audience.
The main objective of public speaking is not only to send your message
across but to affect people positively with what you are going to share
with them. Effective public speaking is about uplifting spirits,
encouraging others, and giving people hope.
It is only when you
affect people's hearts that they will remember what you talked about,
even long after your talk is over. This brings me to one of my favorite
stories in the New Testament.
It was after Jesus' death, when the
disciples ran to the tomb and didn't see Jesus' body there. While they
were talking with each other about all the things that occurred, Jesus
Himself caught up with them but they didn't recognize Him. Jesus asked
them questions and engaged them in a conversation. When their eyes were
finally opened and they recognized Jesus, Jesus vanished. That's when
they said to one another, "Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning
within us while He was talking with us on the road?" (Luke 24)
When we touch people's hearts deeply, they remember.
Another
advice I can give is this: Never talk about anything that you haven't
experienced or something you can't do. As I've said earlier, an
effective speaker walks her talk and holds herself accountable for
everything she says.
When all of these characteristics are in
place, everything else will follow easily. As to the physical aspect of
effective public speaking, here are more tips to bear in mind.
Look at your audience straight into their eyes. This makes your interaction with them more personal.
Don't stay in one place. Walk around, but not too much as it may be distracting.
If you are feeling a little bit jittery, hold on to your podium or desk. This will help you establish balance.
Include
some actual interaction by asking the audience some questions during
your talk or letting them hold something that you are showing as a
visual.
Use visuals. This will make your talk more interesting, alive, and interactive.
Practice makes perfect. The more you apply all these principles into your public speaking, the more effective you will be.
No comments:
Post a Comment