Whether you are a university student, construction worker or lawyer, we all engage in conversations daily. Being skilled at impromptu speaking can lead to a stranger unlocking doors for you, and smashing that next presentation can give you the grade you so desperately wanted. However, as I learned from a book I recently read by Dale Carnegie, good public speakers are not born; it takes the mastering of a few basic principles and techniques, which we can all adopt.
It is important to note that public speaking is not just reserved for performers, as being able to effectively speak allows you to convey your true feelings and passion towards a topic; something which we are required to do every day in different forms. There have been many occasions where I have been unable to do this and convey what I am thinking. Take heed of some of these principles and techniques in your next conversation/speech/presentation, and watch yourself flourish!
– BECOME MOTIVATED:
As mentioned above, no-one was born to be a great public speaker; rather, the techniques have just become more widely taught than a few years ago, so there is no reason why you can’t become one too! On this journey, you should be determined to succeed and have a deep-rooted belief that you will achieve your goal. After all, you will only make an effort to practise properly if you can actually see yourself being successful at it in the future.
– SEIZE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO PRACTISE:
Public speaking is something most of us are not used to doing, so having some amount of fear is completely normal! The important thing to bear in mind is that you only get better by doing, so practise as much as possible. Appreciating any small steps of progress is super important to allow you to continue this. This does not mean that you should memorise your talk word for word; in fact, this is the worst thing you can do. It sounds inorganic, too rehearsed and you risk forgetting your words very easily. Rather, ‘brain dump’ all your ideas on the topic beforehand and organise it into a logical sequence. Here are a few pointers I learnt from my internship and the book:
1. Start with a hook: begin your talk with an incident and/or fact to draw your audience in. This could include a shocking statistic or asking the audience for a show of hands.
2. Have a beginning, middle and end. Think about what journey you want to take your audience on, and structure your talk according to this. Always try to show the audience how the topic relates to them and can be of benefit. At the end of your speech always end with a: summary and/or a call to action.
– TALK ABOUT THINGS YOU HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT:
If you can choose the topic, it is really important that you speak on something you have earned the right to talk about, be it through knowledge or experience. This is an easy way for you to become excited and want to talk. People are very receptive to personal experiences, so try to include these to improve even the most mundane of talks and topics. For example, you could be discussing the importance of pigeons to biodiversity; but by mentioning your personal viewpoint/conviction on the topic, and backing this opinion up with your personal experiences, the quality of your talk should vastly improve. Beginning your talk with a short section on your childhood or upbringing is a great way to interest your audience; people are interested in how others navigated their way to who they are today. The most poignant stories or people you think of when you reflect on your past are the ones you will be able to speak about interestingly and with zeal.
A few more pointers:
– Practice speaking impromptu, so that you will be able to do it when it really matters. Some techniques which I have found useful is putting lots of random subjects into a hat and regularly giving a 1-minute talk on one of them. Introduce an example which relates to the audience immediately when giving an impromptu talk and/or link your speech to something someone said before you.
– Turn a fact into a picture by using as much descriptive language as possible and avoid technical terms
– Make your talk as interactive as possible; no audience enjoys a mundane recitation of a Wikipedia article. A quick way of doing this is using the word “we” rather than “you” as much as possible so that the audience feels more like a partner rather than a listener.
Note these down and start putting them into practice as soon as possible, good luck!