Public speaking has always been a bane to me. I found out way back when in 6th grade. We were all required to take a semester of speech communications and I knew that I would never make a good speaker. I can’t keep the audience interested let alone persuade them to come over to my point of view. I do so much better through the written word as far as persuasion goes.
My theory is that it has something to do with my voice. Maybe the pitch, the tone, maybe I need to sound more assertive or confident. Possibly explains why I get shot down so much when asking for dates.
Another possibility that I have been exploring lately is the role of body language plays when speakers engage a person one on one or speak to a group.
Look at the following YouTube clip with the sound off.
Notice the way the people in the video pose, the expressions on their faces, the attitude that they present. They are interesting without the sound. They tend to draw the audience in to whatever they’re doing.
So many times when a speaker gets behind the lectern they turn into speaking statues. They might as well turn on a tape recording of their voice and just leave the stage. Obviously you can go overboard doing this but a lack of body language is often one of the biggest sins out there.
Not knowing your subject and not practicing are other sins. I can tell you from experience that not practicing a speech before you need to deliver that speech is deadly. So is not properly developing and thinking out a speech. It’s no sin to make a speech too short but it really is a sin to make a speech way too long and leaving some glaring error in the speech because you didn’t research the subject enough.
Lastly, know your audience. Know what they may be interested in hearing, know what they don’t want to hear about. When you know a little something about how your audience is apt to respond you can craft a more effective message.
In this example the speaker slowly warms to his subject by stating the obvious problem. He speaks softly encouraging the audience to scoot up to listen. He relates his own frustration with the problem and shares his own deficiencies.
Almost imperceptibly he starts to turn the crowd over to his views of the problem. He very softly introduces his solution to the problem and begins to build on it. As he does the crowd reaction grows and encourages him. His volume starts increasing and he loses the meekness in his voice. He is now almost commanding because the crowd allows him to. He finishes by asking the audience “what are you going to do?” This allows him to command the listeners with their willing assent.
Speaking has so many nuances and little tricks that it would be impossible to learn them all. The best we can do is to study up on the subject and find a style that best suits us. Something that you find comfortable and builds on your strengths and masks your weaknesses. You will find it a useful tool in so many different parts of your life.
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