A Guide for Public and Persuasive Speaking
Tips for Rewards of Preparation and Organization of Presentations
In The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle said that it is the job of a speaker to convince the listener to believe in the speaker and the speaker’s message. To do so, Aristotle said that the speaker must begin by setting a mood that will enable the listener to decide that the message is correct, that it is worthy, and that it fits one’s frame of reference or needs.
Three Basic Principles of Public Speaking
Sales professionals are masters of business rhetoric in a positive sense. There are three primary strategies they employ to get their message across in a positive and persuasive way. This method also works best for maximum understanding and retention of information. There is a preparatory phase, a delivery phase and a recapitulation phase.
- First, in the beginning tell the audience what you are going to tell them. Consider this an “Executive Summary” and inform the group what you will be saying and want them to do with the information.
- Second, deliver the message. Provide the information and the necessary level of detail, albeit, not overly complicated. Be sure that the level of detail leads but does not overwhelm the audience, and that it is formatted into an acceptable delivery that an audience can relate to, follow and understand.
- Third summarize. Review the information you just delivered, and again reiterate what the audience should do with this information. Use “planned redundancy.”
Challenges to Effective Public Speaking
There are four main challenges to effective public speaking.
- The first is self-confidence. Speak with authority. Do not be over-confident to the point of being pretentious or elitist, but feel confident that as a speaker one has something to offer to the audience.
- The second challenge is proper content of information to be delivered. Be sure the content is prepared and organized, at least in an outline form of the information to be delivered. Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, Founder of Toastmasters International once said, “The unprepared speaker has a right to be afraid.”
- Third is the anxiety factor. For some people anxiety can be a great obstacle. Even professional speakers still have it after hundreds of public engagements. There are two factors to remember. First, anxiety lessens after the presentation begins. As one “refocuses” onto the subject matter the anxiety normally dissipates, sometimes altogether. Second, anxiety levels lessen appreciatively as one does more speaking and naturally becomes more comfortable with speaking.
- The fourth challenge is the delivery. Anyone can stand in front of an audience and read a prepared speech. What a speaker needs, though, is to develop the presentation. The speaker needs to modify it to increase the listener’s attention span, to prepare, write and rewrite it to make it interesting and memorable. Give specific examples. Interject humor. Use graphics or visuals. Find a good quote or story the supports the point. This takes work. The delivery is often as important as the content itself.
Practice Makes Perfect
The best way to become proficient in public speaking is by doing it. Practice your presentation at least five times. Practice the timing. Become very comfortable with the material. If possible, tape or record the presentation and review it several times for improvement.
Finally, seek assistance. There are self-help groups for public speaking such as Toastmasters International. Toastmasters strives to help people become more competent in front of an audience. They now have nearly 235,000 members in 11,700 clubs in 92 countries, learning and practicing communication skills. At Toastmasters, one can learn valuable tips and techniques on speaking such as the “The 10 Commandments of Communication.” There are also public speaking courses at both local high schools and colleges.
References
Public Speaking Gets Easier
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