THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING (Step by Step Guide)

What is Public Speaking?

Public Speaking is the art of effective Oral Communication with an audience. It includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech delivered over great distance by means of technology.

Types of Public Speaking

What are 4 types of public speaking?

Ceremonial Speaking
Demonstrative Speaking
Informative Speaking
Persuasive Speaking

Why is public speaking important?

Public speaking skills are useful in every area of life, from personal to professional.
Public Speaking allows us to form connections, influence decisions, and motivate change.
Effective public speaking skills can also help with career advancement, as they indicate creativity, critical thinking skills & leadership abilities

Objective of Public Speaking:

Public speaking is used for many different purposes. The following are the objectives of public speaking

Persuade others
Inform others
Inspire others

Public speaking examples

Persuasive presentation:

Aim to change audience behavior
For example) Sales presentation – Make others buy the product

Informational Presentation:

Purpose of this is to educate others
For example) Workshop

Inspirational presentation:

To emotionally move the audience
For example) Award ceremony, motivational speech

PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS

Step by Step Procedure to Learn the Art of Public Speaking

Step 1 – Identify your audience:

Audience persona: An individual representation of your entire audience.

Audience identification questions:

Who will be attending?
Where are they from?
What industry are they from?
How much do they know about the topic?
How do they feel about the topic?

“Audience research is the key when preparing for a presentation”

Outline your speech:

Types of outlines:

Descriptive: Breakdown topics into key informational categories
Problem/Solution: Focus on audience pain point, the eases the pain (Persuasive sales)
Chronological: Move forward or backward in time (Step by Step procedure) – Motivational story
Regional: outline talk by area – Inspirational

Find your story:

“Let me tell you a story”

Story formula:

Something happens to someone.
What’s the story behind numbers?
Conflict driven plots: Overcoming an obstacle
Evidence of creativity

Step 2 – Prepare for your speech

Warm up:

Vocal warm ups:

Get up early & get moving
Avoid cold drinks
Use your voice before delivering your speech

Presenting later in the day:

Save your voice
Drink room temperature water
Warming up your face
Warm up your body

Research the room:

Use check list
Room dynamics
Size & shape of room, number of seats, stage, floor plan

Audience dynamics:

Classroom style/boardroom style/rows
Equipment- Ask coordinator for availability of equipment’s
Say yes to Microphone: Make use of microphone. Test the mike before you talk
Audio check

Fear of Public Speaking

Fear of public speaking is a common form of anxiety

Manage pre performance anxiety:

Self-awareness techniques can help manage performance anxiety
For example) Meditation
Arrive early and meet up the audience
Watch your body posture – Use the one that control your nervous

Rehearse:

Make your rehearsal as realistic as possible
Rehearse in actual cloths
Get an audience for rehearsal
Record yourself
Listen to yourself
Rehearse in real time
Rehearse at same time

Step 3 – Open:

Develop Credibility

How do you quickly develop personal credibility?
Build credibility by demonstrating confidence and competence

Confidence:

Dress appropriately
Use non-verbal skills (Look at audience and smile)
Sound confident (Bold clear, strong)

Competence:

Find a few key details in your background that relate to your subject matter

Explore five strong openings:

Cold opening techniques:

Ask an open-ended question
Begin with a story
Begin with a bold statement
Tell the audience to imagine something
Begin with hard evidence (Fact quote) – Risky so check credibility

Introduce your agenda: Before presentation

Agenda topics:

Purpose
What will be discussed
Who will be participating?
How long will last?

Avoid common opening mistakes:

Starting with complement
Clearing throat
Highlighting technical & personal insecurities

Step 4 – Deliver:

Develop vocal variety:

Vary your volume, dynamic range pattern
Consider your emotional tone

Reduce the use of crutch words

Filler words become a problem when you overuse them
Example) Huh, well, like

Practice great body language:

Emotionally connect with the words you are saying and strong body language will follow

Warm up
Adopt a confident posture
Avoid doing anything that distracts
Record & watch your performance

Use props & Visual aids:

Prop:

For demonstration- Slide, Charts
Dramatic effect – Excitement
Rehearse with prop

Anticipate tech mishaps:

Tips to handle technology failure

Over prepare
Know your presentation well
Get your audience involved in the problem

Step 5 – Close:

Handle Q & A

Let your audience know how you’ll handle Q & A
Example) Announce that at the end
Hold your Q & A near the end but not at the end.
Keep your answer brief
Last words should be yours

Explore strong ways to close

Closing techniques:

Title close (Restate or reframe from title)
Close with summary – Key takeaways
Close with quote – Use a quote to summarize the main idea

Get Feedback: Feedback is a gift

Indications of helpful feedback – Take note
Truthfulness, honest – To improve
Specificity
Don’t waste time worrying about negative feedback

Conclusion:

Like any other skills Public Speaking is also a learnable skill. By following the above steps anybody can master the Art of Public Speaking.

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