Public speaking also known as ‘oratory’ is nowadays as important as basic education. What is Public speaking and why is it important in this developing world? The answer is simple, Public speaking skills are most common and important form of communication. It helps you to make connections, develop confidence and in making your career qualitative and more successful .
How will public speaking benefit me ?
The world belongs to leaders and a leader is not born but made. We make the leaders. Slowly and gradually as a child grows he starts to adopt different activities in himself. The essential qualities of a leader are good command over public speaking and power of influencing the masses. Everyone has a voice in their head but not everyone is capable of presenting to the public with utmost confidence and zero hesitancy. Public speaking is the essence of personality building these days.
When someone is good at public speaking he gets to use the potential to communicate with anyone from the lager sections of society and increase his base of knowledge. It is going benefit you no matter weather you are a student, businessmen, homemaker or whatsoever. This skill is going to suit every character.
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How to start practicing public speaking?
The truth is that speaking in public is a mere skill. And you can learn any skill with perfection if you put in your full efforts and dedication. I agree that some people are natural speakers and have better public speaking skills than others but you still have the chance to brush up yourself and ace the skill like anything. Starting is the most difficult part but once you get involved then the journey goes smooth. You just have to keep going.
It is okay to be Nervous !
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Everyone who is an expert today, was once a beginner. So no matter how you start, just start. You are bound to be nervous and fearful in the starting. Also, you may face mind blanks. But as time will pass you will surely succeed. You just need strong determination and continuous practice. See, practice makes a man perfect. Accept that mistakes are going o be there but you have to never give up and keep learning. This attitude will surely pave your way towards success. Remember, hurdles are meant to be overcomed my friend.
Plan really well
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The secret lies in planning my dear friend. The planning game can take you to heights you can never think of. Its very important to plan well before you actually deliver you content. Plan how you are going to start, plan how you are going to end, plan how to grab the attention of your audience in the first 30 seconds, plan how to keep them engaged, plan how to make them not loose their interest, plan every step of your act. Present yourself very well.
Be attentive
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Now its not the thing that things are going to be static. It may happen that while delivering the speech you notice that people are not paying attention or maybe after few minutes their interest starts vanishing. Now at that moment it is your duty to bring back their attention to your words and make your speech catchy on the spot with immediate effect. These skills make you a better speaker. A speaker just not has to speak but also to watch and listen continuously.
Be a little creative
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Now don’t be one of those speakers who bore their audience to death. Be a little creative, use your sense of humour, tell stories, give live examples and whatever that makes your speech more full of life and engaging. It should not look that you just learnt five pages full of facts and data and came straight here to vomit them like a robot.
Watch your body language
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While narrating, have a close look at your body language. You know the audience is not mere a listener but they are also watching you. It should not happen that your hands are shivering or maybe you are not at all moving and standing still. It may have a negative impact on the performance. If your body language is confident it brings more positivity to your performance.
Never miss a chance !
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You know, practising and rehearsing is all cool but the bestest of all is live performance. Whenever you get a chance to speak in front of people never miss it. It can actually start from a small get family get together or a friend’s birthday party or your graduation speech or maybe some class assignments. Never ever just miss a chance. It will keep on brushing and shaping you.
Eye contact is a must
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Whenever speaking always face your audience. Try to maintain an eye contact. It makes the interaction more appealing to them. It also shows that you are a confident speaker. While speaking, you cannot afford to lose your audience for even the shortest span of time.
Ted’s secret to great public speaking
Pause and reflect
Beautiful female speaker smiling during business conference
I already told you, keep your audience engaged and do not just deliver what you have prepared but also pause and watch that how is the audience reacting. Reflect their reactions and start again with optimum pauses on the way. It will make your audience understand that you are counting their views. Slowing down at times is a very crucial component of speaking.
Mind the time limit
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Never ever exceed the time limit. Also, try to speak for at least until the allotted time is not finished. Exceeding the time limits are strict disqualifications of you being a good speaker. Rules have to be followed everywhere. Too long a speech would bore your audience and also very soon, possibilities are there that you will loose the flow.
Mental note in public speaking.
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Always have a positive mental note that no matter what I am going to start well and end well. I am confident and even if a get stuck somewhere, I will bounce back will full courage. These words are going to fill you with enthusiasm and give you strength in your journey as a public speaker.
Be a more confident public speaker
Final words
Public speaking in a nutshell is a live presentation of all your ideas and viewpoints. It is considered as very basic in the global arena. Good public speaking skills can help you dominate the globe by your skills because communication is the sacred key to enter and rule the international domain.
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