Effective Public Speaking

Public speaking is one of the essential components of communication at large. Quintessentially, public speaking is a process where one is speaking to a group of people. Most of the times, it is a structured process where the speaker informs, influences or entertains the audience. To give a speech is a part of public speaking. It is said that public speaking is an art. The 'gift of the gab' may not be there by one and all but public speaking is also a skill that can be easily developed and with practice one can overcome the fear of talking to the public and delivering a great speech. Most people are nervous and experience anxiety or butterflies in the stomach before making a public speech. This is quite natural. Public speaking requires you to practice and understand subtle nuances of this art. Effective public speaking is not just about talking to a group of people. It requires you to connect with the audience emotionally. For this one requires the right kind of body language and eye contact to connect with the people listening to you. Facial expressions, posture, positivity, pronunciations, stress on words, personality, confidence are all very important components of public speaking. Along with these components, the matter of your speech is of utmost importance. This of course depends on the purpose of the speech but content is king and one must spend maximum amount of time on developing a speech that uses easy but effective words. One must pay attention to the vocabulary that one uses. Keep the content simple. Adding a bit of humor to your speech is one of the ways to keep the attention intact. One can add a bit of humor to a speech on a series topic as well because this will help to lighten the mood. Leaders in any field find themselves in places where they more often than not have to deliver speeches. Businessmen, political leaders, entrepreneurs and CEOS need to be effective communicators. Whether it is delivering a speech about the motivating employees, or to convincing partners to invest in a project or giving an inspirational speech to the audience, public speaking is required. Most managers in a organization work very hard on their public speaking skill because most of them are not use to delivering speeches especially in the initial years at an organization. In fact some of them may have faced nervousness and fear while attempting public speeches. Hence, it is important that one reads a lot. Reading aloud and delivering a speech in front of the mirror to yourself is one of the ways to practice effective public speaking. This will help you to gain some confidence and overcome your nervousness. Also remember to dress appropriately and make eye contact with everyone. Smile and use your hands to stress on important matters in your speech. Keep the speech crisp. Your speech should be neither too short nor too long. This means that at any point of time, your speech should not bore the audience. Effective public speaking is indeed a skill that can help you shine. All you need is a little practice.

Reference: loveknowsnoage.blogspot.com