The Art Of Public Speaking

By Rupal Jain

As rightly said, "Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't; the other half have nothing to say and keep saying it". Public Speaking is explained as the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listener. It is a powerful tool used for various purposes such as motivation, influencing, persuasion, information, translation, entertainment etc.

A research revealed that 75% of the people suffer from "glossophopia" or "stage freight" which means fear of public speaking. Even the world's best speakers faced nervousness and stage freight. "There are two types of speakers: those that are nervous and those that are liars"- Mark Twain. However, the good news is that you can overcome the fear through sincere efforts and dedication by adopting few techniques which are stated below:-

1. Understand the occasion, venue and the message to be conveyed before the speech.
2. Analyze Who are the Listeners? What you want to communicate? When you want to convey the message? Where is the venue? Why should the audience listen to you? and How will you convey the message?
3. Prepare yourself before the speech; as said by someone that those who fails to prepare is preparing for failure.
4. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Emphasize on your strengths to overcome the weaknesses.
5. Structure the opening, body and closing of the speech effectively.
6. Use proper body language, gestures, tones, facial expressions and eye contact with the audiences.
7. Speak slowly and clearly, i.e. neither too fast nor too slow.
8. Keep the sentences short and simple and don't read word-to-word from your notes/ material.
9. Use appropriate technical details, graphs, diagrams, pictures, charts and other visual aids but don't over use it.
10. Support your statements with proper examples.
11. Don't get into arguments with the listener, if he/she disagrees with your ideas.
12. Stay Relaxed / Calmed; Be Enthusiastic, Positive and Confident.
13. Know when to stop; keep a watch on time.
14. Allow question and answer session in the end.
15. Always use language that you are comfortable with.
16. Finally, believe in what you are saying to boost your morale.

Wish you all the best for better Public Speaking!

Rupal Jain, Lecturer, Atharva Institute of Management Studies (Mumbai), and I can be reached at jainrupal@sify.com

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