Public Speaking for Smart People

Introduction

Public speaking is an art and skill of communication between the speaker and the audience or listeners. It is more formal than a casual exchange of words or informal talk between people. Effective public speaking requires the acquisition of many skills. It must be an incessant flow of proper words with ups and downs to impress the audience. A good speech will impress the listeners, and it is influential in changing people's attitudes and behavior. It is a medium to explain things, convince people, and make them learn new things. A speaker must have a proper understanding of the subject he is dealing with, and they should have made appropriate preparations for the smooth delivery of the topic. He must develop an adequate aptitude and a positive attitude toward developing different skills, which we will discuss in the following chapters.

The language used must be simple, without ambiguity, and convincing. The speech must contain the speaker's deep understanding and vision to take the listeners to new areas of information whenever possible. It must be well prepared, properly articulated, and presented in a well-audible manner. The talk must be made listener-centered to keep the people's interest right from the beginning to the end. The start must be impressive, attracting attention to the topic, and conclude by properly validating the contents or ideas presented throughout the speech. The speaker's vision must be given to the listeners convincingly and scientifically. The presented things must never be contradictory to each other. The flow of subject ideas must go without interruption to the heart of the people in front. Whenever needed, proper emotions must come to the face and words of the speaker.

Even though the contents are deep and challenging, they must be presented in simple, understandable language to invoke the thinking power of listeners. The speaker's gestures are significant to get further appreciation for the talk, and they must be proper and not overactive. Ensure the talk is properly audible, legible, and transparent to the people in front of you.  A good speaker must be gracious and magnanimous with a high caliber. The delivered words must be capable of igniting fire in people's minds. They must be mentally capable of implementing the ideas in their life or following the new awareness from the speech.

Speech must be soothing, consoling, igniting, inspiring, and knowledgeable. According to Plato, good rhetoric must be tailored to the needs of the assembly as it enroots people's minds. A good speech automatically silences the audience and makes them listen to what the speaker says. Along with the fluent flow of words, a rhythm associated with momentary silence is also needed in your performance. A speaker has the magnetic power to attract people to them by delivering words. Each person before him is vital to the speaker, and his words must be like that to make a personal rapport with every person irrespective of their cultural, ethnic, financial, and religious background.

Short stories, touching incidents, or the speaker's relevant personal experience can be included in the speech to avoid boring the listeners. The speech must be articulated according to the context and the level of the audience if the talk is not for a particular class on a specific subject. The listeners' socioeconomic, educational, and cultural backgrounds must be considered when the speaker prepares the talk.  In Western Countries, famous speakers talk about a specific subject to an invited audience or a specified group of people, but in India, it is applicable in seminars. The remuneration for the celebrated speakers in the United States of America is extremely high.

Stage fright, or fear of facing the audience, is one of the cardinal problems encountered by many inexperienced speakers. Different methods are explained in this book to overcome this problem. If you are not confident or competent enough to talk about the subject you are invited to talk about, do not accept the invitation. Never talk nonstop without sensing the response or reading the people's reactions. The speaker has to go for occasional introspections on it. If people do not grasp something you deliver, never hesitate to reframe it, or do not go to such severe things without understanding the level of the audience. A good talk must always be interesting and wanted by the audience. The speaker must be self-aware of what he delivers. If you read from the face of the audience that they are not following, never hesitate to reframe what you say. Do not present outdated information. The speaker must continually be updated on what he talks about. Just to let you know, most of the audience will have access to online data.

My book on public speaking will be published as soon as possible.

Thank you

Dr. Raju Xavier