Elements of effective  Speaking – A major part of personality 

Author : Nirmal Bhatnagar, Dean of Mass Comm and Journalism, JIMS, Rohini, Delhi

India

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Wide and voracious reading will help develop your vocabulary.Good public speakers need a wide vocabulary, not to ‘impress’ their audiences with long words, but so that they can choose the most apt and interesting word in any situation. Even with commonly used words make sure that you are sure of the correct meanings- there are a number of pairs or groups of easily confused words.Always remember, however, that the best word is often the shortest and most commonly understood.

Why speak in public?

Is it possible to learn public speaking?

How to learn the skills of public speaking?

What makes a successful speech of talk?

The fact that one needs to speak at some time or the other is something that does not need elaboration.The problem arises when one is asked to speak in the presence of an interview or during a business discussion.

Some people seem to have natural gift for public speaking, but many of us, at least to begin with, face a certain amount of fear and trepidation. Most people can learn to give an adequate and enjoyable speech, even if they may never be great orators.As with most other skills, there are no short cuts to learning about public speaking. You will also almost certainly make mistakes, and some of these will be made in front of an audience.

Much of what you learn will come from listening carefully to other speakers, and analysing what works and why, if you have an opportunity to watch a video of yourself speaking, you can analyse your performance in the same way.

Your own personality, may play only a small part in the success, other wise, of a speech.You should always try to be sincere, only saying what you really believe.You should not pretended to be someone different. Adequate preparation and good presentation are also vital to success. Probably the other most vital factor is having a good subject about which to talk, and an overall purpose to your speaking. All public speaking serves one purpose – the communication of your ideas to a group of other people.

If you are nervous at the thought of speaking in public, you can take comfort from the fact that you are by no means alone. A certain amount of nervousness is, infact,  for successful public speaking. Speakers who are very self confident are often not particularly alert to reactions and needs of the audience.They also tend to make mistakes because they are not prepared to learn.

In addition to a thorough knowledge of any specialised subject on which one s talking it is also useful if a speaker has a broad background of general knowledge. A good public speakers also needs to have a genuine interest in people and words.A wide general knowledge will enable you to include interesting facts and ideas, whatever the subject of your speech. In order to acquire this knowledge you need to be observant and to develop a system of storing material which you think may be useful or which particularly appeals to you. Cutting from newspapers and magazines can also be very useful sources of information and ideas.

As well as collecting notes and cutting, you may also find it useful to develop you mental agility. An interest in people will help you deal with different kinds of audiences and to react to the audience as you discover how they respond.

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