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How skilful are you at public speaking?
Have you mastered the public speaking skills?
If you want to master public speaking, then you need master the
public speaking skills. There are dozens of skills required in a talk.
These skills are an essential part of the art of public speaking and are
especially important in persuasive speaking. How do you measure up in
just 10 of the skills?
In the following you will find the skills and a brief explanation of
what the skill is or requires.
Informative to the Audience
To be informative to the audience it needs the all important 'what's in
it for me' factor. It also needs to go beyond just facts and figures.
The information needs to be massaged in a way the audience can use it.
Know the Make Up of Your Audience
Seemingly obvious, this is often overlooked. For instance, you would
think that you will speak to doctors differently than people without a
health care background. However with all the information overload
doctors deal with, most want the common version, the one they will share
with their patients. Know how the audience will best receive the
material you deliver.
Introductions that Capture Attention
The introduction is the key that unlocks the door of the mind so that
what you say might be listened to. It is essential that the words used
and the way they are used are effective in capturing the attention of
the listener. Although this may seem one of the more basic speaker
skills, it is in reality one of the most important.
Accurate Pronunciation
Imagine listening to a great speaker who constantly mispronounces words.
Will you wonder if it is because he did not know. If he did not know,
then how credible is everything else he has to say.
Words Clearly Spoken
Like pronunciation, clarity is essential. Whach-y-all-do-in (what's you
all doing) may be acceptable when we are with friends, but when speaking
into a microphone, it can be annoying to the audience. A lack of clarity
can result in sound that you would not want to use in public. Even
worse, slurred words are the sign and symptom of a stroke. Someone may
call 911 not only to rescue the audience, but mistakenly (as far as the
stroke is concerned) to rescue you.
This is one of the public speaking skills we may take for granted but
also may get us in trouble.
Fluency
Fluency refers to the flow of your thoughts. The speech that is fluent
sounds like a harmonious whole rather than several small and fragmented
pieces of thought tightly tucked together.
Avoiding Word Whiskers
In addition to the common word whiskers, and uh, and uh and uh would be
the venerable, 'and now.' Or sometimes just plain 'now.' Speaking in
Spanish a common word whisker is 'therefor.' There are many other word
whiskers, 'you know.' Using them once can in some instances be
acceptable. Using them over and over is distracting and annoying to the
listener, uh, and now you know.
Pausing
Pausing can be for emphasis or for effect. It is a speaker skill that is
often underused. Pause mid sentence to emphasize a particular word or
part of the thought. Pause before making a bold statement or to
emphasize the statement. Pause no less than one second and not much
longer than three. This is one of the more difficult of the speaker
skills to master and be natural.
Sense stress
Putting the right stress on the right words or right part of the section
of a talk is an art that needs practice. Inexperienced speakers will be
found giving sense stress to more than one part of a sentence or in more
than one part of a thought being shared.
Enthusiastic Presentation
Did you know there are two kinds of smiles. One is a put on or Pan Am
Smile and the other is a real smile. Enthusiasm can be just like the
smile. It can sound put on or it can sound real. Learning how to master
the real is essential for great speaking. Mastering this along with
other speaker skills will make a talk come alive.
These are only overviews of 10 of the many speaker skills. To master
public speaking means to master the public speaker skills. The ultimate
practice will come in front of an audience. Learn them, practice them
and once proficient, you will have attained speech mastery.
Jonathan Steele, RN coaches and teaches public speaking to nurses and
doctors and is a part time faculty of Northampton Community College,
Bethlehem, PA.
He is a Nurse, an Artist, and a Webmaster. He speaks on Nursing
subjects as diverse as Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, Nursing
Communication Skills, Hospice and enhancing the immune system with diet
to improve Glutathione levels.
If you would like to learn more about mastering public speaking visit
the
speakers skills page at
Speechmastery.com
Enthusiasm begins with a smile. Would you like to know more about
smiles? Then consider the section...
Do you know what a real Smile is?
This article is (c) 2007 Jonathan Steele
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