The 10 Commandments Of Public Speaking
As a child, I showed early promise in public speaking. My contributions in class were more eloquent than those of classmates who were equally bright. Many of my classmates never opted to speak, even when they knew the answer to the teacher's question, but I courageously did. The reason I chose to be a teacher/speaker, and now a radio show host is because I recognize my natural desire to speak in public.
Recently while preparing for my radio talk show, I was startled to find out that three out of every four persons would rather die than speak in public! Why such a huge number? Maybe it is because there are very few practical guides on how to master this crucial skill. While organisations like the Toastmasters train many excellent public speakers, I look through my experience in teaching, speaking and radio to produce the first five commandments of public speaking. Let's go…
1. Know your material
Let's say you were invited to speak at a youth organization, school or workplace. Your first task should be to master the topic you will be speaking on. People confuse mastery with memorizing, but that is a most deadly approach to public speaking. Imagine how embarrassing it will be if you miss a line during your recital. Mastery means researching the topic into details and making sure you bring something new to the table, because no one comes to listen to the same old things they know already. One of our enthusiastic readers, Gabriel Goku, puts it this way; “Be passionate and make sure you are in love with what you are doing. Understand the message you are sending across and that way, you will communicate it much better”.
2. Practise your delivery
When I first landed my radio job, I was a bit nervous because even though I had been teaching and speaking, I thought hosting a radio show was a different ball game. One thing that led to my speedy rise as one of the top presenters on the radio network is my penchant to practise before going on air. Since I go on air every Saturday, I get my material ready by Thursday evening and on Friday evening, I sit behind my console and speak for an hour as though I was on air. Guess what? I go on air and deliver without breaking a sweat. You can never be assured of master-class performance until you make practice your norm. No one gains mastery in a field they barely practise. You've got to know your material, and practise it. Then when you go on stage, it just becomes a repeat of your practice. It becomes “cool chop.”
3. Visualize your success
The mind is one of the most powerful organs we have as humans. Whatever you think, is what you see in reality. So if you for see yourself giving a shabby presentation, it will sure translate in reality, and if you visualize yourself giving a well-prepared and carefully delivered presentation in your mind, you will get nothing short of that.
A day or so before your speaking event, begin visualizing yourself giving the best of presentations you've ever given. I do this every morning before going on air. I see myself giving my introduction lines, interviewing my guests, and concluding with the show for the day. Amazingly, I experience nothing short of what I imagined. Use your imagination to your advantage. It costs nothing to do so!
4. Know your audience
Years ago in my first conference speaking assignment at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, I prepared material to speak to a poetry group on “What Keeps Me Going in Life.” I arrived at the venue an hour early and used that time to chat with a few participants. Through that brief interaction, I got to know what they were actually expecting for the night and with that knowledge, I was able to better tailor my already prepared material to their expectation. They gave me a rousing applause after the presentation.
You do yourself no good getting to the venue just a few minutes to your scheduled time. It will only make you nervous and you will have little or no knowledge of the expectations of your audience. Get to the venue on time and chat with as many audience members as you can. It does not only give you an impression of what they expect, but also calms you down and allows you to strike a relationship with your audience even before you mount the podium; and that is a recipe to successful delivery.
5. Use the technology
Many conference rooms these days have new technology to enhance your public speaking experience. It will be in your favour to get acquainted with the presentation technology ahead of time. You wouldn't want to mount the stage, have your audiences' eyes widely fixed on you, and not know how to move to your next slide. Be professional. Get used to the technology. You will not only be on top of your presentation, your audience will respect you for your professionalism.
This is Part 1 of the 10 commandments. Follow @Newaccra on twitter or Like us on Facebook to see the final part.
About the author
Newaccra Magazine is a positive lifeclass magazine for the young and driven, with Africa in their hearts. It is an ideal source for high quality content on lifeclass, personal development, sports, health and entertainment aimed to inspire, develop and entertain ambitious young people. To see more, kindly follow us on twitter @newaccra or Connect with us on Facebook or simply drop us a line – info [at] newaccra.com.