This time I wanted to write on a completely different topic.
I searched for it on MS and found Liana( MS id Aviendha) has written a beauty.
Impressed by her writing style I thought to pen down( KEY DOWN) a few myself.
The topic is Art of Delivering a Speech…
No I don’t have as much experience as Liana But I have spoken before Public a lot…
I have heard people say that “ The fear of death is second only to the fear of public speaking”
But Its critical for all of us to learn & master the art of speaking in front of public.
Lemme Start with the topic now.
First just concentrate just on the positive results of public speaking.
Think of the contacts and prospective clients one can generate
But that’s still not enuff to keep the butterflies in one’s stomach, before one steps onto the podium.
Lets concentrate on some Physical Preparation.
1) Warm up and relax ur body and face
2) If u r wearing high heels take them off.now stand on one leg and shake the other.when u put ur foot back on the ground, its gonna feel lighter than the other one. Now switch legs and shake.You want ur energy to go thru the floor and out of ur head.It may sound quite cosmic but it’s a practical technique used by actors.
3) Shake ur hands fast hold them above ur head, bending at the wrist and elbowand then bring your hands back down. This will make ur hand movements more natural.
4) Warm up ur face muscles by chewing in a highly exaggerated way. Do shoulder and neck rolls.
These will warm u up and relax U( These exercises to be done by those who have a Stage fright.well it can be done by others too).
*Now let me speak of some Strategies to reduce stage fright.
Visualisation strategies*
Pretend u r chatting to a group of friends
Close ur eyes and imagine the audience listening and applauding.
Remember happy moments from past( IF anY)
Think about ur love for and desire To help the audience.
Picture the audience in their underwear( funny But it works).
Strategy in advance of program
Be extremely well prepared.
Listen to music or read a poem
Anticipate Hard and easy questions
Organize ur speaking notes
Absolutely memorize ur opening statement( Humorous the best).
Notice and think about things around U
Yawn to relax ur throat
Take a quick walk
Go to the mirror and check out how u look.
Breathe deeply, evenly and slowly for several minutes.
Don’t eat if u don’t want to and never take tranqualizers or such other drugs.
Strategies when program begins
If legs are trembling, lean on a lectern/table or shift legs or move.
Try not to hold the microphone by hand in the first minute( OR u can will almost drop it)
Don’t hold notes. The audience may see them shake. Keep it on the table.
Take few sips of water.
Look at the friendliest faces in the audience.
Joke about ur nervousness. Somewhat Like whats the rite wine to go with finger nails?(wendy r u reading it).
Remember nervousness doesn’t show one-tenth as much as it feels.
*Preparation of Speech.
Structure*
All speeches shud have a definite structure or format or else it’s a woolly mess.
Public attention is fickle and u have to catch it most of the time.
However Structure must not get into the way of the message u wanna give to ur audience.
The message must not have too many messages.
Break the message into sequentially arranged sub – messages.
The message shud not make the audience confuse
We shud not complicate a message just to show our vocabulary power to the audience.
For e.g. A superabundance of talent skilled in the preparation of gastronomic concoctions will impair the quality of a certain potable solution made by immersing a gallinaceous bird in embullient Adam’s ale.
U may ask .Now what the H is this .To put it in simple words “ Too many cooks spoil the food”( got the point)
And last but not the least .
Provide examples( this is the best way to make ur audience understand ur views).
The flow Of any Speech shud be
1) To get audience attention( That the first few minutes of ur speech are most important for u to make ur mark So Concentrate on the ice breakers)
2) Establish ur theme in the next few minutes i.e. the subject matter of ur speech.
3) Create a rapport with ur audience. This will depend on ur first few minutes.
4) The Final impression. This is what will leave a mark on ur audience. So Its worth planning last few sentences with extreme care.
I know this has been a tiring and brain eating review and U mite be controlling ur yawns.
For those who have successfully reached to this point of my review.I would like to share with u an example which I read in the source book.This is abt a person who was last in the speakers list for a program and the audience were waiting for the speech to get over soon so that they can catch up with a day and night cricket match…He started in this fashion…
*”there are three things I would never want to be:1. a Javelin catcher;2. The twelfth man in an important cricket match; and 3. the last public speaker on a long program.(he looked at the watch) Its now 8:40 p.m. I ‘m gonna limit my speech to 15 min. I guarantee u will be in front of ur TV sets for the slog overs.” He kept his promise. He had more of the audience attention than if he had not made the comment. They all had a good laugh even at the end of the day. A little care for the audience will go a long way.
That’s it.*
Thanx for reading it till the end.
I Hope Ur legs wont Shake now And if it does U know what to do.
Source: A book on general management and Communication skills
