Public Speaking
by Jingsong
Everyone has to speak in front of people at one time or another, and it can be very scary when we’re starting out. Mostly we fear that we’ll do a terrible, embarrassing job. You can reduce this fear by applying some tips on how to do a great speech, which Jingsong covers in this article.
Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking, and let’s face it, many experience this problem. Instead of posing meaningless questions like: “Have you ever felt your legs melt into Jelly-O sticks when 6876743543 pairs of eyes are fixated at you?” or “Do you get the iggies-oogies when shoved onto the stage during Speech Day?” this article will deal with the What-To-Do rather than delve on What-It-Is.
Reminding you that non-verbal communication is of the utmost importance is probably like your great-grand mother nagging at you about an over-mentioned, over-repeated adage. But it can’t be further emphasised how important this piece of advice is. Save your pair of hands, every other body part from your neck to your toes should not move. Both legs should be firmly rooted to the ground. Do not bend one leg, or worse, both legs. Keep yourself from swaying sideways or in a forward-backward motion – you aren’t floating on a raft in a turbulent sea. Your hand gestures should be natural and not repetitive, otherwise you may end up looking like those porcelain cats seated by cash registers monotonously moving their paws up and down. If there is a need to hold an object, like your A4 script, cards, microphone etc, hold it with the hand not adept to writing, i.e. if you’re right-handed, hold the object with your left hand and vice-versa. The rationale behind this is simple: the hand adept to doing most tasks will be comfortable engaging in natural hand gestures. This specific point might, however, not be applicable to everybody; it worked for me though, so give it a shot!
Another essential part of non-verbal communication is eye contact. Eye contact does not mean merely lifting your head up and staring at the back of the room/hall – you must communicate with people. Maintain eye contact with the audience using this simple technique: look at one person in the audience, hold that particular person’s gaze and move on to the next lucky person after a few seconds. Scan the audience using this method.
That said, what comes out of your mouth is equally important too. Tone variation helps lengthen the attention span of the otherwise dosing-off audience. This does not mean you become a Sarah Brightman or Pavarotti (depending on your gender), but do not go to the other extreme and sound like Rob the Robot – try to find a suitable middleground, as is the case with many things in life. Speak at a pace that seems slightly slower that usual to you, as that is probably the right speed to the audience. Pauses can be a strategic tool. When used wisely and sparingly, they can place emphasis on what has been spoken either before or after the pause. Pause before delivering your most important points. When you pause, people’s attention will be captured because they detect a change in your rhythm. Lastly, don’t put on an accent for the sake of speaking. Fake accents impede your ability to conduct a dialogue with the audience at best and are extremely off-putting at worst.
The end point to bear in mind is that you want your message to be easily understood (i.e. try to relax and enjoy yourself so that your audience can enjoy listening to you too) and you want your primary message be clearly understood (i.e. your content must be effective).
There is a cliché that goes: “It is easier said than done.” Well, how then do you ensure that you do the right thing? It is easy to read all this advice, but putting it into practice is the hard part. To internalise the aforementioned pointers, you’ll have to make the mirror a really good friend of yours. A few days before the big day, recite the script in front of a mirror, preferably a full-length one. There’s no way you’ll be able to make a perfect speech, even on the big day. In fact, nobody has made a perfect speech. But do not despair, continually make small changes to the way you move your hands, the way you sound, the pauses in your speech etc and come the big day, you’ll rise up to the occasion and deliver a fantastic speech.
