More Lessons I have learnt
October 14, 2015Beautiful Beginning
May 31, 2016Audience-centred
Keep the audience foremost in your mind at every step of speech preparation and presentation.
Concentrate on the motivations, attitudes, beliefs and values that influence the behaviours of the audience.
Body language
It is vital to develop excellent body language techniques. That means using your facial expressions, eyes and your hands. It impacts on your voice and improves vocal expression.
Communication apprehension
Recognise your fear and learn how to manage it. When well prepared, your confidence level will rise dramatically, allowing you to control your nervousness.
Dedication
Public speaking is a craft that can be learnt .Dedicate yourself to emulating the best exemplar in our Prophet Mohammed (SAW).
Engage your audience
Uninspired openings bore audiences. Skip the formalities and say something that immediately engages them. At a time when the attention span of audiences is very short you have to grab their attention in your introduction. Making eye contact with your audience makes you more authoritative, believable and confident. All in all it is engaging
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Filler words
Avoid using filler words such as um, uh, ah, mm, basically, actually, literally, etc. These meaningless words, weakens your speech. It may be perceived as indicating lack of preparation, lack of knowledge, or lack of passion.
Gestures
Use gestures with confidence to convey your message and enhance your stories. Symbolic gestures communicate words, numbers and position
Humour
There is, perhaps, no better way to foster mutual respect, trust, empathy and a shared sense of community between a speaker and their audience than the use of healthy humour.
Intention
You must ensure that you have the correct intention in acquiring eloquent speech. You need to check your intention also before you speak, when you speak and long after you have spoken.
Jargon
Avoid the use of jargon .Speak to the audience at their level of understanding.
Keywords
Keywords form the skeleton of a speech, and serve to remind the speaker of his ideas in the correct order he wants to present them.
Leadership
Leadership skills are most crucial competence for public speaking.
Develop the ability to influence group members so as to help achieve the goals of the group.
Message
Your message has to be clear. There must be no ambiguity. The audience must not leave confused. One effective way to get the audience to reflect on what is being said is to use pause as a technique.
Narrative
Take time to learn what makes a good story, one that people can relate to and will learn from. It is told well? The plot involves a transformation. Be sincere. Let the story fit the occasion, the characters must come alive. The audience must relate to the story and the story must addresses the issues at hand.
Optimum pitch
Produce your strongest voice with minimal effort. Position your human voice and allow for up and down variation.
Positive energy
Channel your fear into positive energy and enthusiasm.
Quotations
Quotations can play a significant role in enhancing your speech and giving it credence.
Reliability
It is critical to ensure that the information is very well researched and credible.
Stage fright
Preparation, practice, prayer and exercising are ways to overcome the anxiety of giving a speech.
Tell tell tell
You first tell them what you going to tell them and then you tell them and finally you tell them what you told them.
Unpredictable
As a public speaker you must be unpredictable. This ensures that you will not lose the audience
Visual aids
Research shows that presentations which use visual support are more persuasive than ones which do not.
Wow your audience
Look at creative ways to inspire and motivate your audience. Leave an indelible impression. Do not be afraid to use the whole stage during your presentation.
Xceptional
Let you speech be exceptional and extraordinary. Audience will be inspired. Your speech must not be mundane and prosaic.
You
It’s not about you or your ego. It is all about the audience and the impact you have on them.
Zest
Have zest for public speaking like you have zest for life. Be animated and enthusiastic. Your introduction must be strong and your conclusion must be stronger.
THE DYNAMICS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
by Edris Khamissa and Mahomed Vahed