Public Speaking

Today, I will be writing on Public Speaking and I will make sure everything I write adds value and gives you the right information you need to be a good public speaker.

Our third session at GemMine was with Aravindhan Anbazhagan, a public and TEDx speaker. This session I would say was my best yet. Aravindhan showed that he is a public speaker and he made the session just too great, the information he passed along were exceptional.

Now let’s get into business 😉.

What is Public Speaking?

Public speaking is basically speaking to a group of people or speaking publicly intended to influence, pass across information and create impact. When you do public speaking, it also creates space for learning. It’s not just about you speaking, but you’re also learning in the process.

Public speaking is about giving. To be an effective presenter or public speaker, you have to show up with a giving attitude. You have known something, seen something, heard something, and done something, that’s why you were invited to speak.

Speech is power. Speech is to persuade, to convert, and to compel. — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

There are three essential things in public speaking;

• You as the speaker,
• The idea/content you want to pass across to the audience, and
• The people that will be receiving the knowledge.

In public speaking, the first step that you need to do is to speak. Being able to effectively and comfortably communicate your ideas with the public or the audience.

What you should be doing to be a public speaker.

As a public speaker, everything starts with you. You’d be the one to start the conversation in the room. While coming to speak, all eyes will be on you. Here are few things that you need to be a public speaker:

• Most important thing, you need is Confidence. Without confidence, there’s no way you would pass across any relevant information to the audience. Definitely, it’s okay to be afraid at first, it’s okay to make mistakes at your first public speaking but you need confidence to stand in front of an audience and speak. Also, remember that if you make mistakes during public speaking that doesn’t mean you’re failing. If you’re failing it’s because you’re not confident.
• Being very alert… You need to build connection with your audience. Your audience needs to feel comfortable listening to you. You need to intentionally listen to your audience and understand them. It’s not all about what you came to speak about.
• Being responsive… You have to be very responsive as a public speaker. You have to respond to the situation, and to the audience. I watched a video on YouTube and an example was given in the video, he was going to speak at a place and on getting to the venue, everything was all hyped, like party party. There was a bar at the venue and everyone was just having fun and partying. In his mind, he said “I came here to give a motivational talk but that will affect the mood of the audience and they wouldn’t vibe with him”. As he stood up from where he sat to give his talk, he decided to start with a joke so he can blend in and interact better with the audience. As he said a particular joke, a guy in the audience started laughing and everyone carried along and from there he was able to interact better with the audience and pass his knowledge across to the them comfortably. In this situation, he was responsive. He responded to the situation at where he was about to give his talk, it wasn’t planned but he re-strategized and changed how he wanted to present his talk. So there will be cases where things would not come out as planned, all you have to do is respond to the situation and create a whole new idea.

Now let’s about the content you’re delivering to the people.

• Relevant — Whatever you’re speaking on or delivering to the audience should have relevance to the people, it should be relevant. For someone who is eager to learn something, you have to tell them what’s relevant.
• Being true — This is very important. Always share things that work for you, do not share false information with your audience. When you share true information with your audience, whatever way you’re feeling will also have impact on your audience. When something is true to you and you’re feeling sad at that moment, the feeling will also hit the audience because it will make an impact.
• Be engaging — Create some engagement with your audience. Don’t always give the same content. People get bored when they see the same thing over and over again. For example, in your classroom when you hear the same thing continuously from a lecturer, you’d get tired of it. So also, if you’re called to present something and you give a presentation you’ve done multiple times, people will easily get bored because it is “old”, not more relevant. Do something new, the audience needs new things. They want to feel engaged.

The audience — What you have to do for the audience.

• Make them feel comfortable with you… People will not gain or learn something from you if they don’t feel comfortable with you.
• Speaking chances — Always give your audience some chance to speak. It shouldn’t be just you speaking, give the audience some chance to say what’s on their mind. That way you get the perspective of other people and you work towards their thinking. By allowing your audience speak, you learn from them that way.
• Make them feel participated in your section — The audience at the end of the section should feel participated, that’s why it is important to give your audience speaking chances and hear their thoughts. That way you’re making them feel participated.

How to get started in public speaking.

• Prepare to talk — Practice in front of a mirror, in front of family and friends. Practice Practice Practice!!!
• Always start with a small crowd — Be it in among your friends, in that moment they are all listening to you, to the knowledge you’re passing across and from there you keep upgrading.
• Don’t think too much — Simplify your thinking. Don’t get complicated words, take simple words and speak… This point will help in overcoming word fillers (uhm, erm or stammering).

Some tips.

• Be on time — As a speaker, you have to set an example for others. When you’re on time, you would not have to battle with much pressure because you would have been settled.
• Research and plan — Think about how your audience will feel about your presentation. Research, plan, and be prepared.
• Always plan activities for engagement — Could be questions or you could crack a joke to keep the audience engaged and be sure their attention is still on you.
• Call to Action — Similar to keeping your audience engaged. You could ask questions and demand your audience to raise hands or ask them to do a recap of somethings that have been said during the presentation.
• Feedback — Whether your session was good or bad, always ask for feedback from your audience. That way you’d be able to make corrections from any mistakes made and also become a better public speaker.

During the session with Aravindhan, I was thinking about the articles I write and how I related it to public speaking. Although I know I don’t see you but I feel like and know that I pass information and I have readers receiving that information. I have always tried to make my articles as simple as possible, something that people can relate with easily and gather the information they need. I hope for more growth to become better in writing and to be able to pass across relevant information to all of my readers out there wherever you may be.

Thank you for your time and please give your feedbacks on what you think about this article 😊.