Public Speaking: Basics, Lessons and Techniques to Become a Good Public Speaker

Who is a speaker

An orator is a person who has oratory abilities, which consist of the ability to speak beautifully and convincingly, to master the tools of acting, and to have psychological knowledge.

The talent of eloquence can be innate. It is even believed that each of us has it, only to varying degrees. This means that anyone can develop this gift, taking into account individual characteristics and working on themselves.

With the development of oratorical skills comes the skill of public speaking, which has its own properties:

special content of speech - linguistic and non-verbal, in the form of facial expressions and gestures, methods of influencing the listener;
focus - receiving feedback from the audience;
effectiveness - as a result of the psychological state of the speaker and his authority among the public.

But you can structure your speech competently if you use the rules of oratory:

The presentation should be structured for better assimilation and accessible to understanding.
Speech that is correct, expressive and without filler words is capable of capturing the attention of the public for a long time.
The information provided must be useful and truthful.
The emotional content of the speech and the dry language of numbers will create balance and will not allow the listener’s interest to evaporate.
His attention should not be abused; conciseness and informational capacity of speech are welcome.
The beginning of a speech and its final part have a greater effect on the audience than the content - this should be taken into account in the compositional structure of the speech.
You need to speak to the audience in a language they understand, taking into account their intellectual level, age category, and social affiliation.

And then she will have the qualities necessary for oratory:

The image of a talented speaker is charismatic and closely associated with such characteristics and traits as self-confidence, inspiration, erudition, the ability to improvise, vividness of thought, strong voice, and expressive gestures.

We’ll talk later about how to learn public speaking on your own.

Get rid of the words of parasites

Words are parasites - the most insidious enemy of oratory. They appear in your speech unnoticed, at moments when you are excited, in a hurry to express your thoughts, or find it difficult to find the right words. But gradually and imperceptibly for you, they begin to sound more and more often and, as a result, literally in every sentence. They hurt the ear of the interlocutor, but are not noticeable to you. Getting rid of the words of parasites is difficult, but possible.

To begin with, make it a habit to record your speech from time to time in a relaxed and casual environment - any conversation with a close friend or relative will do. In the recording you will hear which words you need to get rid of. Think ahead about what you want to say, form whole sentences. It is clear that this should be done in private at home. But when communicating with people, you should watch your speech. Once you discover the words parasites, you will pay attention to them and try to avoid using them.

Don't worry that thinking about sentences will make your speech too slow. We'll talk about this in the next section.

Types of eloquence

Depending on the composition of the audience and the topic, eloquence is divided into types:

Oratory speech can have different goals of influencing the listener and it happens:

informational, introduces new facts, information, knowledge;
entertaining, has a fun character;
persuasive, in which the speaker seeks the listener's agreement with his point of view;
uplifting, emotionally inspiring;
calling to action, agitating to take action.

Preparation

The second rule: know the interests of your listeners before preparing your report.
The report must be well prepared. It's ideal if you tell people what you know well. What if you bought the text of your thesis yesterday, and tomorrow you have to report it in front of a room of evil teachers? And you have to go to the client to tell him how to use the admin panel of the new site, and this is the second time in your life you’ve seen this CMS?

The only way out, if you don’t know much about the topic as a whole, is to study the interests of your listeners and talk about what is more important to them about this topic. For example, if you are afraid to talk about the new version of Solaris because you don’t know what’s new in it, and you need to speak in front of system administrators, you can focus on what is important to them - for example, on administration tools, or where in the new version, settings have been transferred compared to the old version.

Rule three: prepare good slides

It is not necessary to give a presentation with slides, but most listeners now expect the speaker to stand next to the projector, and you can look not only at his high forehead and good suit, but also at the illustrations for the report. For listeners of the speaker in a miniskirt, the slides also play a distracting role: there is no point in staring at other people’s knees the entire time you are defending your thesis.

If you give a report with slides, do them conscientiously. I want to dedicate a separate article to slides. In short, slides are good if:

on the slides - what helps people understand the essence of the matter. A report is not a comic; having a slide for each phrase is overkill
The slides are easy to read from any row in the hall. Few people will see a font smaller than 30.
a standard slide is 5-7 lines of text, no more. Better - five: a title, a thought and three sub-thoughts
A clearly visible graphic element is desirable on each slide: diagram, photograph, drawing. A slide with text without graphics looks like a hint to the speaker.

The exception is slides with code at developer conferences: sometimes the code just needs to be shown, and the main thing in the code needs to be highlighted in color. However, the code should still be readable from afar: remove any code that is not directly relevant and write the remaining code in 30 point size.

The structure of oratory speech

In order for a public speech to achieve its goal and leave no one indifferent, it is built according to the plan and content in a certain order, which is called composition.

The introduction should attract attention, interest, establish contact with the audience, and give an idea of the topic of the upcoming message with a brief description of the issue.

The main part of a public speaking speech is the presentation of the material itself, argumentation, and the use of facts and logical evidence.

The conclusion is intended to summarize and generalize what has been said, emphasize the main idea, draw conclusions, and inspire listeners.

It is advisable to approach creatively when working on a composition. While maintaining a clear sequence and consistency of its elements, it is important not to lose your individual style.

Presenter's pose

Mountains of text have been written and petabytes of video courses have been filmed regarding how and where a speaker should stand. For those who for some reason have not seen them yet - a short summary:

stand in an open position, avoid crossing your arms over your chest, stomach and genitals;
move freely around the space allocated to you in front of the audience (stage, part of the hall); avoid immobility;
look into the hall, best of all, choose a person you like in the hall and look at him as if you were telling your report to him personally; it is better to choose several such people, and periodically look from one to another; Avoid constantly looking to the side, at the floor, at the ceiling. Thoughtful, looked out the window or to the side? This is normal, but there is no need to lose eye contact with the audience: return your gaze to the audience;
never, you hear - never - read the slides. I myself have sometimes made this mistake, because if the slides are done well, there is always a temptation to sneak a peek at what to say next. A slide is not a prompter, it is an illustration of what you are telling. Reading the slides is bad manners. Try to recite the report from memory. You won’t tell your friend about a friendly drinking session while looking at your notebook, will you? So the report should pour out of you on its own, without hesitation or peeking. Believe me: the speaker reading the slides looks pathetic from the audience and evokes sympathy at best, and disgust at worst;
Gesture - in Russia the audience will approve of moderate gestures. I mean polite gestures, of course. However, if you want to risk becoming a YouTube hero for an hour, you can show something indecent at a crowded conference. The scandal will be remembered by many, your name is not guaranteed. Do many people remember the name of the TV presenter who accidentally raised her middle finger when pronouncing the name of the US President? No, but the fact was remembered.

Features of oratory

Oratory speech is characterized by the following features:

Oral presentation. The process of communication with the audience occurs directly when voicing thoughts. Texts for public speaking are learned by ear and structured in such a way as to be easy to understand.

Availability of feedback. A good speaker feels the audience. He distinguishes mood, catches reactions to what is said, guesses emerging questions and flexibly builds further dialogue.

Use of various means of communication. The use of gestures, pantomime, intonation and other non-verbal methods is inherent in oratory, which distinguishes it from ordinary oral speech.

The relationship between the text prepared for speech and its oral interpretation. Choosing the right tone of communication helps to present information in an intelligible form and find contact with the audience.

Get ready for performances

Even the most experienced speakers do not leave anything to chance and diligently prepare for any speech in front of an audience. Think in advance about what you want to tell people and write down your talking points.

If you know how long you'll be speaking, write your speech and read it out loud. Record your performance rehearsal and listen to how your voice sounds from the outside. Analyze intonation and pauses. It’s great if you can read what you wrote to a loved one and ask his opinion. Perhaps something in the presentation looks unconvincing or unclear. Take into account all comments and correct errors.

The art of public speaking is hard daily work. But the response from the audience, the results that you can achieve, will instill in you great enthusiasm and a burning desire to continue working on self-improvement. There are very few people who are able to convince and infect others with their ideas. Anyone who manages to develop the talent of a speaker is able to achieve unprecedented heights in any field. But remember, listening to others is equally important. Communication is the path to mutual understanding and finding the best solution in any situation.

Oratorical techniques

Oratory techniques are used to improve the perception of information. They work either by orienting the listener to figurative perception, or by stimulating his mental activity.

For example:

visual comparisons and short illustrative examples are especially appropriate when conveying numerical material;
repeating what has already been said in other words creates a new image;
the allegory clearly illustrates the speaker’s ideas and thoughts;
antithesis by contrast enhances their perception;
hyperbole exaggerates those points that need to be paid attention to;
rhetorical questions do not require an answer, but stir up interest;
an insertion when a casual remark made draws attention to what was said;
unexpected words and actions heighten the listener's curiosity.

Checking equipment before the report

At any decent conference, speakers are asked in advance (on the day of the talk or even the previous day) to check that their flash drive, laptop, and other equipment they need is compatible with the equipment provided by the conference organizers.
In the case of defending a thesis, this will be a banal check that the cathedral projector connects normally to your laptop and displays the picture in the resolution that you need. Be sure to check that all programs that you will use during the report (xterm, exceed, Adobe Reader, OpenOffice Impress, etc.) show what you need, in the required resolution and without shifts on the screen. Even experienced presenters get confused when the most interesting part of the window is off the screen.

Make sure the computer you are using to show your slides can read what you have them on.

These rules seem obvious, but dozens of people (including myself) have regularly felt uncomfortable in front of listeners over such little things.

How to develop speaking skills

To master the secrets of oratory, you can enroll in courses and trainings on rhetoric, take lessons for beginners, choose online training, or study a self-instruction manual on eloquence. All these options are offered to our attention by the vast Internet.

If you like independent training in the development of public speaking, let's work on the technique of delivering a speech, prepare for a speech, learn how to interact with the audience and take on board some practical tips.

Speech technique

The sound of speech you want to listen to depends on the following components:

Breath. The pace should be measured, with the inhalation being shorter than the exhalation. Do not inhale “all the way” so that you have the opportunity to take a breath. It's the same with exhalation. Special exercises help improve speech. For example, developing the skill of breathing from the bottom of your lungs will make your voice stronger and your speech fluent.
Volume. By controlling his voice, a speaker influences the audience's perception of what he says. If your voice is naturally quiet, you can make it louder. To do this, read expressively out loud, count to ten as you exhale, gradually increasing the volume of your voice.
Diction. Tongue twisters will help you speak clearly, clearly pronouncing sounds, if you are not lazy and do not forget to load your articulatory apparatus with them.
Pace. We must try to express our thoughts at an average pace, without sputtering words or stretching them out. Since the temperament and internal state of a person at the time of the performance plays an important role here, it is important to calm down and tune in to a fruitful dialogue with the audience.
Intonation. With its help, your speech will be remembered by the listener because it will be alive. Practice reading works of art aloud with expression, just like in school.

Preparing for the performance

At this stage, the text of the speech is prepared. We already know what a properly composed public speech should be. In order not to read from what is written, you should first of all memorize the text, and draw up a plan and main points for the meeting with the audience.

To be ready for improvisation, you must have developed logical and imaginative thinking, have a rich vocabulary and a broad outlook. Read different literature, keep abreast of social events.

To maintain the proper mood among the audience, stock up on a number of interesting facts, light jokes, and entertaining short stories.

To avoid being caught off guard by the technical side of your presentation, be aware of organizational issues: hall, audio equipment, video materials.

Communicate with people

Training at home gives excellent results, but it is impossible to hone your speaking skills without communicating with other people. The easiest thing in this regard is for students - they have access to excellent practice of speaking in front of an audience of fellow students. What to do if you do not have such an opportunity? Look for any opportunities to network and hone your skills. Start with a small audience. Do you feel awkward and embarrassed to speak in public? For your first experiments, choose comfortable listeners - for some it is easier and calmer among close friends, for others, on the contrary, with strangers.

You need to overcome yourself and just start. Each time everything will happen much easier and more pleasant. Did you notice that you failed? Do not despair. Conduct error analysis. Perhaps you chose the wrong words or the interlocutor is simply not interested in the topic you proposed. The ability to listen to others is no less useful than the ability to speak beautifully. Ask questions. The person himself will tell you what topic is interesting to him. Your job is to keep the conversation going. Remember? You have already practiced at home and can communicate about everything.

Oratory for children

Today, rhetoric, as a scientific discipline about the art of oratory, is also in demand for the harmonious development of children. It develops the child’s personal qualities, teaches them the ability to communicate, express their thoughts competently and confidently, conduct a dialogue using intonation and facial expressions, and acquire the first skills of public speaking.

The objectives of teaching rhetoric are:

You can also work with your children at home:

work on your speech technique, pronouncing tongue twisters;
learn polite communication;
read and talk a lot on different topics to increase your vocabulary;
organize theatrical performances to develop acting skills;
learn and read poetry with expression;
practice performing in front of family and friends.

These classes will help your child become more confident and not be shy at public events, teach them how to establish contacts with people, and reveal their creative potential.

Where to begin?

How often have you noticed that you are unable to express your thoughts due to an insufficient vocabulary? The reason is not necessarily hidden in lack of education and a poor vocabulary, although these factors are critically important in the ability to convince interlocutors and win them over to your side. But most often the matter is the lack of basic conversational skills. A large amount of knowledge and reasonable thoughts are not enough if you do not know how to quickly select the right words and improvise depending on your opponent’s objections.

Fortunately, everything can be corrected with simple but regular exercise. Left alone, pay attention to any object in the interior - a table, a houseplant, a teapot, a pencil. Record your time and try to talk about this subject for at least 3 minutes. Describe it, tell us about its characteristics, try to prove to your imaginary interlocutor how important and useful this thing is, how it can be used. All this needs to be spoken out; it is very useful to practice in front of a mirror - this way you can monitor your facial expressions and gestures.

At first it will be funny and difficult, but gradually you will learn. When you start to notice that 3 minutes is not enough, increase the time - do 10, 15, 20 minutes. From things you can move on to more serious topics. Talk about your impressions of a book you read, a thought or idea you heard. Gradually, you will learn and be able to confidently express an opinion on any subject, without repeating yourself, without being embarrassed, and without bringing up new arguments.

Important detail

The report cannot be read from a piece of paper.
If you want to come across as an energetic and successful speaker, read the report from memory. Looking at a cheat sheet two or three times in half an hour is not a sin, but reading the entire report from a piece of paper is a disaster! The cheat sheet should look decent (a pack of two A4 sheets in your hand, I think, looks neutral, but a piece of paper clutched in your fist looks suspicious). And now, patient reader, you can vote for the article - and thereby hint to the author whether he should prepare future articles - about how to get out of difficult situations during reports, about how to make slides, and about how to correctly write a resume and cover letter if you want to work in a Western company.

UPD:

thank you golodnyj for the note on the font size on the slides: the correct minimum size that is normally visible in the room is not 14, as I initially wrote, but 30. In my presentations there were up to 24, but in such cases I didn’t like myself for it. It's better to stick to 30 point.

Completion of the report

The end is the crown of the whole thing.
At the end of the report, it’s nice to hear a cheerful conclusion (“therefore my thesis is the first step towards a doctoral dissertation”, “as you can see, the project can really bring our company an income of 493,000 rubles a year”) or a logical conclusion (“agree , every developer will be glad to use such a powerful tool as dtrace"). It’s good form to include on the penultimate slide the sources of your inspiration (list of references) and/or those books and sites that you advise listeners to read, and on the last slide - a way to contact you (in case someone in a year needs to clarify the name of that book , which you mentioned in passing on the third slide from the end). There is no need to leave your mobile phone - just an e-mail.