The ability to speak in public has been a useful skill at all times. People who have excellent public speaking skills will always be in demand by society and will be able to find work. It's no secret that there are few such people; they always stand out among others.
They turn out to be successful leaders, politicians, businessmen, journalists, writers, teachers, since in many professions knowledge of rhetoric plays a vital role. The purpose of this public speaking course is to provide everyone with the opportunity to learn free online materials, lessons, exercises, techniques and rules for mastering the basics of rhetoric.
And if you want to understand the topic in as much detail as possible, sign up for our “Modern Rhetoric” program.
What is rhetoric?
Rhetoric is a word that is of ancient Greek origin (Greek rhetorike), and literally means “ oratory .” What is “oratory”? And how to develop your abilities for it?
Each of us has had the opportunity to speak in public at least several times in our lives. And, for sure, no one doubts that in order to be fluent in the art of oratory, you need to know and be able to do a lot
. It can be said that the ability to speak in public reflects our intellectual development and our social skills.
Martin Luther King's famous speech
According to the definition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, “ oratorical speech ” is a type of monologue speech used in a situation where the speaker addresses a large audience with the aim of persuasion or suggestion. Oratory is often identified with eloquence, so a good speaker must be well-read, have competent speech, and be able to clearly express his thoughts. But the speaker also needs to be able to cope with his anxiety, control his diction and have a well-trained voice. In addition, it is important to master speech improvisation, be able to answer questions, maintain contact with the audience, pronounce the text with the necessary intonation, and much, much more.
Most of the skills described, which together form public speaking, can be learned. To do this, it is important to work on yourself, to realize, analyze and correct the unsuccessful moments of your own and others’ public speaking, and most importantly, to train your skills in practice. Our training will help you work through all of these difficult steps towards developing excellent public speaking skills.
Want to test your knowledge?
If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only one option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.
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Content
- Two Ways to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills
- Rules for beginners
- The main mistakes of novice speakers
- Feedback
- Useful exercises for developing improvisation skills
- Articulation gymnastics
Many people would like to learn how to give a good, beautiful and convincing speech in front of an audience and be fluent in the art of oratory. Even if your line of work does not involve regular negotiations, speaking at forums and conferences, situations still arise in life when you need to present yourself correctly. An interview, presentation of a new project, speaking at an open lecture - in these and many other cases, mastery of public speaking skills will come in handy.
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.
Online Rhetoric Lessons
The public speaking training posted on this website is an integration of many techniques described by public speaking experts. Each of the lessons involves the development of a specific skill that contributes to the development of your public speaking abilities. Naturally, each person can master these skills differently, so try to pay attention to those lessons that seem most useful to you.
Lesson 1. Preparing a speech
This lesson provides general guidelines for preparing a public speech. Speech preparation is the most important secret of oratory. Many rhetoric experts call preparation the main rule of successful speech. Dale Carnegie wrote that a well-prepared speech is nine-tenths a delivered speech. However, the process of preparing a speech is not only good content material, but also a set of certain stages of its design, structuring, and presentation, which allows you to avoid standard mistakes of a novice speaker.
Lesson 2. Speech plan
As you learned from the previous lesson, to prepare a good speech, it is important to know what to talk about and how to convey your thoughts to the audience. To do this, you need to draw up a plan for your speech, based on which you will be able to deliver an excellent oratorical speech. Naturally, the structure of each public speech is individual and depends on many things, which include: the number and characteristics of listeners, their interest, time of speech and much more. This lesson shows the basic rules for creating a public speaking plan that you can apply under any circumstances.
Lesson 3. Oratorical techniques
Having collected the necessary material and understood what you want to talk about in a public speech, as well as drawing up a plan, you can move on to the substantive design of the speech. To do this, it is useful to use special oratorical techniques that are aimed at improving the perception of information by listeners. There are a lot of oratory techniques. This lesson describes the main and most popular of them. In addition, here you will find examples and recommendations for using these techniques to develop your public speaking skills.
Lesson 4. Speech technique
In the last lesson, you were introduced to rhetorical techniques that help better reveal the content of your speech. In order to give a speech in front of an audience, it is important to use methods of presenting material from which speech technique is created: intonation, diction, articulation, tempo, gestures, etc. This lesson covers oratorical techniques that will help you when delivering your speech.
Lesson 5. Memorizing text
In the process of preparing for a speech, you often have to memorize important parts of your speech, the structure of the speech, various facts and quotes. Sometimes there is a lot to remember, and this can cause some difficulties. In addition, during a speech, due to anxiety, important things can simply fly out of your head. The ability to keep key details of a speech in mind and attention is a very useful skill for any speaker. This lesson provides important techniques and programs for memorizing the text of a public speech, and also suggests some useful techniques for developing memory.
Lesson 6. Working with the audience
Every occasion you give a speech is unique. If this is a work report at a meeting, you will be listened to by default. But it also happens when you need to fight for the audience’s attention, try to convey your views to them, and get support. The success of not only a specific performance, but also the realization of your global goal may depend on this. Remember how in the movie “Wall Street” the young broker, played by Ch. Sheen, had only 5 minutes to convince the “shark” of the stock market (M. Douglas) to take him on his team? And in fact, no matter how competently the speech is composed, no matter what artistic means and techniques are used, no matter what the preparation, the final success depends largely on how interested you are in the audience in perceiving what is said. Undoubtedly, the speech should be appropriate, but there are times when apathy, or even unfavorability, needs to be overcome not only by relevance or beautiful words. You need a strategy for working with the audience that will increase the significance of the speech, convey its message and turn the listener into a follower of your views. We want to talk about some mechanisms and tricks of interaction with the audience in this lesson.
There are two ways to improve your public speaking skills and master the secrets of the art.
These are the ones most often cited as recommendations for beginners:
- Sign up for rhetoric courses, training, or a theater group;
- Learn on your own.
Rhetoric lessons are a great way to quickly and under the supervision of professional teachers make your speech correct, loud and beautiful. However, if at the moment you do not have extra finances, resources or free time to attend lessons, you can learn eloquence on your own. The main thing in this matter is regular practice and enthusiasm. You can try different techniques for beginning speakers, read a textbook, a self-instruction book on public speaking and rhetoric, watch thematic video lessons on the Internet to achieve your goal. Most famous speakers achieve success in front of listeners or audiences by honing their skills over the years.
Video
In this section of the training on public speaking skills, you can watch videos of famous speeches by outstanding speakers: Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, Vladimir Lenin and others. Also here you can find videos from various competitions, presentations and speeches of people to investors. In addition, the section contains video lessons from leading experts in the field of public speaking.
Watch all videos →
Alexey Sobolev School of Public Speaking
Website: https://alekseysobolev.ru/ Cost: 4,900 rubles.
Alexey Sobolev’s author’s online course on developing confident and persuasive speech “Perfect Confidence.”
The main goal of the course is to understand your self-esteem and learn to influence people
Why you should go:
- Techniques and exercises that give quick results
- Real practice
- Individual feedback from Alexey Sobolev
- Quick results
- 100% benefit (without water)
The workshop will be useful:
- Individuals interested in their own development
- For managers
- For beginning bloggers
- Managers and business people
The course consists of 6 blocks
- Self-esteem
- Personal boundaries
- Manipulation
- Managing Emotions
- Inner strength
- Tools of influence
What result will you get:
- You have built adequate self-esteem
- Define and build your boundaries
- You know how to put in your place a person who uses unethical practices and tries to take advantage of you
- You know how to manage your emotions so that they lead to action rather than worry.
- Learned not to be influenced by others
- You have mastered effective communication patterns and your fear of people and self-doubt gradually disappeared
What materials are included:
- 9 video lectures
- Hometasks
- 1 month of individual consultations
- Access to all class recordings
- +Bonuses
School of Mental Acuity
Website: https://valentinkirichenko.com Duration: individual Cost: 1500-12000 rub.
An individual training course is devoted to developing the skills of effective argumentation, public speaking, the art of communication in interpersonal relationships, pronunciation and invention of toasts, and storytelling.
You will learn:
- speak publicly: confidently, clearly, interestingly;
- motivate others;
- argue your point of view;
- use tactics against experienced opponents;
- find logical errors;
- build a trusting dialogue and convince;
- support any topics for communication.
Who will benefit from the courses?
There is an opinion that rhetoric is needed only for those who are going to connect their lives with the theater. At least for future film actors. But the lessons will benefit not only future actors.
Mastering the intricacies of oratory will come in handy:
For managers, clear, expressive speech will make encouraging speeches more pleasant, and edifying ones more convincing;
HR managers, even if they do not deal with employees personally, but by correspondence, will never be hindered by coherent written speech and the ability to accurately formulate a thought;
therapists will benefit from the habit of oratory to formulate what needs to be said briefly and as clearly as possible for the interlocutor, without general phrases, but with the necessary amount of emotionality;
For those who like to be the center of attention all the time, such classes will give them the skill to colorfully talk about any event, describe any subject in such a way that they will be listened to endlessly;
Missionaries and preachers should include a course in public speaking as part of their compulsory curriculum, because their success depends on how emotional, persuasive and attention-holding the speech is.
There is no area where rhetoric is not useful
In life or professional activity, in personal relationships or business - the ability to beautifully and accurately convey a thought to an interlocutor occupies an important place in the list of skills
"THE KING SPEAKS!"
Website: https://korolgovorit.rf Duration: 30 days Cost: 7900 - 9900 rubles.
Online public speaking course in 30 days.
- You will learn to perform on stage and online without stress.
- You will be taught by professional stage speech teachers with 18 years of experience.
Lesson results:
- Learn to perform without stress
- Learn to speak in different formats: on stage, at meetings, at negotiations
- Learn to speak expressively and interestingly
- Learn to conduct vlogs and live broadcasts
- Learn to control your voice
- And most importantly, you will love performing in front of an audience!
The course program includes lessons on self-presentation, diction, voice production, working with an audience, storytelling and much more.
History of formation
Oratory did not appear overnight. It took years to develop because it required participation and discipline. History marks its beginnings in ancient Rome, Babylon, and India. Development happened gradually. There was a need to convey updated information to the population.
This could only be done from a certain elevation, from where the person could be clearly seen. Previously, people did not think about special preparation and training. The science of rhetoric appeared relatively later.
Oratoris
Website: https://oratoris.ru Duration: on request Cost: on request
Oratory is the ability to convey one’s point of view to listeners, present one’s ideas and achievements in a favorable light, and draw attention to an exciting problem or one’s own person. Eloquence is a personal brand.
The Oratoris School of Public Speaking provides individual and group lessons. All you need for online lessons is Skype and a webcam. You will study with the founder and head of Oratoris, Anton Dukhovsky. He conducts personal online meetings and trainings with each student.
Anton Dukhovsky is not a theorist, he adheres to the principle: in order to achieve success in business, you need to practice every day. Therefore, every day he speaks to different audiences, gives solemn speeches, short lectures, and gives presentations.
The Expert online course includes several classes at a time convenient for you. They are carried out according to the schedule that we set. You can complete the program at a more intense pace. “Expert” includes professional voice and speech production, overcoming stage fright, training in public behavior, techniques for capturing and holding the attention of listeners. Anton Dukhovsky will also teach you how to prepare texts for ceremonial speeches and presentations. You will learn how interesting it is to start them and finish them effectively.
The online course “Time to Persuade” can be taken via Skype. But he has a different program, it is dedicated to wit, the development of verbal thinking, communication with a conflicting audience, the ability to influence listeners and convince them of the correctness of their point of view. A separate lesson is devoted to the analysis of “hot” speeches by famous world leaders and provocations from the audience.
The online course “Storytelling: The Power of Stories” is dedicated to the ability to tell stories, as well as use them to achieve your goals: marketing, image formation, persuasion of the audience. The program will teach you to influence listeners with the help of stories, use storytelling in business, and extract profit from stories.
Practical advice
When studying on your own, you should use the following tips:
It is necessary to monitor your speech and carefully choose your social circle. Reading books will allow you to develop a rich vocabulary and increase your knowledge. It’s better to talk a little, but only to the point. We must strive to ensure that every phrase spoken is bright and complete. It is recommended to prepare a speech for a public speech in advance.
It is important to prepare mentally for improvisation. You need to speak clearly, calmly and loudly, but not loudly. When reading a report, you need to look at people, not at papers. Using pauses, it is necessary to highlight formulations and important words.
A professional approach involves finding your own style in oratory. A delivered speech helps to affirm your beliefs and influence people, but you cannot impose your opinion.
It is important to convince the audience that is ready to listen
It is necessary to gain experience, because only practice will help hone your skills.
No less important is the question: how to improve the beauty of speech in your child. Such a skill will allow you not only to answer well at the board, but also to become a successful person in the future. To do this, it is recommended to read books, listen to audio fairy tales and arrange home performances. It is necessary to encourage the child to speak and ask him leading questions.
Regular classes and hard work in developing eloquence can turn almost any person into a real speaker.
MBA City Academy
Website: https://mba-city.ru Duration: 250 academic hours. Cost: 12500 rub.
The Institute of Psychology and Personality at the Academy invites you to distance learning in public speaking under the “Oratory” program.
During your training, you will be able to become more confident in front of people, you will be able to give speeches and presentations at a high level, which will make you an excellent, sought-after specialist.
You will learn:
- how to overcome fear of publicity,
- how to behave in front of an audience,
- how to capture the attention of listeners,
- how to develop diction and speaking technique,
- how to build a speech,
- how to interpret gestures and emotions,
- how to recognize a lie.
Skillbox
Website: https://skillbox.ru Duration: 4 months. Cost: from 1,586 rub. per month
Master of Presentation and Public Speaking
You will learn how to create effective presentations for any audience - clients, investors, colleagues or students. You'll learn how to present your ideas in a compelling manner, structure information quickly and logically, and give a TED-style presentation.
What will you learn
- Correctly build the logic of your speech. Work competently with the text, structure your thoughts and visualize ideas.
- Get 100% of the power out of PowerPoint and Keynote Work with images, shapes and colors, create templates and master slides, use hotkeys.
- It's cool to visualize information. Create infographics and animate any data, draw clear tables with graphs and diagrams.
- Speak in the style of TED-level speakers. Communicate competently and without fear with any audience, work with the audience’s objections and participate in debates, and capture the audience’s attention from the first slide.
- Focus on the main points Highlight important points in the text of the speech and place them on slides.
- Create a presentation for another speaker Ask the right questions when creating a presentation to a colleague or partner to save time on preparation.
Rule 1: Organize the material
In order to talk about something, you need to study the subject of your speech. If you are just beginning to learn public speaking, do not rush to improvise and think that you can “get your bearings as you go.”
Don't limit yourself to superficial information; it will only be useful in the first minutes when you need to bring the audience up to speed.
Your “trick” is details and nuances, the story of which will not seem obvious.
Alternate the presentation of basic material with examples that help listeners consolidate what they hear in their heads. Even the most complex information can be mastered with the help of visual illustrations. The closer it is to your audience, the better the message will be absorbed.
Advice . Sometimes it is useful to approach a problem from different angles, starting from the arguments “against”. This way, the speaker will demonstrate that he understands the mood of the audience and its possible doubts, but is able to dispel them with the help of convincing rebuttals.
Oratory in life
The ability to speak in front of an audience will come in handy. This gives strength, confidence and healthy optimism. It becomes possible to see further prospects for actions and feel the result in advance. Public speaking improves the quality of life. A person opens up to new impressions and always finds the right words to explain his own position to his interlocutor.
Regular performances build character and help you concentrate on the main thing, without being distracted by possible trifles. The ability to communicate coherently in life is worth a lot. Most people get confused if they have to talk about something they have no idea about. Only a person trained for success attracts positive changes in life.
READ Communication as a way of communicating with society
Rule 4: Match the Appearance
People have time to evaluate you even before the moment when you identify the topic of conversation and start talking about it. Therefore, it is important to make the right impression with a neat appearance, beautifully selected clothes and accessories.
Showing a pleasant image will make people want to listen to your message, but wearing something that is tacky or unkempt will give the impression that the speaker is not serious about his or her job.
Do not wear things with inscriptions, too bright a color, a complex graphic print, or an overly open or, on the contrary, closed style. Such clothing will attract the attention of the audience and act as a distraction.
The Art of Eloquence of Ancient Rome
The Romans wisely dealt with the history of oratory, the legacy of outstanding Greek orators, gradually developing the achievements of their predecessors and increasing them. Already in the 2nd century BC, there were humanitarian schools on the territory of the Roman Republic, in which boys, future politicians, public figures, and judges were taught the art of public speaking. The study of classical disciplines was divided into several stages:
- Reading classical literature.
- Correct writing based on grammar requirements.
- Mastering eloquence by composing your own speeches.
What was taught in Roman schools was told in his work “Rhetorical Instructions” by Marcus Quintilian, who himself had extensive experience as a teacher, as well as a trial lawyer. His study of sciences and books was accompanied by an in-depth knowledge of the rules of oratory, including the history of its origin.
A philosopher and teacher who became famous in this field, much more than as a judicial figure, Quintilian devoted his life to a detailed, methodical analysis of the qualities necessary for an orator, and the means by which they can be developed
His books give advice on how best to accumulate quotes from famous authors, popular expressions, with special attention paid to constant oral conversations that form syllables, a sense of rhythm, and experience in conducting discussions.
A good speaker, as the eminent Roman believed, can be recognized by his coherent, beautiful speech and special sophistication of phrases. In his works, he came up with a number of recommendations aimed at practical improvement of speech, elaboration of facial expressions, posture of the speaker, and mandatory adherence to logic.
Another famous figure from the Roman Republic, Cicero, achieved significant success in his career by improving the qualities of a rhetorician. The speeches of the judge, and later of the consul, amaze with the impeccability of logic and carefully selected arguments. He considered Aristotle and Plato his teachers, going back to the Greek school of discussion. Cicero’s views were reflected in his treatises (“The Orator”, “On the Construction of Speech” and others).
Rule 2: control your voice
The speaker’s speech should not be a stream of monotonous information, which after some time will be difficult for even the most interested audience to perceive.
A well-placed voice can play the role of a navigator, showing listeners what to focus on and what to just take note of in passing.
This can be done by alternating loud and quiet speech: changing intonation will constantly keep listeners in suspense.
The performance should be wave-like so that the audience’s attention does not scatter, but is constantly concentrated on you. For example, accents are best pronounced in a quiet, confidential voice, but summaries should be loud and impressive.
Do not forget to also work out the presence of long pauses, filler words and colloquial expressions in the monologue. To maintain your status, you need to demonstrate a high level of speech culture that encourages the audience to listen to you.
Advice. To monitor for unwanted language, video record your performance rehearsals. This helps to see not only speech deficiencies, but also to track errors associated with non-verbal signals.
