Public Speaking

Yes we’ve all heard it a million times. Americans fear public speaking more than even death. And to counteract this colleges and universities across the country are requiring students to take public speaking courses in record numbers. However, the classes are usually boring, focusing on the technical nuances of communication and stressing “proper” organization and structure. Most students leave these classes having read three or four speeches off of their note cards and hating the professor for not allowing them to talk about the topic they wanted to do.

This is a disservice to the young leaders who would greatly benefit from public speaking classes. Leaders, of course, need to use their public speaking skills all the time. Whether it is running a meeting, making a presentation, or networking effective speaking is a must have skill.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately) public speaking is a skill that gets easier with practice. The only problem is that for young leaders, you probably don’t have much of anything in the way of public speaking experience. But there are some tips for getting started.

• Realize that it is natural to have some measure of “stage fright”. Everyone, even the professionals, get it. In fact, a little bit of nervous energy can help you deliver a dynamite speech.
• Confidence is key. “What now I’m supposed to be nervous and confident at the same time?” No… well yes… but the idea is that you should be confident that you know what you’re talking about and your topic is important and that the audience ought to listen to you.
  Do you know what the biggest confidence booster is? Passion! Have the passion in whatever you’re speaking about and nothing can hold you back.
  And when all else fails, just fake it. If you act confident, you’ll feel more confident, try it!
• Practice, Practice, Practice! Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident. That being said, don’t ever ever memorize a speech word for word. You’ll probably forget and definitely will sound mechanical and dead. Prepare by organizing your thoughts in a way that flows. Think about the points you want to make and maybe some relevant anecdotes.
• Know your audience. Yes I know… I’m sounding like your high school English teacher. This is an extremely key point though. The only way you can get your audience’s attention (and hopefully convinced to agree with you) is to know them. Think about how they would react to certain speaking techniques, and tailor your speech accordingly.

There is a lot more good information in the book The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie. (Dale Carnegie is essentially the granddaddy of the personal development book genre – More on and his other books later). So check it out and get out there to do some public speaking!

-Jason

PS. A organization that can help you get public speaking experience is the Toastmasters. With literally thousands (or more) clubs throughout the world, there should be one near you!