One of the sine-qua-nouns of
success is the ability to communicate your thoughts effectively. If you can not talk well, speak freely and express yourself eloquently and adequately, you will be seriously handicapped in going up the ladder and reaching the top. Speech, the ability to communicate subtle and intricate thoughts and ideas, from one to another by making appropriate sounds, is something which the human beings alone among the animal species, have brought to high degree of perfection. Ability to talk and speak is one of the great gifts of God to man and we should make the maximum possible use of this rare talent.
We all know that knowledge is power and ideas rule the world. But no matter what is the extent of your knowledge or how much ideas are there in your mind, you will be absolutely powerless and ineffective if you can not communicate your knowledge and
express your ideas to others and to the world in a forceful, convincing, clear and coherent manner. Among the means available to a man to express his thoughts, ideas, emotions, feeling, hopes and aspirations and among the vital tools made available to him to influence and lead people, the ability to talk and sway the minds of men is the most effective, most potent and most appealing. If we study and analyze the lives of great men, who have wielded power and influence over other men, we will find them to be great speakers and grand orators. If by chance or due to circumstances, some people who have not originally been speakers of distinction come to position of eminence, they will soon be compelled to acquire this great art and excel in it. Without this essential talent of effective public speaking or effective communication one will find it difficult to maintain the position of leadership.
In the present day, ability to talk is indispensable to everyone whether he is a teacher, politician, worker, engineer, industrialist, lawyer, doctor, actor, or even house wife. Today the size of the world has shrunk and more than ever before our dependency on others has become greater for living our very every-day life. You have to talk, mingle and motivate people. In a competitive world, the problem is more acute. The ability to talk and talk well has become so pronounced that we now dub an unsuccessful person as a ‘dumb’ one. Next to sleeping, eating and drinking we perhaps talk more than we do anything else. We can improve the quality of our living by improving the quality of our talk.
Talking is one of the most important and yet the easiest of means of expressing your admiration, regard and love for others. Appreciation and esteem, affection and goodwill, encouragement and support can all be expressed and efficiently conveyed by a few simple, selected, telling words. Words spring out of spontaneity, and blended with sincerity and warmth constitute the talk of quality. If you thus i
mprove the quality of your talk you will automatically improve the quality of living.
Talk is not empty sound. You should not bore others and tire them with your unceasing prattle and meaningless waffle. Your talk should be purposive, pregnant with ideas, satisfying to the minds of the listeners and capable of creating favorable response. By our talk we should be able to discover people in all their variety and originality, each one responsive to moods and emotions, hopes and aspirations. If our talk is cold, distant, superficial, casual, affected or cloaked, we will never be able to break the barrier and get through to our audience and discover them. Our words should laugh, sing, ripple and flow. They must vibrate with piety, friendship, love, joy, color and power. They must explain, exalt, move and inspire the audience.
We have already noted that public speaking and the ability to talk effectively can be mastered by anybody. If you are keen, enthusiastic and industrious, you can definitely
become a good speaker. With experience and greater efforts you can certainly become an outstanding speaker. Knowledge of the subject, real enthusiasm and interest for the subject, through preparation, effective delivery and adopting yourself to the mood of the audience are some of the important aspects which one should consider to master the art of public speaking. In the initial stages when you are a beginner, select a topic which interests you. It may be your hobby, favorite pastime, sports and your goal in life or the problem that is vitally affecting your profession or community. Your enthusiasm and interest for the subject will soon take over and you will forget your diffidence or hesitation if any. Next gather more facts than you could possibly use within the time ear-marked to you. This would
develop extra confidence in you because of the reserve material you have built up. It is useful to discuss your topic with friends, read about it and think it as much as possible. Once your interest grows and knowledge increases, enthusiasm for the subject will grip you and your enthusiasm will automatically flow out to your audience. They will be influenced more by your urge, warmth and emotional identification than by cold arguments and subtle reasoning. Learn to like your audience. This will enable you to get rid of your fear of the audience. Love always begets love.
Complete mastery of the subject forms the major part of the preparatory work. Acquiring the full and thorough knowledge of the subject, in a narrow sense, is preparation itself. It refers to the time when the information is sorted out, the right parts chosen and the talk reduced to writing, at least in its broad outline. The written notes should be revised and rewritten again and again. Getting the right facts and ideas in the right order and place involve time and thought. The first attempt can always be improved upon, as also the subsequent attempts. In the initial stages, it is better for the beginner to write out the proposed speech in full form from the notes and subsequently learn it almost by heart. One should avoid reading out his talk to his audience. In any case an informal or ordinary talk should never be read out. Notes are used to jog one’s memory while
delivering a speech. After gaining some experience one should dispense with the necessity of writing the speech fully. He should learn to speak solely from the brief notes.
The notes should be easily read. It is advisable to confine them to headings made up of two or three words. Special words may be underlined or printed in block-capitals.
Audiences are not all alike and it is essential to understand and appreciate the need and level of each one. On each occasion, the speaker should evaluate the interest of the audience and prepare the type of speech that would go well with the audience. He should not consider on what he thinks the audience ought to be told, but on what they are interested to learn.
One must be sure before hand what he is going to say and how he is going to say it to his audience. This equally applies to formal speeches as well as to informal, impromptu talks. It is not sufficient to have some vague and confused ideas in one’s mind and precede rumbling on as the talk progresses. One should thoroughly understand his subject and its scope. He must then study and gather complete data. Next he must determine his line of approach and treatment of the subject. This will be oriented to the nature and type of audience and the occasion as well as the time at one’s disposal for the talk. Next, one should plan the introduction. The treatment of the subject would then follow as the main feature. Lastly, the concluding or summing up remarks should be incorporated.
Confidence to face an audience one should take for granted. Act confident and you will automatically become confident. The fear will disappear only with experience. The more the practice, the more the knowledge, the greater the interest, keenness and enthusiasm, the lesser will be the diffidence, fear and hesitation. One should not confuse the natural anxiety to do well with under-confidence. Upon a certain extent even great orators feel this slight nervousness born out of the anxiety to do well. In fact it is this natural apprehension which goads one to prepare thoroughly and well. This nervous feeling will melt and vanish as one starts the talk and warms up to his subject. It is only the feeling of inadequacy and lack of experience which frightens the beginner. This fear is common to all matters and not confined to public speaking alone.
Once you have mastered the art, once
public speaking has become a natural quality and way of life with you, you will be able to enjoy the thrill and power of moving and motivating an audience. Only then will you appreciate the real truth that ideas rule the world and that knowledge and not brutal force is the real power.
