On Becoming a Good Public Speaker

When most people think of public speaking or becoming a public speaker or simply giving a presentation at work they think they have to come off with the talent of a Joel Osteen or a powerful corporate executive. Yes those people do possess a type of presence and charisma along with a powerful voice. This is a big misconception. We do have different personalities and the key is finding your voice and being able to reach an audience effectively with your personality type. First of all the reason you may lack the confidence is because you are measuring yourself against an ideal of the perfect public speaker as the aforementioned above, get rid of that notion right away, this is what will kill your confidence. I have taught many public speaking workshops and have witnessed many personalities – the successful participants are those that take their true personality and use the qualities that they possess to their benefit. For example a very cheery student used her friendly style to make the audience feel at ease. A more analytical student uses his expertise informative style to impress us with his knowledge. This is why it is important to use your own style
Qualities of a Good Speaker
Think about what makes a good speaker. What makes you listen to what they have to say? How do they capture your attention? Effective public speakers establish rapport with their audience and engage them that’s what the “big guys “ do it’s just that they have made such a name for themselves you forget that they are simply using basic techniques to reach their audience. So how to do establish rapport with your audience? First of all you need to know your audience then connect to them with points of interest relative to what they had come to hear. Speakers like Tony Roberts or Joel Osteen have ready – made audiences because people are coming to hear them improve their lives so they simply site stories or examples that the audience can relate to throughout their speaking engagement. People relate to stories very easily because there are usually parts in a story that everybody can relate to. For example if you are telling a story of a time when you were driving down the road late on a snowy night on Christmas eve and almost got hit by an on – coming car going out of control because the streets were very icy and somehow you managed to avoid the accident. There are many things that people can relate to in that story even if they did not experience the same thing. They may have been in a fender- bender recently, they may have remembered a time when they were driving late on Christmas Eve, they remembered a time when they managed to avoid an accident, or may even recall a memory that they experienced on Christmas Eve. The point here is to be able to capture your audience and engage them and you will have won half the battle.
Characteristic of a Good Speaker
Another misconception is that you have to be perfect to be a good speaker. Sometimes the most perfect speakers are boring. The audience likes a speaker who can be human, if a speaker is talking over their head than he or she has not properly delivered their information. The thought making mistakes in front of an audience is very scary but once again it shows that you are human. If you can make a mistake then continue on with your speech the audience will not even give it a second thought and the experience will make you more at ease knowing that you will not be chastised by your audience.
The truth about being a good speaker is not using someone else as a standard for your performance.