Master the Mic: Public Speaking tips and tricks
Sharmila Gautama and Cherry Bahety
Ever nailed a speech in the shower but choked in front of a real audience?
Fear not! Dive into our ultimate guide to ace public speaking. No waterproof scripts needed!
1. Know Your Audience: Understanding who you are speaking to is crucial. Tailor your content to the interests, level of understanding, and expectations of your audience. This not only makes your presentation more relevant but also more engaging.
2. Start with a Strong Opening: Create a compelling opening with an interesting fact, thought-provoking question, or powerful quote to make a lasting impression on your audience. Tip: Practice your opening until you can deliver it confidently without notes.
3. Metaphoric impact: Metaphors are used to make comparisons. Most speakers like to pick one metaphor and use it differently in their speech giving it a symbolic theme. But you can use more than one metaphor. Recall of your message will be much better when you speak with metaphors.
4. Practice the power pause: This is a simple but powerful technique to bring in suspense and engagement while speaking. Pause before you want to make an emphatic statement. Hold the pause till you get a reaction from the audience. Then continue. Politicians do this often to create uncertainty about what they are going to say.
An example of how Modi integrates pauses during his speeches to optimize their impact and resonance.
5. Using rhetoric is an art: If you overdo it, it can become empty words. But using it effectively adds power to your speech. Seasoned speakers use literary devices like repetition, questioning and alliteration to influence and engage their audience.
A closer analysis of how Michelle Obama employs rhetoric to engage, persuade and inspire in her speeches.
6. Crafting Your Vocal Dynamics: Absence of intonation can make your speech flat, monotonous and boring. Lowering your voice to say something important will sound like you are sharing a secret with the audience. To emphasize a point you can speak a little loud. Along with intonation use appropriate body language.
An instance of Trump’s intonation that is unconventional.
7. Narrative Charm: Stories stick in people’s minds. They connect us on an emotional level. Tell a story rather than a theory. Add humour if possible and you have an engaged audience.
Whether you are delivering a presentation in the boardroom, giving a speech at a conference, or simply engaging in everyday conversations, let your voice be heard loud and clear.
