## **WHAT ARE PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS?** Public speaking skills mean speaking in a formal conversation, face-to-face communication, conversation between 2 people, or addressing a group. _Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary._ **_by John Fitzgerald Kennedy_** In other words, he means that you should explain or script your idea in a manner that it becomes a two-hour speech. With the help of this script, you can convey your thoughts by imbibing them in words to the audience in a natural way with confidence. Such a speech will have a great impact on the audience and it is called public speaking skills. Following skills will make you a good speaker: - Confidence - Knowledge - Belief ## **QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR LEARNING PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS** The qualifications required for starting your journey of public speaking skills is the PPP model, which is: **1. P- Passionate** - A person having a passion to learn new things or do something will be able to learn public speaking skills. - For example, only a person who wants to study will enroll for online education. Otherwise, students do not like to go to school. - You like to visit the school when you are connected with a purpose. **2. P – Purpose** What is the purpose of learning? The purpose of learning is to: - Bring transformations in people’s life - Conveying your belief to others - Keeping faith in people’s belief **For example:** - Your friend has joined the gym. You also want to join it and he will also motivate you to join. - Now, your friend’s purpose to join the gym is health purpose or any other specific purpose. However, you joined the gym because your friend has told you to do so. - Now, you have joined the gym, taken the club membership, and purchases new clothes, shoes, shakes, bags, etc. - With complete preparation you go to the gym, the first day, you feel very good. Till one week, you like the routine very much. Next, pain starts in your body and after one month, you have so much pain that you stop going to the gym. - It means your purpose left because it was never your purpose. **3. P – Podcast** - It means giving voice to your thoughts. - Speak what you think and act what you say. - For example, when Ralph Waldo was standing outside a cemetery, he said to his friend that people are not buried in this cemetery but lots of thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and values are buried in it. - It means that you should not bury your thoughts inside; you should have the ability to speak them out. - If your experience can help others, then you should share them. **_Yes, I Can!_** Do not think that: - You are an introvert; - You don’t know how to speak; or - What people will think about you Only develop confidence in yourself that you can speak. ## **REASONS FOR LEARNING PUBLIC SPEAKING** If you want to be a leader, you should learn public speaking skills. It is not necessary to learn something to do something big. **For example:** In childhood, you learn to ride a bicycle. Does the purpose of learning bicycle riding in childhood is to win the Marathon or the Olympics? No, you have learned bicycle riding because it helps in: - Motor development - Increasing concentration - Improving your balance and focus - Make you a better person - Improve your health The most important factor during childhood is to spend time with friends. As your friends do cycling, so, you also want to do it. You need not learn public speaking skills to address a huge crowd or become the speaker of TEDx. You need to learn it so that you can talk effectively in your day-to-day life like: - Explain your viewpoints to your professors - Impress your boss - Students can give effective presentations - Participate in the discussion among friends ## **BENEFITS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING** - Achieve professional goals - Track growth rate - Share your ideas with the world - Influence people and make them believe your ideas - Make better relationships - Becoming popular ## **STAGE FEAR/ANXIETY** To overcome stage fear/anxiety, you should talk to the person who is in the mirror and whom you often ignored. This person is you. You don’t talk to yourself. For becoming a public speaker, you should talk to yourself in front of the mirror, record it, and then listen to it. This will help you to identify your weakness and strength and the areas on which you should work on. After that, you will find that you are on a new journey in public speaking and you will come out of your fear. ## **PILLARS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING** #### **1. Funda** You should be a giver and not a taker. This means you should be a person who wants to bring transformation in people’s lives through his talks and he wants to help and impact other people. You should become the creator and not the follower. You should: - Do value-addition - Share your thoughts, ideas, advise, and solutions This is called funda. **For example:** - If a person is sad and you want to make him happy, then your funda will be to do comedy. - Similarly, if you want to crack a meeting or deal, then the funda will be to give a presentation that the client cannot say no. So, make your fundas clear. #### **2. Get on stage** The most important thing for “Get on stage” is intrapersonal communication, i.e.: - Talk to yourself - Relax yourself - Think in your mind that on which topic you are talking about, how you should present it, what should be included in it, etc. This is called “Manthan” and it is the basic rule of a speaker. - Stay natural - Be calm and composed - Choose your topic wisely If you are a new speaker, then pick a topic in which you are an expert. However, if you pick other than your expertise topic, then you will talk like you have memorised it. In this case, if somebody asks you a question in-between, then you will be nervous. So, you should first pick the topic in which you are master and later, you can pick any topic. #### **3. Build authority and credibility** Authority and credibility will come in your speech when you have: - Knowledge of the topic - Experience of that topic - Situational awareness **For example:** - You have gone for a board meeting with a thought that when you reach the meeting, people will greet you, and then, you will give the presentation. - However, when you reach the meeting, you find all the people are busy with their phones. In such a case, you cannot start the presentation immediately. This is called situational awareness. You should prepare for your presentation or public speech. But, you should not stick only to it and speak as you have memorised it. **For example:** - You need to address students in your speech. But, when you reach the place, you find that students are talking and busy in themselves. - So, instead of starting your presentation, you will first engage the students. #### **4. Engage with the audience** For engaging your audience, the first thing you need is audacity, i.e. boldness. You should stop thinking that what others will think about you. Another factor that helps you in engaging your audience is the story. In childhood, when teachers or grandparents told us stories, we used to lost in their words. You need to do the same thing. Story is like a painting in your mind. When you speak something, people make an image of it. You need to make this image powerful. If you listen to the speeches of big leaders or speakers, then you will find that their speeches are also centralised around a story. Apart from this, you can engage people by sharing: - Podcast - Audio-visual clip - PowerPoint Presentations to attract more people and make them interested in you >**_How to improve your public speaking skills. A full-proof checklist plan & exercises that will enhance your public speaking skills._** ## **PUBLIC SPEAKING CHECKLIST PLAN** You should follow this checklist on the red carpet that means your audience: #### **1. Get your audience:** Know your audiences in advance & talk to them accordingly. For example, they can be board members, school students, and college students. #### **2. Purpose:** Clarity about purpose is very important. It will give power to your speech. #### **3. Content research:** Do research before public speaking. It will help in an effective presentation. Make good slides of PPT presentation. If you are using the audiovisual aid, make the clip error-free. Choose broadcast wisely. #### **4. Confidence:** You will confidently deliver the topic when it is in your head & heart. Maintain eye level. If you have anxiety or stage fear you can do this. For example, if the stage is at height & the audience is sitting at a low level of the ground, you need to see their head top & not into their eyes. Also, you will be saved if someone is bullying because the audience will think that you are looking at them. This hack helps you to boost confidence. #### **5. Pitch:** Don’t make your pitch too loud. Keep it normal. For example, if you are using a microphone, it already gives loudness to your voice & if you put more pressure your voice will break and the connectivity of the listener will break. #### **6. Body language:** Don’t make too many movements in your body nor be blank in your body language. When you are giving a presentation in a small room, don’t move too much but ensure to take a corner to connect with the audience. On the other hand, if you are at a large platform you need to occupy it but don’t walk on it while giving a presentation. Start from one point then move slowly towards another point but don’t blank the stage. #### **7. Delivery:** Recognise your masterpiece. Boost your language. Also know the type of audiences. For example, if the audience uses the Hindi language then make your presentation in Hindi. If they use English then make a presentation in English or bilingual. #### **8. Appearance:** Wear comfortable formal wear of your choice. Don’t wear too many stylish clothes because it will lessen your audience’s attraction to you. #### **9. Nutrition:** Take light food before going for public speaking. Also, drink warm water. #### **10. Post presentation:** You should engage your audiences after completing your presentation. Give them resources such as handouts, links of the material, or Google feedback form. You should use this checklist to make your public speaking simple. ## **PRACTICE SESSION** You should do the following things to practice public speaking: #### **1. Breathing exercise:** Calm & compose yourself. Use pranayama & yoga to compose yourself. #### **2. Choose small topics:** Choose a small topic. Read & practice in front of the mirror. It will give you a high level of confidence. #### **3. Record yourself:** Record & listen to your topic. You will come to know the weaknesses & strengths. Now work on them. #### **4. Group discussion with friends:** Discuss your presentation with your friends. You can make a room for group discussion. Ensure to do discussion & don’t involve an argument. Try to communicate with others. #### **5. Read & learn:** Reading is very important because the more you read, the more you will deliver. It will expand your knowledge & you can discuss any topic. You should follow all these steps for enhancing your public speaking skills.