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Articles
KISS: Keep It Simple
Speaker
Effective Oratory - II
by
Ramendra Kumar
In the
last update I touched upon the Science of effective oratory. In this update I’ll
discuss the Art of Public Speaking.
KISS : Keep it Simple Speaker
 The vocabulary should be simple and effective. Remember it is far easier to use
difficult words than to write or speak in an simple, unpretentious manner. Hence
if you want to write effectively improve your vocabulary. You can do that by
reading books on a wide variety of subjects. There are also several books which
are available that can help you improve your word power. These books help you
enhance your vocabulary by explaining about word origins, roots, stories behind
words etc.
Besides, make your dictionary and thesaurus your trusted friends. Dip into them,
whenever you come across a new word. Believe me you will soon start enjoying
this hunt for words and meanings.
Now coming back to your speech don’t use words which are too bombastic. For
instance in a recent article published in Readers Digest several examples were
given to illustrate how foolish bombastic words can sound. For instance : Can
you guess what this means – ‘Emanating from a culinary vessel into a site of
pyrogenic activity’. It simply is a round about way of saying - Out of the
frying pan and into the fire.
Secondly never try to cram your speech. The tendency for most participants in a
debate or elocution competition is to just mug up each and every word and then
go and vomit everything out. And God forbid if they forget a phrase or even a
word then everything goes blank. I have myself faced this situation a couple of
times so I know how embarrassing it can be.
Write your speech in your own words. Even if you take the help of your teachers
or parents make sure the final speech is in a language you are comfortable with.
This way you won’t have to grope for words.
Enjoy Yourself
If you want to be a good debater you have to have a good vocabulary, you should
be widely read and you should have confidence in yourself. But most important
you should enjoy going on the dais and speaking. When you go on the dais and
look at the large crowd what is the feeling you have? Do you feel a strange kind
of power, a hold on the listeners? Do you feel thrilled that for the next five
minutes you have a captive audience that is waiting, willing and wanting to
listen to you? If your answer is yes than debating is certainly your cup of tea.
If you have decided to take debating seriously keep the following pointers in
mind while giving your speech:
Eye Contact
Move your eyes across the length and breadth of the hall. Many times it happens
that the speakers avoid looking at the audience and instead look at the fan,
outside the window, at the floor and practically every where else except where
they should actually be looking. The audience feels alienated and switches off.
Battling the butterflies
Most speakers feel nervous especially during the beginning of the speech – they
sense the all too familiar butterflies doing a tango in their stomachs. There is
a solution for that. When you feel nervous search for a friendly face in the
crowd and fixing your eyes on him or her start your speech. Then quickly look
for a few more friendly faces across the audience and let your eyes address
them. You are sure to get some positive response from them such as a friendly
nod or a smile which will ease your nervousness. Once your butterflies have
flown away let your gaze sweep across the audience and get ready to sweep them
off their feet with your oratorical brilliance!!
Delivery
The delivery of the speech is as important if not more than the content. Make
sure you modulate your voice properly. Many of speakers tend to speak in
staccato sentences or drone away monotonously. Then they are others who raise
their voices. Clearly they believe in the dictum that if you can’t beat ‘em
shout (at) ‘em!
Learning the right way to modulate your voice needs a lot of practice. Deliver
your speech in front of your parents, teachers and friends and ask for their
feedback. Practice speaking in front of a mirror. Tape your speech and listen to
it. All these will help you iron out the wrinkles in your modulation.
Accent is another area where many debaters flounder. Speak in your natural
accent. Even if it doesn’t sound like queen’s English doesn’t matter. You can
always strive for improvement. But never put on an accent. It sounds terribly
artificial and distracts the audience from your speech.
Make sure your posture is also your natural one. The audience will see through
an artificial stance sooner or later.
Remember, the audience is your customer and you the product. It is going to view
you as a complete package. Every aspect of your speech, your style, your
personality and your attitude is going to make an impact. So don’t discard any
aspect thinking it is trivial. One never knows that facet itself may prove
vital.
Recipe
I would like to emphasize one point. If you want to excel in public speaking you
should be prepared to work with a lot of patience and focus. Demosthenes used to
lisp. To improve his speech he would put pebbles in his mouth and walking along
the beach practice his speech during the night for hours on end. The roar of the
waves, the pebbles in his mouth and an indomitable will to win, made him one of
the greatest orators of all ages.
In the November issue of Children’s World the Editor Ms. Navin Menon, cites the
case of Nani Palkhivala, the eminent lawyer and champion of Human Rights as an
example of what extreme resolve can achieve. As a child young Palkhivala
stammered very badly. One day when he was eleven he was so frustrated that he
went and gave his name for an extempore elocution competition. His determination
not only earned him a standing ovation but he grew up to become an outstanding
orator.
Dale Carnegie, the hugely successful motivational writer says, “The ability
to conquer nervousness and speak with self confidence is not a gift bestowed by
providence on only a few rarely endowed individuals. Every one can develop his
own latent capacity if he has sufficient desire to do do.”
So friends, you have it in you to sizzle on the debating circuit. To help you do
that I present before you a recipe for effective public speaking:
Take a speech with an impressive content, mix it with a good vocabulary, add a
sprinkle of humor, stir it in your own words, add it to your memory, warm it on
the hot plate of commitment and serve it with the correct amount of confidence,
modulation, accent and yes Attitude. And then wait for the applause to
follow.......
March 26, 2006
Image under License with Gettyimages.com
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