There are three components you must know in order to improve
your presentation skills for better public speaking. When someone asks me how
he can build effective communication skills and improve his public speaking, I
quote to him the words of Elbert Hubbard, who said, “The only way to learn to
speak is to speak and speak, and speak and speak, and speak and speak and
speak.”
But while it’s true that the only way to become good at
anything is by repetition, over and over, until it becomes second nature, there
are many things that you can do to be more effective speaking in front of
audiences.
The starting point in the art of public speaking is to pick
a subject that you really care about. It is to think through the subjects that
have had an extraordinary impact on you, the subjects that you would like to
share with others because you intensely feel that others could benefit from
your knowledge. With this, you have a springboard off which you can leap into
your first public talk.
The second part of public speaking is preparation for
effective communication. Preparing is more important than anything except
caring about your subject. It’s not unusual for a person to spend many hours,
days and even weeks preparing for a talk.
Planning for Effective Communication
To prepare for a talk, the first thing to do is to write out
an objective statement of what you wish to accomplish as a result of your
presentation. Whether it’s a 10-minute presentation or a 10-hour presentation,
the statement of your objective is the same. It’s the answer to the question,
“Who is my audience, and what effect do I want my talk to have upon them?”
So you need to ask, “What action do I want this audience to
take as a result of the things I say to them?” Write out this action statement
of your objective very clearly.
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