HOW TO BECOME A GOOD SPEAKER

A person who gives speeches or lectures to a large group of people is called a public
speaker. Public speaking is an art. To be a powerful, smart, and effective speaker is a
necessity in practically every profession. Speaking with fluency and accuracy has
become of the basic tools of assessment in selecting students for various jobs. A good
speaker is a valuable manpower resource in every organization. Good speaking quality
helps a person to be successful, established, and also familiar. So, the development of
speaking skills has become one of the prerequisites in the modern era.
Fortunately speaking is a skill that can be learned, studied, polished, and enhanced by
regular hard work and persistence.

A good speaker should have required some qualities. The qualities are given below:
Explain his ideas: A good public speaker always tries to explain his ideas to the
audience. He identifies the positive and negative aspects of the topic. He encourages
his audience about the speech by explaining his ideas to make clear his position.
Present reports: A good speaker presents some reports about the selected topic. He
represents his research and analysis of his presentation towards the audience so that
they can easily understand what the speaker wants to say.
Convince or persuade others: A powerful and effective speaker tries to convince or
persuade his audiences. He deliveries very simple to make his speech easy. A good
speaker talks fluently and makes him understand others. It can make his speech
meaningful for the audience.
Carry out various activities: A good speaker carries out various activities. He always
gives information to the audience through his speech. His speech should be structured
and he should follow a deliberate manner to inform or entertain the listener.

Speaking can be a powerful tool to motivate, influence, persuade, inform entertain, and
produce better results. However, very few people are by born speakers. But with proper
planning, preparation, and practice, anyone can enhance his speaking skills to a great
extent. Four major stages are to be kept in mind while speaking. The stages are
discussed below:
Planning: When A speaker is planning for a presentation or a speech, he should do
some research on the topic and acquire the required knowledge. He should understand
the purpose and objectives of the speech.
A good speaker shouldn’t memorize the speech word for word, he should plan it out.
With planning the speech will have a logical flow and he will be better prepared to
handle last minutes edit’s and on-the-fly tailoring queued by the audience.
A good speaker should aim to communicate not to perform. He should focus on the
message rather than making a presentation. As a result, he will present more naturally
and the audience will perceive the authenticity.
Preparation: By taking proper preparation, a speaker can enrich his speech. A speaker
should have prepared a presentation or speech by giving it a logical flow and making it
more relevant. He should discuss the main points, sub-points to make his presentation
more realizable for the listeners. He should use supporting information and compares
the body to make the speech effective and adaptable.
A good public speaker should summarize and discuss the effects of his presentations.
Thus, taking equitable preparation one can be a good speaker.
Practice: We know that “Practice makes a man perfect.” A good speaker should
practice plenty of time alone using the resources in front of the mirror with confidence
and comfort until his words flow smoothly and easily.
Then if appropriate, he should do a dummy run in front of a small audience. This will
help him to calm his jitters and make him feel more comfortable. The audience can also
give him useful feedback both on his material and his performance.
A good speaker should bear in mind that he should have to be a polished version of
himself by practicing more and more.
Presentations: After owning the ideas, a speaker should plan how to present them.
Good presentation is one of the most important stages for a speaker. A speaker’s
efforts depend on proper presentation, so he should give emphasize verbal as well as
nonverbal aspects like gestures, postures, eye contact, dressing properly, etc. A
speaker should avoid the use of jargon and should maintain appropriate volume,
pleasant tone, and appropriate pitch and inserting pauses. While representing the
speech, a speaker must be conscious of the current articulation of sounds.
While there are certainly some talented extemporaneous speakers, eloquence is rarely
extemporaneous.
To be persuasive one must keep a few guidelines that not only attract the attention of
the audience but also establish the credibility of the speaker. To be persuasive a
speaker must begin with the listener’s mind. To convince the audience, one must know
the techniques of expressing the views and also outlines the crux of the speech. To
make his presentation perfect a speaker should capture the attention by focusing on the
aspects of the presentation and bringing out innovative ways that create an impression
in the mind of the listener.
To be an effective and good speaker one should bear in mind some guidelines which
are discussed below:
Opening: It is important to capture the attention of the audience within the first two
minutes. A strong opening will establish a powerful impression on the audience.
Because the first impression creates a strong influence on the listeners.
In the beginning, one must give a statement that creates a surprise and establish the
seriousness in the audience. It also creates a rapport with the audience and establishes
the credibility of the speaker. A public speaker should point out the important content to
attract his listeners. Humor should be incorporated in the content or by the speaker
when required. Personal experience and anecdotes should also be used in the content
as when required and not include statements that may be controversial.
Thus, a powerful opening helps a speaker to build a positive impact on his listeners.
Using appropriate body language: Body language is a very important aspect for a
speaker. It is the non-verbal form of communication. The language of confidence which
begins by how a speaker holds himself. A speaker also should have to avoid fidgeting,
slumping in his seat, clasping his hands, and remaining stoned face. He should try to
remain normal by using appropriate gestures, facial expressions and poses.
Speaking with conviction: The speaker needs to be convinced about what he is
saying if he wants to have an impact on his listeners.
To avoid reading from notes: A speaker should avoid reading from notes because
reading out from handwritten notes doesn’t have a positive impact on the listeners. It
doesn’t add to the speaker’s credibility.
Speaking with passion: To communicate with people through speech a speaker needs
to have a passion for his subjects. He needs to exude a level of sincerity in his emotion
while communicating with the audience. The more the speaker knows about the subject,
the stronger will be his position and more passionate and convincing will be his delivery.
Vocal elements: Vocal elements are very important for a speaker. Adjusting the
volume, pitch, rate of delivery, pauses, good punctuation, etc. are very important
aspects of effective speaking. The pitch should be optimal, the volume should be
inserted appropriately and vocalized pauses are to be avoided to make speech
impressive.
Maintaining eye contact: A speaker should maintain proper eye contact with the
listeners is important as it makes the audience believe in the speaker and what he is
saying.
Motivational speaking: For being a good speaker, motivational speaking is a basic
element to inspire the audience. A speaker must incorporate innovative methods to take
up the discussion at a different level. The speaker should inform the audience about the
objectives and develop each point with an example that encourages the audience.
Projecting audience: Confidence is the key for any public speaker. According to a
study published by the University of Wolverhampton, “A highly confident speaker is
viewed as being more accurate, competent, credible, intelligent, knowledgeable, likable
and believable than the less confident uncertain speaker.” When speaking in public, it’s
natural to be nervous. Mark Twain once said, “There are only two types of speakers in
the world (i)the nervous and (ii) the liars.” So, it is very clear that by projecting
confidence, the desired goal of the speaker will be achieved.
Fear of public speaking: Public speaking causes headaches, nausea, sweaty,
paleness, etc. People often get stressed out just by anticipating the moment of
addressing a group of people. However, the speaker’s speaking nerves may be used to
make his speech exciting. Visualizing success is important for a speaker to accept that
he might make some sort of mistakes like stumbling upon a word, losing his train
thought, etc. Deep breathing exercise before public speaking is an effective way to
control nerves.
Analyzing the audience: A speaker should analyze the audience which is an important
part of planning. It’s a matter of mindshare. The more share he gives to the needs of his
audience, the less share he gives to his fear and inadequacies. He should analyze the
age of the audience's educational level, technical knowledge, political interests, cultural
backgrounds, experience level, etc.
Closing: The closing is a way of reinforcing the message and must also be memorable.
People will remember the last thing that they hear. An ideal speaker should follow some
ways to close a speech. He can tell a story, quote someone, summarize the main points
of his speech, end with a visual aid, etc.
In summary, the best way to become a good speaker is by having a message that a
speaker believes in and the audience can connect too. The connection between a
speaker and the audience allows the audience to truly listen to the message and be
inspired. It takes a lot of practice and experience to become a powerful speaker. By
emulating the mentioned characteristics of effective public speakers, anyone can
become more inspiring and more influenced.