Spinning magic with words. Leaving the audience mesmerised, helplessly tangled in that glorious web of words. Taking them along while enchanting, engaging and entertaining them.
Being able to hold the attention of the audience is an art. A person who can do that is often the cause of envy for others.
While some are born with the gift of gab, others can learn it with practice and patience.
5 ways children can develop their public speaking skills. It’s applicable to others as well who want to ace the skill.
1. Actively participate in public speaking activities.
Debates, elocutions, speeches, dramatics, welcome addresses, introductions, presentations, or anything else you can think of. The more you participate, the more you will become aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
This will also allow you a chance to practice and perfect your art in public.
School activities are a great place to start. Teachers must ensure to provide as much opportunity as possible for them to participate and experience.
2. Read more
Your mind will get infused with new ideas and information. You’ll see more creative sentences, vocabulary and expressions. These may appear not-so-important but believe me, they’ll improve the quality of your speech.
You’ll have more to say, more examples to cite, and more quotes and characters to mention. Blogs, articles, essays, biographies, stories and books from diverse genres will contribute to creating more worthwhile content.
3. Language fluency
It’s an offshoot from the earlier point about reading. The more you read, the better your grasp of the language develops. The regular errors can be easily dealt with. You’ll have a better appreciation of the nuances of the grammar. You can’t expect to impress the audience with an ill-prepared address.
Keep a notepad or diary to note down interesting sentences, phrases, words (along with examples of their usages), quotes and extracts. It can serve as your personal treasure trove of language nuggets!
4. Learn to structure your thoughts
Whatever you want to speak, write it down. This will have two benefits – one, it’ll help you to structure your thoughts, arranging them in a proper sequence so they continue seamlessly, flowing from one point to the other; and second, it’ll reflect your style.
You don’t want to create a wrong impression by jumping haphazardly from one point to another, losing your audience in the process.
Read aloud what you’ve prepared. Repeat it till you get comfortable with the lines. The growing familiarity with the content will increase your confidence when speaking.
5. Breathing and relaxation techniques
Yes, this is equally essential. If you get all flustered or get butterflies in your stomach before your performance, then it can adversely impact your speaking. Your nervousness will seep through and cause you anxiety. This is what stage fright is all about.
So calm your nerves, take deep breaths, go over your lines and get ready to leave the audience spellbound.
It’s that simple yet not many have understood how to work it. People love to talk, no doubts about that. But you know how it is for the audience.
The next time you get a chance to speak before the audience, think from their point of view and prepare accordingly. Make your speech relatable and enjoyable. And there, you’ve got them all hooked.