A common blight that has gripped the roots of people’s conversation is a boring speech; speech with common errors that make people grimace. Sounding intelligent and getting your point across isn’t as difficult as it seems.
The first step to becoming an exciting speaker is identifying the audience. Keeping things within the context and knowing how to deliver information from your mind to the listener’s can be the hardest part of the process, yet it is the most important.
Expressing yourself fluently requires heavy thinking: “What am I trying to convey? What’s the easiest way to get from point A to point B?” Leaving out undesirable words such as “like” goes a long way in capturing the attention of a reader.
There has to be a balance of being personal in your delivery. People really don’t care about you entirely. Make the reader care and draw sympathy.
Especially in rhetoric, a quick anecdote is enough to draw sympathy. Something personal can draw emotion, but be careful to not delve too deeply off course. Have your end product in view and don’t let anecdotes sway the goal.
Professionalism is important as well in any field of conversation or speech. Always be prepared no matter if it’s a slide show or just conversation. Looking unprepared will immediately draw attention away from what you have to say.
With being professional comes being smooth. Words that flow and sound pleasant on the ears transcends your point.
A common misconception is that people must use large and often unknown words to sound smart, scrambling for a thesaurus to heighten their diction. While diction can certainly pay off, it is very risky. Revert back to the first step in identifying your audience to know if elevated diction works for the situation.
When in doubt, say it to yourself. Often times computer screens are a facade to good writing; it can look good, but does it really sound good? Your internal voice, even while reading this, is completely different than mine.
Delivery ultimately is the decider in how persuasive you are. There are cases of people that can pull something great from nowhere, but preparation goes a very long way in persuasiveness. Try being confident and embracing your writing.
Eliminate doubt, be the master of your words, and stand by them. As Leonitasesque as that sounds, it is the truth.
Stand behind what you have to say and say it with authority. Don’t merely tremble at your own words and make the audience wonder if you really believe what you’re saying. Leave no doubts, and the audience will be on the same wavelength as you.
Humor is the wildcard that is just as risky as diction, but it can pay off drastically. Ultimately, most of these suggestions playback on acknowledging your audience and weighing your options. Is it worth it to add in humor or is the mood too dour.
Utilizing these rules will transcend your normal speaking into something more exciting, something people will want to keep listening to. Be genuine, be spontaneous, and be consistent for your writing to reach its full potential.
Categories: Opinion & Review