The Art of Public Speaking

When most people open their mouths, they fail. They fail to get their message across, motivate others, or make themselves credible. They fail to build confidence in their company. 

- Dr Ajai Kumar Agarwal

 

A poor performance in oral communications derails more business careers than all the scandals, mistakes and company politics put together. Show business is the name of the game, whether you are an international seminar leader or the keynote speaker of your company's board of Directors. Without a good track record in Public speaking, you would not make it into the executive wing. No matter how talented, driven, or wellconnected, you would be forever limited by your lack of skills in oral communications.  A good speech or presentation or a lively conversation with the CEO can put you in a whole different tier in your organization.

Why does this happen? Because many people don't realize that public speaking - be it a speech or a conversation on an airplane - is a discipline, just like athletics or the law. I meet plenty of people who are in their twenties or thirties and graduated from colleges that had abandoned public speaking requirements. So in their most formative years, no one forced them to get up on their feet.

In public speaking, you have to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. You will have to create strategies for reaching your goal, and practice, practice, practice. Basically there are three things necessary to prepare for any kind of speaking engagement. The first is to have a goal. You have to ask yourself why you are doing this. What message are you going to send? The second thing you have to do is decide how you are going to accomplish that goal. The third essential is practice. Practice puts the speaker in control. It's a proactive thing. All speakers improve, some dramatically with practice.