I was listening to an eminent speaker today, and was observing him with keen interest. I was impressed with his style, his voice modulation and his sense of oration. Every word he spoke was logical and complimented his thought at every step. After the speech while I was introspecting as to what he wanted to say and how efficiently he portrayed the information to the audience, I found a strong correlation of his thought process with his speech.
I myself have been a speaker and have debated a lot on various issues during my school days and my best achievement was when I was awarded by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of India, as one of the best debater when I was 14. I prefer to think before I speak. Maybe I sometimes talk quite slowly, but in this way I make it a point that I am making sense to what I am speaking. So here are some points, which I feel every one of us should take into consideration when we speak or present our views:
- Talk slowly. Frame your sentences properly before you speak.
- Talk sense. If you do not find any logical statement to suffice your thought process, then maybe you are wrong. Don’t try to prove your point right when you know it is wrong.
- Do a background study on the topic you are speaking. Nobody can know everything about a topic. It is okay to ask for help.
- Do not think that if you shout, you can prove your point. This creates a negative impression on the listener.
- Keep your facts simple and silly. Nobody cares about your knowledge if you cannot impart a basic concept to the audience.
- Practice before you speak. You maybe a good knower, but that does not mean that you are a good speaker.
- It’s okay to not know everything. If you cannot answer a question, get back to it whenever possible. Do not cook your own answers.
- Be courteous to your listener. He may be less experienced than you, but he may know more than you on that said topic.
- Let people complete their statements, before you start speaking up.
- Accept your mistakes. That makes a better picture of your personality.
- Ask for feedback.
- Listen more, speak less, and think
Arnab Pandey 