Public speaking is an ordinary and commonly understood part of formal speaking. It is a process of face to face speaking of one person to a group of listeners. This is a powerful tool and God gifted art that comes naturally.
Introducing yourself in the classroom, telling an interesting incident in a corporate party, or delivering a paper at a conference, does not make you a good public speaker. To become a brilliant speaker you should not confine yourself to the audience or expressing your thoughts publically.
It is a process to change actions, viewpoint, and the attitude of the people and to leave the listeners moved by the words and touched by the meanings of the words. Many rules, tips, and techniques have been elaborated to motivate, entertain, and convince the audience, but they all have gone beyond and lost their actuality. Two key components define the best way to public speaking:
- A message
- An Audience
It means that every time, you attend a conference, go to a meeting, or giving solutions to your boss, you are engaging in public speaking. It does not matter how many people are listening to you, you are defined as a public speaker. To pass on an effective and meaningful speech to the listeners, there are seven basic Elements that a speaker must have to understand. As a professional and significant public speaker, you must apply all the elements at the same time.
However, not paying attention to any of them may result in a disastrous and unsuccessful demonstration.
It includes the following seven elements:
- The Speaker
- The message
- The receiver or Audience
- The Channel
- The Feedback
- Noise
- The Situation or place
The Speaker
The speaker itself is a basic and most important element of the presentation. He should be passionate and confident about the topic. The speaker must have a clear loud voice and fluent in the language, he is using. He is a source of communication and presentation itself. Speakers use visual aids to present the topic. They put a lot of effort into making visual aids and forget that those are the just sub-elements, they cannot rely on them. The speaker itself is the presentation and the center of attention of all listeners.
The topic which he chooses should be precise and meaningful. Questions and answers should be a part of the content. There are some tips to appear more confident in front of the audience. The speaker should not look down at the table or the shoe during a presentation; it will make his body language uncertain of what he is trying to say.
Effective and good postures play a vital role in how others perceive you. To show his confidence and authority the speaker should stand straight.
A proper position of his feet speak a volume of his confidence, He should not stand with the close feet together but place one foot apart from another.
Do not put the hands in the pocket because it will send a message that you are uncomfortable and unable to convey your message properly. During a presentation, your hands must be visible.
There are some other non-verbal signals that a speaker should pay attention to become a successful presenter like facial expressions, tone, and intensity of the voice. The speaker should build an interconnection between the listeners, and himself to improve the ability of communication.
The Message
The best and effective speeches revolve around the central idea. It takes a center stage of all the elements. The topic should be novel and prepared freshly. The message refers to everything that a speaker would say verbally or bodily. The verbal components can be evaluated in three basic ways:
- Content
- Style
- Structure
Content is what the speaker will say about the subject or the idea.
Style explains how the speaker presents the topic. It must be very formal and very informal. It depends on the audience, the occasion, and the place. The speaker will choose the style that will most appropriate for him.
The structure of the message is the organization. There are many other ways to organize the message. An introduction, a body or the argument, and a conclusion are the basic parts of the message. Poorly organized presentations will reduce the impact of the presentations. To achieve the desired objectives, the message should be very concise and affective that will engage the audience from the first 60 seconds to the last minute.
The Receiver or Audience
It is the responsibility of the speaker to analyze his audience before starting his presentation. Before presenting his ideas he must have to understand some basic considerations of the audience like age, sex, needs, geographic location, marital status, trade, activity, education, and profession. He must have to understand their language and the ability to turn out. Every topic must begin after getting the attention of the audience, motivating, and encouraging them to pay attention continuously. It is the responsibility of the speaker that he must have such questions that will enhance the interest of the listener and keep them entertaining.
The Channel
When a speaker presents his message to the audience he uses many communication channels. It may include a visual channel, a non-verbal channel, and the auditory channel.
The Visual channel
- Graphics
- Videos
- Photos
- Drawings
- Diagrams
- Objects
The Non-verbal channel
- Physical posture
- Facial expressions
- Body’s movement
- Gestures
The Auditory channel
- Audio materials
- Tapes
- CDSs
- The tone of the voice
- Variations in voice volume
Feedback
It is the basic and key component of all elements. It is a process through which a speaker receives the comments and responses from the audience that heard the message. The process is not complete until the speaker has responded to all the concerns of the audience.
When a speaker presents a topic in front of the audience, he must be attentive to the non-verbal reactions of the audience. He must prepare himself to answer to the public for these reactions during the presentation. It is the responsibility of the speaker to provide all the information to the audience that he wants to listen to them.
Noise
There are two types of noise that a speaker should know: External noise and internal noise.
External noise includes laughter, poor ventilation, about temperature too hot or too cold, poor acoustics of the auditorium and the visual interference such as low lights and hindrance between the audience and the speaker.
Internal noise occurs when the speaker feels uncertain to convey his message properly. He fails to deliver the message of what he wants to say. The best way to combat any type of noise is to use more than one communication channel the visual or an auditory channel. The speaker should repeat the ideas for a clear and better understanding of the audience.
The situation or the Place
The situation is the last element of public speaking. It concludes the place where the presentation occurs. It is the most critical component of the presentation. It recommends that the speaker review or visit the place where he is going to make his presentation. The situation includes the condition of the place, the tables, the seats, the atmosphere of the place, the lighting, the air conditioner, the setting of the platform. All things should be under control.
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