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Tag: Public Speaking?

  • ‘How Toastmasters galvanises our public speaking’

    ‘How Toastmasters galvanises our public speaking’

    Lighthouse Toastmasters Club President, Kayode Yussuf, has likened the club to a school where members with various backgrounds are taught the art of public speaking and leadership skills.

    He spoke at the change of guard/inauguration of new officers for the Toastmasters held at Incubator Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    At the event, were a cream of corporately dressed young men, who displayed their proficiency in public speaking by delivering their speeches extempore.

    The event with the theme: ”Commitment to excellence”, also featured two clubs – Lighthouse toastmasters and Lighthouse Prestige Toastmasters, including award presentations for best speeches and best evaluator.

    Going down memory lane, Yussuf recalled how his journey to Toastmaster bagan.

    His word: ”The first time I stepped into the club meeting was the only time I went as a guest. The next time, I came as a member because I was impressed with what I saw. I liked the way members spoke and I made up my mind to join. TM is a simple avenue of learning how to speak in public.

    He continued: ”We have a mentorship system. When a new member joins, he/she is given a manual to read. The mentor will guide the new member in the art of speaking. New members are made to deliver/speak at our meeting and we have evaluator who will appraise them. We have up to 10 projects and the major ones are grooming young people as well as forming the club in schools to catching them young.”

    Lighthouse Prestige Toastmasters Club President, Ikenna Chukwujekwu, said the idea is not to toast women, but rather, wet audience appetite with inspiring speeches. He said Toastmasters has over 9,000 members globally.

    Chukwujekwu recalled how Lighthouse Toastmasters Club, formed in 2012, in Lagos, gave birth to Prestige Toastmasters Club a year after.

    ”We have Toastmasters Clubs in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Benin, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira while Enugu will soon have one. We stay away from politics, religion and gender issues,” Chukwujeku added.

    He said skills acquired from Toastmasters have compelled some members to quit their jobs and go into public speaking to earn a living.

    The immediate past President of the club, Morakinyo Salami and his counterpart in Lighthouse Don Azubike,  were optmistic their successors would continue from where they stopped.

  • Tips on effective public speaking

    Tips on effective public speaking

    Ubong Essien is a motivational speaker and the Dean of the public speaking training centre known as the School of Eloquence based in Lagos and London. In this article, the Certified Public Speaker (CSP) take readers through the basic ingredients needed for structuring a good speech and how to engage in effective public speaking.

    For every speech to be good, Ubong Essien says it must have a good structure and the delivery of the speech must reflect a sensible procedure made up of Beginning, Body and Conclusion, “By way of an acronym, I like to call this the “BBC” of public speaking. This should be the standard process to be followed and maintained during public speaking,” he adds.

    According to him, the functionality of a speech is dependent on how the audience understands the structure of the speech.

    He therefore gave the following three steps worth noting to enhance effective public speaking.

    1. Beginning
    The function of the beginning is to grab the attention of the audience in an introductory fashion. In public speaking, ‘all is well that begins well’. Therefore, you must start strong; the introduction must grab the attention of people.

    A speech could be started with a quote, a story or a rhetorical question, anything that to a good extent arrests the interest or rouses the curiosity of your audience to engender a listening. Starting with a startling statistic is also a good way provided such is relevant and meaningful within the context of the speech. The goal of the speaker is to immediately seize the moment and awaken the hearts of the audience. The speaker must woo their audience with their powerful beginning.

    2. Body
    The body of the speech must illuminate minds. This means that it should shed light on issues. It must have additional information and provide substantive content indicative of richness of ideas and points to be made.

    What are the main points that you want to pass across to your audience? As a speaker, you must use your body to provide depth of understanding of the issue at hand for your audience. You must provide quality insight into the matter of discourse.

    You may choose to itemize the key points and discuss them in order while also fortifying those points with stories, statistics and other narratives. Seamless transitioning from point to point is key. The speaker must wow their audience with the body of their speech.

    3. Conclusion
    The conclusion or close affords the speaker the opportunity to seal the deal with their audience by seeking to ignite action or engender audience response based on the points made in the body of the speech.

    Your close must be powerful and resonating enough as to ensure that the speaker’s message is memorable. It must carry a sticking effect so as to encourage audience buy-in to your message.

    You could close by reinforcing the central theme of your message or a consistent sound bite within your message that summarizes your core idea; you could close with a question that leaves the audience thought-provoked or puzzled; you could close with a powerful quotation from a renowned personality or even a story that sums up your key arguments. The speaker must win their audience over with the conclusion of their speech.
    So, remember this: anytime you’re speaking and you want to ensure your presentation follows a logical format that will enhance the understanding of your subject matter in the minds of your audience, just follow the ‘BBC’ Sequence.

     

  • Mastering essentials of public speaking (2)

    Last week, we said you need competence, likeability and luck to sell yourself in life and reach the peak of success. We added that one potent instrument that is very critical to your ability to advertise your competence and become likeable and “lucky” is the power of effective communication, especially excellent public speaking and presentation skills. We stressed the need to discard your fear and become courageous so as to become a great speaker.

    Causes of public speaking fears

    What frightens people when it comes to public speaking? Research shows that some of the causes of public speaking fears are: Forgetting what you are talking about, that is, your mind going blank; having someone in the audience who knows more than you do; possibility of being asked difficult questions by the audience, etc.

    The way out

    Novice and expert presenters alike have had the experience of feeling a little (or may be a lot) nervous before giving a talk. In the course of helping people to improve their presentation skills through effective practical training, I have discovered that getting started is the major hurdle to cross.

    Once people get started and things go relatively well, they begin to relax and become more natural. They become less self-conscious and more effective. Since the opening of any presentation is critical to the message and the presenter’s credibility and since this is often when presenters are most nervous and cautious, it is necessary to make your opening attention-grabbing. The following are some of the strategies to employ.

    Tips for presentation opening

    The following are some ways through which you achieve a successful opening in public speaking.

    Strong opening and practice

    Ensure your opening is clear, focused, attention-grabbing and full of audience benefits. There is no disputing the fact that you want the people listening to become truly interested in what you have to say. Once you have a great opening planned, your excitement and confidence will rise and you become less apprehensive.

    You need to practise the great opening you have developed. Practise the first few minutes of your talk thinking about everything: the words, voice modulation, gestures, movement, etc. Know the flow of your words and find the best places to pause for emphasis. Your goal is to have the first few minutes so well prepared in your mind that your nerves about getting started are greatly reduced.

    Think success and rehearsal

    Spend some time thinking about how successful the opening will be. How engaged and interested your audience will be. How confident and relaxed you will be. Visualising those things is a big step towards making them happen. The rehearsal is the final mental run-through that incorporates both the practice and the visualisation. The rehearsal might be done anywhere you find yourself.

    Kevin Eikenberry, an expert in converting organisational, team and individual potential into desired results and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, says all this talk about practice and rehearsal may lead you to think, “I just need to memorise my opening.” Nothing could be more wrong. When we memorise, we focus on the words. If we mess up the words we have lost it. Forget the memorisation. Remember the audience. Focus on the message, your approach and your desired outcome.

     

    Level of anxiety good for public speaking

    When presenting you need a little anxiety as this will improve recall, raise energy levels and make for a more focused, dynamic speech. A laid-back speaker can easily bore the audience. Too much anxiety or too much relaxation is also not good. We need enough tension to give us energy, and enough calmness for clear thinking and recall. We need the right balance.

    Practical session for success

    You can find a quiet place where you can ensure that you will not be disturbed for some minutes. Close your eyes and direct the focus of attention to your hands, imagining what they feel like when they relax. As the relaxation spreads, allow your mind to drift to a time when you felt really comfortable, maybe a time you had a good time and were laughing and having fun with friends. Begin to get a feel for the reality of this time. Notice what it is like to bring back something of the feeling of that time and let those feelings begin to build up almost as if you were back there.

     

    More on fears

    According to Lenny Laskowski, a professional speaker and president of LJL Seminars, “Do your knees feel like Gumby’s when you have to get up and speak in front of a group? Do you feel like the next words out of your mouth are going to be the dumbest words ever uttered by a human being?”

    If you respond in the affirmative to either of the questions above, in short, you have a full-blown case of stage fright. More than 41 per cent of people have some fear or anxiety dealing with speaking in front of groups. People who have this fear can experience all kinds of symptoms, e.g. sweaty palms, accelerated heart beat, memory loss and even difficulty in breathing. As already said, some of the world’s most famous presenters have freely admitted to nervousness and stage fright. Everyone, even experienced speakers, has some anxiety when speaking in front of a group of people. This is perfectly normal. The best way to deal with this anxiety is to first acknowledge that this fear is perfectly normal and you are not alone. To reduce your fear, you need to make sure you properly and thoroughly prepare yourself before you speak.

    Proper preparation and rehearsal can help to reduce this fear by about 75 per cent; proper breathing techniques can further reduce this fear by another 15 per cent; and your mental state accounts for the remaining 10 per cent.

    PS: For those making inquiries about public speaking and business presentation training programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. We are here to satisfy you.

    Till we meet on Monday.

    To be continued

    GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

     

     

  • Effective public speaking and business presentation mastering: The essentials of public speaking

    Effective public speaking and business presentation mastering: The essentials of public speaking

    There are three things you need to sell yourself in life and reach the peak of success. These are competence, likeability and luck. While competence and likeability will almost always deliver “luck” to you, one potent instrument that is very critical to your ability to advertise your competence and become likeable and “lucky” is the power of effective communication, especially excellent public speaking and presentation skills. This is why an average but articulate and confident candidate often outshines brilliant but inarticulate candidates at oral job interviews.

    Sometime ago, a lawyer told me he wanted to attend our public speaking training and I was surprised. He said despite having a second class upper first degree in law as well as a master’s degree in the discipline, he lacked the expected confidence and oratorical competence to speak in public and by implication successfully defend clients in court.

    Current realities

    More than ever before, people are now being increasingly called upon to present their information publicly to co-workers, customers, etc. To get ahead, you must make presentation. Being an excellent presenter will enhance your business, career and social life. Organisations from time to time make presentations to existing and prospective customers to sustain and increase their customer base. This means that if your staff cannot display enviable oral (and written) communication skills, your business is paying the price in lost time, lost customers and lost revenues.

    Political necessity and greatest fear

    As a politician, for instance, you need to master the art of effective public speaking and persuasive communication to succeed because you must be able to convince the electorate and even win opposition over during electoral campaigns so that they can vote for you.

    Research shows that the fear of speaking in public is more than that of death. Yes. For instance, it is not all the people that are ready to join the security forces, despite the risk of untimely death, that are bold enough or ready to speak in public. Yet, speaking effectively in public or making business presentations is inevitable if we must succeed in our business or career. Many people have got retarded career or business growth just because they are afraid to speak in public or make oral business presentations that should have accorded them opportunity to market/sell themselves.

     

    The courage

     

    Gaining self-confidence and courage as well as the ability to think calmly and clearly while making a presentation is not one-tenth as difficult as most people imagine. There is no reason why you should not be able to think as well in a perpendicular position before your audience as you do when sitting down. In other words, you need to train your brain to think better even when facing an audience. You should not allow their presence to frighten you, rather let it be your source of motivation or inspiration.

    Great public speakers

    The fact is that many great public speakers often claim that their brains become more functional whenever they stand before an audience. You can also become an expert too if you are determined to get over your fear through constant practice and training. Do not imagine that your case is unusually difficult. Even those who afterward became the most eloquent representatives of their generation were, at the outset of their careers, afflicted by this blinding fear and self-consciousness.

     

    Evidence

     

    In the words of Lloyd George, a renowned public speaker, “The first time I attempted to make a public talk, I tell you I was in a state of misery. It is no figure of speech, but literally true, that my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth; and, at first, I could hardly get out a word.”

    In a related development, Jean Jaures that was the most eloquent political speaker produced by France in his generation sat for a year, tongue-tied in the Chamber of Deputies before he could summon up the courage to make his initial speech. Also John Bright, the great Briton who defended in England the cause of union and liberation during the civil war made his maiden speech before a group of country folk gathered in a school building, and he was so frightened on the way to the place that he told his friend to start applause to bolster him up whenever he radiated any sign of nervousness.

    Composure

    More than ever, people now have to present information to others as part of constant up-dating. People are being increasingly called upon to present their information publicly to co-workers and other departments. To get ahead, you have to present!

    But how often are we taught how to present? One major area of skills to presentation is self-management, the ability to remain composed in front of an audience.

    Learning this skill makes a huge difference not only to the quality of your public presentation but also to your enjoyment. Truly fantastic presenters are quite a rare commodity because most people have never taken the time to learn. Being an excellent presenter will enhance your career and social life.

    • To be Continued

    •GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

     

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

     

  • So You are Scared of Public Speaking? Good… So am I!

    Dealing with the fear of speaking requires the willingness of the person concerned. By now, we have learnt that we are not alone in our fear of speaking and that there is a need to renew our minds. Now, we must take deliberate steps to deal with the fear. Some of those steps are:

    •Know what you want to talk about: when you talk about something you don’t know so much about, you will lack confidence. You should be so familiar with your subject matter that you won’t have to think (or try to recall) while speaking. If you are good at what you do, then you need not fear speaking about it.

    •Know your audience: if you don’t know the people you are talking to, you will find communication difficult. Do a detailed analysis of the people you intend to speak to; who are they? What do they want to know? What do they need to know? How do they prefer to learn? If you can answer some of these questions, you will feel familiar with them enough to be comfortable. Remember that familiarity eliminates animosity; if you are comfortable with your audience, not only will you enjoy speaking with them, they will also enjoy responding.

    •Prepare adequately: don’t leave anything to chance. Prepare for your presentation diligently. Remember, you must be worth listening to before people do. One of the major rules of public speaking is that you can never prepare enough. Till the moment you deliver the speech, you must be preparing. We shall dwell on the subject of preparation later in the column.

    •Be passionate: if you talk about something you are passionate about, you will quickly forget your fear. The excitement of your topic will take you through the speech before you remember your nervousness. Have you ever seen a group of young men discussing premiership football? The energy with which they defend their clubs may force a passerby to wait and listen. That is the power of passion.

    •Be yourself: the worst mistake you can make is to try to be someone else while speaking. The only way you can be at ease is to be yourself. If you try to speak like someone else, your audience will judge you by the standards of that person and you will fall short. Who can be better than you in playing you? I attended a speech competition and a young man did a fantastic rendition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech. It was so good that the ovation was resounding. But the question on my mind was this, “If he has to present his own speech, will he be as successful?” Dr. King’s persona may not be appropriate all the time. So, it is important for you to develop yourself, not to mimic others (though it may be needed in some contexts), but to be yourself to your audience.

    •Stay in your comfort zone: find out what works for you and do it. If, due to your nervousness, you prefer to stand at the podium, do so without looking stiff. If, on the other hand, you prefer to walk around, try not to be clumsy and do not distract your audience. The posture you adopt will say a lot about you to your audience (we will deal more on that later).

    •Know that your audience will listen anyway: once you stand to speak, know that people are listening to you. If you are confident, they will listen, and if you are fearful, they will still listen (of course with a different reaction). So, forget about the fear and focus on your presentation.

    •Focus on being a showman instead of being a mind reader: whenever you are speaking, know that your main concern is to satisfy your listeners instead of reading their minds. You cannot worry and speak at the same time. Leave the minds of your listeners to them and you keep your mind on your speech. What they think may be useful to you later in preparation for future speeches, but while your current speech lasts, you don’t need that distraction.

    •See multitudes as one person: I have heard some people recommend that when you stand before a crowd, look over their heads so as to avoid anxiety. Some others say that you must look into their eyes. We will leave arguments on that for another day. But this is what I recommend; treat the crowd like you will treat an individual. I don’t mean that you pick out one person from the crowd and focus on him/her; I mean that you should adjust your mind to be comfortable with all as though they are but one. Will you look over the head of one person when having a conversation? Will you be scared of communicating with one person? If your answer is no, then transfer the same mentality to your audience; after all, every crowd is a collection of individuals.

    Fear of public speaking is not new. As you are sacred of it, so am I. But I will not let that keep me from speaking when next I have the opportunity to. When you are afraid, you are underestimating yourself. Fear is not strong enough to prevent you from speaking; only you can do that! If you don’t stop yourself, no one else can! This concludes our three part exploration of dealing with the fear of public speaking.

     

  • What is Public Speaking?

    In its simplest form, public speaking is the art of delivering a prepared speech before an audience. Of course, the fact that the speech is prepared does not mean it is read by the speaker; rather, it is presented in a way that is captivating and impactful. As the name implies, it is public speaking and not public reading, so, the art is more in the presentation than in the speech itself. That is not to say, however, that the content of the speech or its style of writing is not important, it only means that just as a drama script is not alive until it is acted, a speech is not alive until it is presented.

    Public speaking is one of the most useful skills that can be acquired in life. It is a skill that transcends disciplines and professions. Knowledge is great, but the ability to share it is greater. New ideas are good, but better is the ability to communicate them. Leadership qualities are priceless, but what are they compared to the ability to clearly define one’s vision and goals to subordinates? The art of public speaking is indispensible at any stage of life because it helps to build confidence and makes one a meaningful contributor rather than a mere receiver.

    Everybody needs to be trained in public speaking. At one time or the other in our lives, we must have faced two or more people that we needed to address, be it in school entrance examinations, class presentations, religious programmes, job interviews, board rooms, or even at family meetings. Any situation that warrants you expressing your ideas or views before people requires that you clearly and systematically present your points. With this consideration, it is believed that public speaking is not even restricted by age. The same way a child would feel when a class presentation goes wrong in front of a class full of eyes, is the way an adult would feel when a major project presentation goes wrong, though with a graver consequence.

    Dale Carnegie, in his book titled How to Win Friends and Influence People, narrated his interview with Charles Schwab. According to Carnegie, Schwab was one of the two people he knew in history (in his days), who were ever paid a million dollars a year. In response to Carnegie’s query, Schwab said, “I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among the men the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.” This shows that the ability to communicate effectively is a priced asset that employers are willing to pay for. Public speaking has to do with transferring one’s passion to others. At the end of such a presentation, the audience should share the passion the speaker carries.

    One of the reasons interviews are conducted for admissions into institutions or for employment is to assess the level of reasoning and expression of the candidates. Sometimes, it goes beyond what you can write to what you can say. If you write well but you cannot speak convincingly, you will still have some challenges to overcome. For instance, I know that in the university system, final year students are asked to defend their projects before a panel of examiners. If the student does not demonstrate convincing knowledge of the work, it is assumed that plagiarism is involved. Can you imagine the unfortunate distress a student would experience if he/she actually conducted the research but is unable to defend it for lack of proper understanding of public speaking?

    Public speaking can open doors to you beyond your imagination. For instance, it is a known fact that as at the time President Bill Clinton left the White House, he was in debt to the tune of about $12million. Currently, however, he is a millionaire, mostly as a result of his public speaking activities. According to the interviews and financial disclosure of his wife at the beginning of her presidential race, Bill Clinton made $40million in speaking fees over six years.

    Also, if anything would be vividly remembered about President Barak Obama’s journey to the White House, it would be his legendary speeches. No doubt his public presentations contributed immensely to his being voted in as the president. His style was compelling and his message was believable. Obama made Americans believe in change.

    In Nigeria, we also have renowned speakers such as Sam Adeyemi, Fela Durotoye, Leke Alder, Poju Oyemade and a host of others. These are people whom crowds would troupe to any location to listen to. Along with effective communication comes the power of influence. If you have ever dreamt of making a difference in your generation, or birthing a movement that would revolutionize your world, you have to embrace public sapeaking. It would give you the platform you need to share your dreams with others. Take every opportunity you have seriously. Talk to a few like you would a multitude. Practice at the slightest opportunity. You too can change your world through public speaking.