So, you want to become a great speaker, but that huge speech
textbook is daunting! As a college speech teacher I can tell you that book is
probably worthless. I’ve seen so many different ones and they’re all the same—a
huge collection of facts and concepts that give you an overview of the field of
public speaking. Truth be told, these eggheads don’t understand speaking. All
they’ve done is give you a boring museum of facts and ideas from people far
more intelligent than they. What you’ll find is an amateur teaches by looking
at everything in a field. A true expert can boil down a field to those few
points that make an impact. If you want to become an expert work on these five
things:
1) Find your purpose. Who are you? What is it that you truly
understand? What lessons has life taught you? Why are you on this earth? Once
you know the answers to those questions you know what to talk about. And,
you’ll talk about those topics with wisdom and passion. This is often called
your voice—your unique perspective, insight and wisdom about life. No one else
has your voice. It’s what sets you apart from every other speaker.
2) Overcome stage fright. Now, by that I don’t mean you
won’t have some jitters. Some of the best speakers have jitters before taking
the stage. But, you can’t be scared of getting up front and letting it fly.
When you’re afraid your heart and spirit doesn’t come through. When you’re
scared, your voice is muffled. Fear hinders everything—from your preparation
all the way through the delivery of your speech.
3) Learn to use stories. I’ve seen it over and over—vibrant
storytellers captivate audiences. This is true for preachers, teachers,
motivational speaker, trainers and even standup comedians. Many of the stories
will simply be stories of your life. The power of story cannot be
underestimated!
4) Learn to use analogies. Study great speakers and you will
see analogies over and over. Dr. King was a master at using analogies and the
analogy’s little brother—the metaphor. Jesus taught through parables—analogies
in the form of stories. Start paying attention anytime you have that
aha-moment, “Oh, now I understand!” You’ll be amazed at how many times these
aha-moments are connected to either a story or analogy.
5) Get in tune with your inner rhythm. One thing that
separates exceptional language (both written and spoken) is it has a beat to
it. We’re wired to connect to a beat. There’s a rhythm center in our brain. In
music we call it beat. In poetry we call it meter. In comedy it’s called
timing. Great language has a beat to it. You need to develop your ear and find
your own inner rhythm if you want to become a great speaker.
Certainly there is a great deal more to learn about public
speaking. But, if you watch great speakers you’ll see these five things over
and over. Master these five and you’re well on your way to captivating your
audience!
