IESL TOASTMASTERS CLUB - The Joy of Speaking

 The Joy of Speaking

by Rasika Gunathilaka (CC-Competent Communicator), Treasurer, IESL Toastmasters Club

Civil Engineer at Maga Engineering(pvt)Ltd

 How to build up a good presentation

As a deflating as it can be, giving a bad speech is nothing more than an “off” performance. It doesn’t mean you are a terrible speaker. If you need to, stumble in disappointment for a day or two. Then focus on studying what happened during your presentation, so you can learn from the experience & then,

Try Again!

Name Your Speech with Care.

If speakers took more care in crafting their speech titles, they would deliver better talks.

A good title creates anticipation. For example, let’s say these three speeches were on the club meeting agenda, “The uses & Abuses of Games”, “My Life as a Housekeeper”, and “The Bill That will Kill My Self”. Which title is exciting and piques your interest? You’re more likely to be curious about the third one, despite its subject matter. “What kind of a bill is it“, “How does it kill him?”. It arouses the listener for what’s to come. A good title should make your audience say, “Hey I need to hear that!”

 “You have to catch someone’s interest with something unexpected, irresistible, fun or colorful or with a clever twist on familiar word or phrase.”

Good titles are like good grooming hobbits. Just as people look at you differently when you are will-groomed, people listen more intently when your words are preceded by an intriguing title.

Have a Plan

As you prepare your speech, keep these questions in mind;

·         What is your objective?

·         How will you stimulate your stakeholder’s interest?

·         Being mindful of your objectives, how will you engage that person in an interactive discussion in which you actively seek to understand his or her point of view?

·         Once your speech is complete, Do you follow up as soon as possible?

·         Do you always deliver what you promise on time?

By clearly defining the answers to these questions, you will increase your confidence.

Start Strong

A good speech has a compelling opening that grabs the stakeholder’s full attention. The opening can include a success story, the surprising results of a test market or even a little humor booster! But whatever it is, it needs to be attractive and relevant to the overall presentation. Don’t simply push forward with the standard statement about the benefits of the plan without knowing the audience’s level of familiarity and buy-in.

Break the Monotony

To break the monotony of the crowd you can add little bit flavors. Such as;

Playing around with accents for a while, adding surprise, picking random sentences from books of famous quotations, using your body language…… etc. The best thing to do this is a humor booster. As a speaker who uses humor to support the presentations, you can often settle for some “little laughs”. However, when you do use a touch of comedy, make sure not to convert it to a big joke. Because these things are like interrupt; a little bit adds a lot of flavor, but if you add too much you ruin the result.

Involve the Audience

The crowd loves it when you make them part of your presentation. Get them to show you that they’re following your train of thought. If you ask a question and don’t get a response, rephrase the question. If you still get no reaction, then it’s time for a different approach.

Take Note of Eye Aversion.

If you notice people with blank expressions staring off into space, it’s time to change your approach.

 “If people make eye contact with you, then it shows a sign of acceptance.”

Maintain Eye Contact

Make eye contact with a few people, one at a time. Do you see their eyes light up, faces redden or mouths harden when you make eye contact? If you don’t get any reaction, it means your words haven’t moved them. Similarly, if someone looks away when you make eye contact, it’s cause for alarm. Faces reveal the mind at work; when the mind is dulled, faces lack expression.

A Happy Ending

When thinking about a goal, ask yourself, “How do I want this story to end?” Then choose to live in the story that will have happy ending. This can be applied on your presentation.

Whenever you feel you are not making a connection with your audience, pause and recalculate. Then change your presentation by altering your voice, varying your slant, slowing down, asking questions of telling a personal anecdote that relates to your topic. Hone your audience – reading skills, and you’ll be in command of any speaking situation.

Though we know all the theories we cannot become a good speaker unless otherwise we practice in front of an audience. So we have to find helpful audience who help us to learn and grow. According to my past experience best place to do so is Toastmasters club. There are lots of toastmasters club in our country which help you to do so. If there is a Toastmasters club near you place visit once and experience it then you may feel how much time you wasted without improving you public speaking ability.

Public speaking is an art. We can see lots of “Picasos “ but it want help you to become what you would be unless you become a good speaker. There are some speakers who born with good public speaking skills they can improve their ability to become a master in very quick time in a toastmasters club, but as we see lots of our engineers are lack of public speaking skills they can improve them self little by little by practicing speeches in a friendly and helpful environment like IESL Toastmasters club. If you live or work near Colombo come to IESL at 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays of each month at 17:45 to experience how Toastmasters club help you to learn and grow in your Leadership and Communication skills which is much essential for you to climb up you carrier path without much difficulty.