Effective Speaking Skills

Hello everyone, hope you are doing good.

Since many of you have opted for this topic -effective speaking skills, when I asked for your choice in in post about “Five basic skills all professionals must have.” And I am glad, you chose this topic, because this is a skill you will need for your entire life, in any job role you take and why just professional life, effective speaking skills are great help in personal life too. 😊

In this post I will try my best to cover all that I have learned about effective speaking skills. I have been in many public speaking forums, also being a trainer, have trained and conducted at least 30000-man hours of trainings. So, here’s a compilation of all that, I have learned through experience, when it comes to effective speaking.

But before, even I go to those details, remember 2 thumb rules: 

·       The most important aspect of effective speaking skills is ensuring you successfully and clearly deliver the information that you want to share through speaking.

·       Whatever you speak, it must-must be focussed on the listener and not yourself.

Here is the second topic in the series: Effective Speaking Skills. I will be covering 2 parts in this topic.

1.     Non-Verbal Communication or how you speak.

2.     Verbal Communication or what you speak.

Let’s begin:

Some basic concepts that you must know, to be an effective speaker.

1.     Non-Verbal Communication or how you speak: This contributes to 70% of speech and so definitely more important than what you speak.

1.1.   Body language: An erect posture, no drooping shoulders, right hand movements, right eye contact are all important. Well, it’s a vast topic. But you can read about it on internet too, what I want to convey is that, it’s important and must be considered.

1.2.  Pace: This is the speed at which you talk. If speech is too fast, then listeners will not have time to assimilate what is being said. It is also a good idea to vary the pace - quickening up at times and then slowing down – because this will help to maintain interest.

1.3.  Volume: By raising or lowering volume occasionally, you can create emphasis. If you drop your voice to almost a whisper (as long as it is projected) for a sentence or two, it will make your audience suddenly alert. Be careful not to overuse this technique, though, or it will lose its impact.

1.4.  Pitch - Inflection - Emphasis: When speaking in public, try to convey the information with as much vocal energy and enthusiasm as possible. This does not mean your voice has to swoop and dive all over the place in an uncontrolled manner. Try to make the talk interesting. Remember that when you are nervous or excited, your vocal chords tense and shorten, causing the voice to get higher. Emphasise certain words and phrases within the talk to convey their importance and help to add variety.

1.5.  Pause: Pauses are powerful. They can be used for effect to highlight the preceding statement or to gain attention before an important message. Pauses mean silence for a few seconds. Listeners interpret meaning during pauses so have the courage to stay silent for up to five seconds – dramatic pauses like this convey authority and confidence.

2.     Verbal Communication or what you say:

2.1.  Know your Audience: The words you choose will be different if you are talking to 200 people at a conference, a trusted colleague, your boss, or your children. You need to think about your audience’s overall level of understanding of the subject, and also the type of language that you use.

2.2.  Catch the attention: You can begin with a relatable quote, a short story, an important related fact, an important related number, or start with “WHY”- why what you are saving is important to the listener. Also involve the listers in a short conversation, if possible, in the beginning. For example, imagine you have to address the students at a college about their future opportunities, you can start your presentation with an infinity

 symbol and ask them what is it. They will come up with some answers. Then you say “this (infinity) is the number of opportunities that wait for you in the world and I am here to tell how can you best prepare yourselves for them”

2.3.  Be clear in with your message: Be clear in your head, what do you want to share. The most important information must be emphasized. One rule to remembered is don’t give many important messages at a time. One at a time. Or it will all get diluted.

2.4.  Elaborate with example: Where ever possible explain with an example, it is one of the best ways to explain something.

2.5.  Practice: There is no substitute to practice. For an important speaking assignment, practice much as you can. Saying it out in front of mirror also helps. Or you may record it and see the recording to analyse how you did.

Hope you will find these tips useful. Remember, effective speaking is skill that will be beneficial to you at all stages of life. In certain roles it in fact becomes, indispensable. For example, for a leader- have you ever seen a great leader who doesn’t have great communication skills?

So, effective speaking skills are worth considering and improving. It’s a continuous process and you can tray and implement new ways and keep on making it better.

Hope this post helped you some important tips on effective speaking skills. Which one, did you like the best? Would you like to know more about a specific skill, let me know…

In may next post I am going to cover, drafting effective mails. Again, an important tool, that we use for official communication. It’s on topic, many of you had shown interest in so stay tuned.

Until next time!