As a child, I showed early
promise in public speaking. My contributions in class were more eloquent than
those of classmates who were equally bright. Many of my classmates never opted
to speak, even when they knew the answer to the teacher’s question, but I courageously
did. The reason I chose to be a teacher/speaker, and now a radio show host is because
I recognize my natural desire to speak in public.
Recently while preparing
for my radio talk show, I was startled to find out that three out of every four persons would rather die than speak in public! Why such a huge number? Maybe it
is because there are very few practical guides on how to master this crucial
skill. While organisations like the Toastmasters and corporate MCs like Kafui Dey train many excellent public
speakers, I look through my experience in teaching, speaking and radio to
produce the first five commandments of public speaking. Let’s go…
1. Know your material
Let’s say you were
invited to speak at a youth organization, school or workplace. Your first task should
be to master the topic you will be speaking on. People confuse mastery with memorizing,
but that is a most deadly approach to public speaking. Imagine how embarrassing
it will be if you miss a line during your recital. Mastery means researching
the topic into details and making sure you bring something new to the table, because
no one comes to listen to the same old things they know already. One of our enthusiastic
readers, Gabriel Goku, puts it this way; “Be passionate and make sure you are
in love with what you are doing. Understand the message you are sending across
and that way, you will communicate it much better”.
2. Practise your delivery
When I first landed my
radio job, I was a bit nervous because even though I had been teaching and
speaking, I thought hosting a radio show was a different ball game. One thing
that led to my speedy rise as one of the top presenters on the radio network is
my penchant to practise before going on air. Since I go on air every Saturday,
I get my material ready by Thursday evening and on Friday evening, I sit behind
my console and speak for an hour as though I was on air. Guess what? I go on air and deliver without breaking
a sweat. You can never be assured of master-class performance until you make practice
your norm. No one gains mastery in a field they barely practise. You’ve got to know
your material, and practise it. Then when you go on stage, it just becomes a
repeat of your practice. It becomes “cool chop.”
3. Visualize your success
The mind is one of
the most powerful organs we have as humans. Whatever you think, is what you see
in reality. So if you for see yourself giving a shabby presentation, it will
sure translate in reality, and if you visualize yourself giving a well-prepared
and carefully delivered presentation in your mind, you will get nothing short
of that.
A day or so before
your speaking event, begin visualizing yourself giving the best of
presentations you’ve ever given. I do this every morning before going on air. I
see myself giving my introduction lines, interviewing my guests, and concluding
with the show for the day. Amazingly, I experience nothing short of what I imagined.
Use your imagination to your advantage. It costs nothing to do so!
4. Know your audience
Years ago in my first
conference speaking assignment at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, I prepared material to speak to a poetry group on “What Keeps Me
Going in Life.” I arrived at the venue an hour early and used that time to chat
with a few participants. Through that brief interaction, I got to know what
they were actually expecting for the night and with that knowledge, I was able
to better tailor my already prepared material to their expectation. They gave
me a rousing applause after the presentation.
You do yourself no
good getting to the venue just a few minutes to your scheduled time. It will
only make you nervous and you will have little or no knowledge of the
expectations of your audience. Get to the venue on time and chat with as many
audience members as you can. It does not only give you an impression of what
they expect, but also calms you down and allows you to strike a relationship
with your audience even before you mount the podium; and that is a recipe to
successful delivery.
5. Use the technology
Many conference rooms
these days have new technology to enhance your public speaking experience. It
will be in your favour to get acquainted with the presentation technology ahead
of time. You wouldn’t want to mount the stage, have your audiences’ eyes widely
fixed on you, and not know how to move to your next slide. Be
professional. Get used to the technology. You will not only be on top of your
presentation, your audience will respect you for your professionalism.
This is Part 1 of the 10 commandments. Follow @Newaccra on twitter or Like us on Facebook to see the final part.
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About the author
Jonathan is an agribusiness entrepreneur aside being a speaker, writer,and petroleum engineer. As a writer, he’s authored over a hundred articles on personal development, Africa, and social issues. He’s also the host of Nash Radio’s flagship motivational radio talk show, “Motivational Arena”, which airs every Saturday from 10:00 to 11:00 GMT. You can contact him via his email; jadzokpe@gmail.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonathan.adzokpe
Newaccra Magazine is a positive lifestyle magazine for the young and driven, with Africa in their hearts. It is an ideal source for high quality content on lifestyle, personal development, sports, health and entertainment that inspires, develops and entertains ambitious people. To see more, kindly follow us on twitter @newaccra or Connect with us on Facebook or simply drop us a line - info@newaccra.com.
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