Seven Principles of Effective Public Speaking

When we watch celebrities, politicians, or business leaders speak on television or in public, they seem so at ease that we may wonder:  are great speakers made, or are they just born that way? While it is true that some individuals are definitely born with this gift, the overwhelming majority of effective speakers have trained themselves to be so. Either they have received formal media training or they have delivered so many speeches that over time they’ve learned what works for them. So what is the true secret to effective public speaking?

Here are seven principles of public speaking that I’ve developed in my role as a media coach.  Keep them in mind the next time you find yourself presenting before a group.

1. Perception: Stop trying to be a great “public” speaker.People want to listen to someone who is interesting, relaxed, and comfortable.  In the routine conversations we have every day, we have no problem being ourselves.  Yet too often, when we stand up to give a speech, something changes.  We focus on the “public” at the expense of the “speaking.”  To become an effective public speaker, you must do just the opposite: focus on the speaking and let go of the “public.”  Think of it as a conversation between you and the audience. If you can carry on a relaxed conversation with one or two people, you can give a great speech.  Whether your audience consists of two people or two thousand and whether you’re talking about the latest medical breakthrough or what you did today at work, be yourself; talk directly to people and make a connection with them.

2. Perfection: When you make a mistake, no one cares but you. Even the most accomplished public speaker will make a mistake at some point.  Just keep in mind that you’ll notice more than anyone in your audience.  The most important thing a speaker can do after making a mistake is to keep going.  Don’t stop and—unless the mistake was truly earth shattering—never apologize to the audience for a minor slip.  Unless they are reading the speech during your delivery, the audience won’t know if you left out a word, said the wrong name, or skipped a page.  Because “to err is human,” a mistake can actually work for you, because it allows you to connect with your audience.  People don’t want to hear from someone who is “perfect;” they will relate much more easily to someone who is real.

3. Visualization: If you can see it, you can speak it.Winners in all aspects of life have this in common:  they practice visualization to achieve their goals.  Sales people envision themselves closing the deal; executives picture themselves developing new ventures; athletes close their eyes and imagine themselves making that basket, hitting that home run, or breaking that record.  The same is true in public speaking.  The best way to fight anxiety and to become a more comfortable speaker is to practice in the one place where no one else can see you—your mind. If you visualize on a consistent basis, your mind will become used to the prospect of speaking in public, and pretty soon you’ll conquer any feelings of anxiety.

4. Discipline: Practice makes perfectly good.Your goal is not to be a perfect public speaker.  There is no such thing.  Your goal is to be an effective public speaker.  Like anything else in life, it takes practice.  We too often take communication for granted because we speak to people everyday. But when your prosperity is directly linked to how well you perform in front a group, you need to give the task the same attention as if you were a professional athlete. Remember, even world champion athletes practice every day.  Try taking a class where you practice giving speeches.

5. Description: Make it personal.Whatever the topic, audiences respond best when speakers personalize their communication. Take every opportunity to put a face on the facts of your presentation.  People like to hear about other people’s experiences—the triumphs, tragedies, and everyday humorous anecdotes that make up their lives.  Tell stories.  Whenever possible, insert a personal-interest element in your public speaking.  Not only will it make your listeners warm up to you, but it will also do wonders at putting you at ease. After all, on what subject is your expertise greater than on the subject of you?

6. Inspiration: Speak to serve.For a twist that is sure to take much of the fear out of public speaking, take the focus off of yourself and shift it to your audience. After all, the objective is not to benefit the speaker but to benefit the audience, through teaching, motivation, or entertainment. So in all of your preparation and presentation, you should think about your purpose.  How can you help your audience members achieve their goals?

7. Anticipation: Always leave ‘em wanting more.One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my years in communications is that when it comes to public speaking, less is usually more. I don’t think I’ve ever left a gathering and heard someone say, “I wish that speaker had spoken longer.” On the other hand, I imagine that you probably can’t count the times that you’ve thought, “I’m glad that speech is over. It seemed to go on forever!” So surprise your audience.  Always make your presentation just a bit shorter than anticipated.  If you’ve followed the first six principles outlined here you already have their attention and interest, and it’s better to leave your listeners wishing you had spoken for just a few more minutes than squirming in their seats waiting for your speech finally to end.

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How to be a better reader

The importance of reading Reading is an extremely important skill. It is by reading that you learn much of what you need to know for your different school subjects. Reading is also an excellent way to improve your general English. You can only learn from reading, however, if what you read is not too difficult. For this reason, it is important to know what makes texts difficult and how you can improve your chances of understanding them. What makes texts difficult to understand Most of your reading difficulties will be caused by a problem on the list below. Of course, when two or more of these problems happen together, your chances of understanding will be even smaller. the text has many unknown words the text has long, complicated sentences the text is about a topic you know nothing about the text is about a topic you find boring the text has small print, long paragraphs, no pictures the text has been badly written you are feeling tired you are distracted you don't know the important cohesion markers you don't know why you have been asked to read the text How to understand more of what you read You can do nothing about some of the reading difficulties: for example, you can’t change the print in a book or make poor writing better.

 But there are many things you can do that will give you a better chance of understanding what you read. Here are some suggestions:

 1. Know your reading purpose - 

The way you read a book or a text depends very much on your reasons for reading it. This is why it is so important to know your reading purpose. You should read a question in your math exam differently from an entry in an encyclopaedia which you are looking at quickly to find out the date of an event. The kind of reading you do in class or for your homework is different from how you read a novel for pleasure in the summer vacation. If you know your reading purpose - perhaps by looking first at the questions you must answer after reading - you can choose the best reading method. If your teacher gives you something to read and doesn't tell you what you need to find out from the text or what you will do after the reading, ask her (or him)!

 2. Choose the appropriate reading speed -

ESL students often take a long time to do their work because they read everything slowly and carefully. Often, however, one of the following speedreading methods will be the best choice: Skimming - this is reading a text quickly to find out what information it contains. You should skim when, for example, you want to check if a text has the information you need to answer some questions or write a project. It is often enough to look at the first (and last) sentences in each paragraph. Scanning - this is reading quickly to find a specific piece of information. You should scan when, for example, you are looking for the answer to a question which you know is in the text. In general, students should be trying to increase their reading speed. (Click to do some speed reading practice.)

3. Get background information -

Find something out about the topic you have to read. The more background information you have, the easier it will be to understand the text. You can get this background information background in your own language. For example, if you are studying the Italian Renaissance, you could read an encyclopaedia or textbook in your own language to find out the most important details about this historical period. Your parents may also be able to give you useful background information. Talk to them in your language. You can sometimes get background information from the text itself. Many writers include a conclusion or summary; if you read this first, it may give you a good start.

 4. Use all the information in the book -

Good textbooks are well-organised, with titles, sub-titles, introductions, summaries or conclusions. Many books also have pictures with captions. Look at all these first before starting to read. Another aspect of good writing is that each paragraph has a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence, usually the first one in a paragraph, that contains the main idea of the paragraph. If you concentrate on understanding the topic sentence, this may help you to understand what comes next.

 5. Increase your vocabulary -

Of course, reading itself is an excellent way to improve your vocabulary, but there are many other things you can do. (More advice on learning vocabulary.) The better your vocabulary, the easier you will find your reading.

6. Use your dictionary sensibly -

 A common mistake of ESL students is to look up each unknown word in the texts they are given to read. Occasionally this is necessary - for example, when reading examination questions. But it takes a long time and can be very boring. It can even make understanding more difficult because by the time you reach the end of the paragraph you have forgotten what you read at the beginning! (Advice on how and when to use your dictionary.)

7. Learn the important words that organise text -

When you read texts in your science or history books, you will find that most good writers organise their writing with cohesion markers (also called transition words). These are words that connect different parts of the writing and help writers structure their thoughts. If you learn the important cohesion markers, you will find it easier to understand the text. Here are some important cohesion markers: also, therefore, except, unless, however, instead, (al)though, furthermore, moreover, nevertheless, on the other hand, as a result, despite, in conclusion.

 8. Choose the right place to read -

You can’t really expect to understand a difficult book if you are trying to read in the same room with the television on and your little brother distracting you. The same goes for reading in the bus on the way to school. You also can’t expect to read a textbook and listen to music at the same time. Try to find a quiet and comfortable place with good light, and your dictionaries and other materials nearby.

 9. Choose the right time to read -

If you have a difficult text to read for homework, it’s probably best to do this first. If you leave it until last when you are tired, you will find it even more difficult. Important: If you have tried the advice above and you still cannot understand a text, then it is simply too hard for you. Stop reading and ask someone to help you (your ESL teacher, for example!). Nobody likes to give up, but you will just be wasting your time if you continue to work at a text that is beyond you. What to read Most of the time you have to read what your teachers tell you to read. But as you know, reading is an excellent way to improve your English, and so you should try to do some extra reading each week. Here is some advice on how to choose what to read: Try not to read something too difficult - There should be no more than about

6-10 new words per page; reading for pleasure should not be hard work! Reading easy books is good for you -You will improve your reading skills even if you read simple books, as long as you read lots of them. (But you may find you don't really enjoy stories written in English that has been over-simplified.) Try to read some non-fiction - Reading non-fiction books or magazines will help you learn some of the words you need to do well in your subject classes. There are millions of pages of non-fiction on the world wide web! Choose something that is interesting to you - This is clear. In fact, if you are really interested in a topic, you will probably be able to understand texts that would normally be too difficult for you. Surf the internet - You can learn a lot of English just by surfing around on the websites that interest you. This is particularly true if the webpages contain pictures that help you understand the writing.

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Identifying Good Reader Behaviors and Areas of Weakness

Peter led Bridget into the waiting room.

 What did you do as you read this sentence? I am certain that you are primarily conscious of a mental picture of Peter and Bridget. But before you could form this picture, you performed a variety of other actions. You recognized the individual words, and you assigned some form of meaning to each one. You did this accurately and very quickly. In addition to constructing an image of Peter and Bridget, you probably made some inferences, predicting perhaps that the waiting room was in a doctor’s office or maybe a bus station. How could you do this? You have some prior knowledge of waiting rooms, and you used this to make this prediction. You may have also predicted that you are reading a story. If the first sentence had been “There are a variety of ways in which viruses differ from cells,” you would have predicted a nonfiction passage. You can do this because you have a sense of text structure and of how narratives differ from expository selections. You no doubt have questions. How old were Peter and Bridget? Why was he leading her? What could happen next? These questions lead you to read on to find answers.

He realized that she was extremely nervous, so he gently
suggested that she sit down.

You did the same things with this sentence, but in addition, you connected it to the first sentence. Good readers synthesize information as they read. Perhaps the fact that Bridget was nervous confirmed your prediction that they were in a doctor’s office. If you had originally thought that they were in the waiting room of a bus station, perhaps the word nervous led you to think of another possibility, such as a dentist’s office. You have added to your visual image, and I suspect you are feeling quite positive toward Peter and his gentle ways. Developing emotions toward a character or situation is an important component of the reading process.

Bridget ignored him and began to pace frantically

You have more questions than you did before, and you are using your prior knowledge and the clues in the text to predict possible answers. You are monitoring your comprehension. You are aware of your questions. You know what you are unsure of. Why did Bridget ignore Peter? Could they have had an argument? She was nervous, and nervous people might pace, but why was her pacing so frantic? You are probably considering several possible reasons—and, I might add, enjoying the suspense. Why do we stay up way past bedtime reading a book? It is because we have many questions about what will happen, and we want to find the answers. Otherwise, we know that sleep will elude us!


The other patients watched her warily, and several also
began pacing.


Perhaps one of your inferences was confirmed. The setting was a doctor’s or dentist’s office. As a good reader, you matched your knowledge of waiting rooms to the clue patients and arrived at an answer. Perhaps you are unsure of the exact meaning of warily. What did you do? I doubt that you reached for a dictionary. Caught up with the story action, you probably used the context of the story to assign a temporary meaning, such as carefully or suspiciously. You then read on, eager to find out what will happen next.

As a scream rang out from the inner office, Peter angrily forced
Bridget to sit down.

The plot has thickened! Do you like the angry Peter quite as much as the gentle Peter? Who was screaming and why? What did this scream have to do with Bridget? You are not conscious of identifying words and assigning meanings. You are caught up with what is happening! You are very aware of what you understand and of the questions you have. You want answers! You are probably
even impatient with my comments, which are interrupting the account of Peter and Bridget. So let’s move on.

Bridget moved closer to Peter, who leaned down and tenderly
scratched her ears.

Were you surprised? And if you were, wasn’t it fun? Had you considered the possibility that Bridget was a dog? Had a vet’s office even entered your list of waiting room possibilities? If you are a dog owner, I’ll bet the facts that Peter led Bridget into the room and that the other patients copied her pacing were powerful clues. Let’s summarize. What did you do as you read these few short sentences? First, you identified individual words. Most (if not all) were familiar to you, and you did not need to match letters and sounds. The words were what we call sight words—words that are recognized immediately without analysis. Warily may have been unfamiliar, but as a good reader, you were able to sound it out and pronounce it even though you had never seen it in print before. You assigned appropriate meanings to the words you identified. You connected the things you knew about waiting rooms, patients, and ear scratching with the information in the text. You made inferences and predictions based on your knowledge and the clues in the text. You asked questions and located their answers. You constructed visual images. You monitored your own comprehension or lack of it. In short, you were extremely active, and your sole focus was upon constructing meaning and finding out what was going on.





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Self-Motivated

At the college level, students who succeed are normally self-motivated. They are in school because they choose to be, not necessarily because their parents expect them to be. Self-motivated students don't need as much hand-holding from instructors and peers to show up to class, listen and complete homework. They consistently come ready to learn, take good notes, study for tests and turn in work on time.

Organized

Students often balance school with work, family and personal time. To effectively navigate each area of life, you need good organizational skills. Good students commonly keep daily and weekly calenders that include days and times for tests, project deadlines as well as scheduled study time. Closely related, good students possess the discipline to generally stick to their schedules and avoid the regular calls from friends for parties and social outings.

Good Communicators

Effective one-on-one, small group and large group communication skills greatly enhance a student's opportunity for success. Dutiful students take the time to visit with instructors to develop rapport and ask about assignment or project questions. They also build connections with peers and other school staff. In classes, team activities are common, and students who can communicate well within a group learn more and perform better. Class presentations are assigned in some classes, as well, so public speaking skills are especially valuable.

Curious

In some cases, students earn good grades through a combination of intelligence and positive study habits. However, students with curious minds and a desire to grow personally often learn and retain more from their classes. Curious students get engaged in classes through listening, taking notes and sharing ideas. They also complete reading assignments, homework and projects with enthusiasm. Full commitment to classes and learning typically leads to better long-term benefits from the educational experience.

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