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To capture the attention of listeners, to find the right words, to be heard?? The art of speaking in public is based on several rules that have not changed since Antiquity. Psychotherapist Adolf Harash talks about them.
Adolf Harash – psychotherapist, leader of groups of developing personal training and a master class for psychologists.
Think about another person
The audience’s attention and interest in the speaker’s speech is not secured in advance. Therefore, he must be able to establish contact with listeners, to keep their attention. To be able to speak is also to be able to listen, to be attentive to the reactions of another person so as to adapt our words and our manner of expressing ourselves to his expectations, possibilities and emotions. “This does not mean that we should follow the tastes of those who sit in the hall, catch their desires and try to please them,” says Adolf Harash. – In order to convey your thoughts to them, you need to remain yourself and realize that the audience is not united, that it consists of individuals with whom you need to be ready to enter into a dialogue. By their reaction, you can catch what questions they can ask, what objections, counterarguments they may have. Speaking in public in form is a monologue, but in essence it is always a dialogue (even mental) with the audience.
Align your behavior with your speech
As in any communication, there are two plans in public speaking: what exactly we say and how we say it. Intonation, facial expressions, gestures play no less a role than words, the content of speech. Speaking with the audience in a confidential tone, one should not look arrogant; wishing to captivate them, one cannot speak indifferently. “If the behavior of the speaker contradicts the words, the goal of his speech will be unattainable: the audience will feel false, close, stop perceiving the content and meaning of the speech,” Adolf Harash is convinced. “If a person believes in what he is talking about, knows his subject, is captured by his presentation, he does not think about posture, gesture or facial expression – they become a natural frame for words.”
believe in what you say
Speaking in front of an audience is not playing a role or playing in front of an audience. In order for us to be listened to, interested in the subject of the speech, we must believe in what we are talking about. When we are sure of our thoughts and our words, we are always persuasive and able to move others. “A bad speaker pretends to be who (as he thinks) his audience wants to see at the moment,” says Adolf Harash. – He guesses how to behave, plays a role and therefore fakes. A good speaker does not pretend to be anyone, does not identify himself with a certain role, speaking to an audience, he remains himself, and this is what inspires confidence in the audience.
Breathe, you are excited!
Speaking in public, each of us experiences a certain excitement. However, if we are too nervous, it can interfere with establishing contact with the listeners, conveying our thoughts to them. “Excitement can be learned to control and keep within reasonable limits,” says Allen Weiner, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Communication. He offers tips to help reduce the signs of anxiety*.
If your hands are shaking a lot, it shows that you are afraid of performing in front of strangers. Make your notes not on sheets of paper, but on cards: paper is lighter and larger, and because of this, hand tremors become more noticeable. Do not constantly hold a pointer or other objects in your hands that will make your excitement more obvious.
Bustling around the stage is another sign of anxiety. Get closer to the audience and stop. Then take a few steps to the other side and freeze again.
Of great importance is how you wipe the emerging droplets of sweat. If you unfold a handkerchief and start rubbing your forehead, then you look like a person on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It is best to keep the handkerchief folded. Blot your forehead with a gentle motion and immediately put the handkerchief in your pocket.
* M. Kushner. “The ability to speak in public for dummies. Williams, 2006.
Be the master of your emotions
It is impossible to speak in public if you do not control yourself. Driven by strong joy, anger or sadness, we lose the ability to feel the audience, to keep the attention of the listeners. However, control over emotions does not consist in suppressing them: if the speaker felt that something annoys or makes him laugh, he can admit it to the audience, make it the subject of conversation, beat it. This technique helps to establish informal relations with the audience, to establish contact, to win over. Self-control is also acquired through various relaxation techniques and breath control.
Read, write, tell
Many of us go out in public without a clear plan, an idea of what we want to say. Improvising, using inaccurate words and expressions, we prevent the public from understanding us. It is important to practice and speak with the audience, very clearly, logically, clearly expressing your thoughts. Therefore, oratory requires constant work, which can be expressed in three words: read, write, tell. Read to enrich your vocabulary; write to learn how to clearly articulate what you want to say; tell to learn to think aloud.
About it
- Mikhail Bakhtin. “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics”. Next, 1994.
- Karsten Bredemeyer. “Provocative rhetoric? Good answer!” Phoenix, 2007.
- Vladimir Levy. “The Art of Being You” Globe, 2000.