What makes a good public speaker?

There are many attributes that make up a good public speaker; primarily “a good public speaker knows how to engage the audiences through their literary devices and body language” (Cenere, 2015). Attaining and maintaining the audience’s full attention is the key objective of a public speaker. Another essential attribute of a successful public speaker is confidence, “an unsure or timid presentation will not capture or engage an audience, and it certainly won’t motivate a tribe” (Moore, 2016). Furthermore, an effective public speaker presents their information accordingly to the specific audience of whom they are presenting.

The seven principles of public speaking include:

1. Perception: too much emphasis on being great at public speaking is not necessarily great. People want to listen to someone who is interesting, comfortable and relaxed.
2. Perfection: making a mistake is not the end of the world, and even the most accomplished public speaker’s will make a mistake at some point.
3. Visualization: seeing it makes speaking it easier. Winners in all aspects of life have this in common:  visualization is practised to achieve goals.
4. Discipline: Practice equates to improvement. There is no such thing as a perfect public speaker. However, an achievable goal is to be an effective public speaker, which takes practise just like any other thing in life.
5. Description: personalise it. Audiences respond best when speakers personalize their communication.  People like to hear about other people’s experiences
6. Inspiration: Speak to serve a purpose, public speakers need to take the focus off of them and shift it to their audience.
7. Anticipation: less is generally more.

Works Cited

Cenere, P. (2015). Communication Skills For Business Professionals. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Moore, D. (2017). 4 Qualities of Amazing Public Speakers. [online] Themuse.com. Available at: https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-qualities-of-amazing-public-speakers [Accessed 17 May 2017].

Media Sources-

Feature image: Public Speaking. (2017). [image] Available at: https://au.linkedin.com/topic/public-speaking [Accessed 18 May 2017].

Gif: Plan your presentation. (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.empresariocapital.com/blog/2015/09/death-and-public-speaking-and-why-one-these-things-good-your-business/ [Accessed 18 May 2017].