Greetings to the hardworking people of Rivers State. Welcome to another episode of Rivethics on Radio, our character-building weekend show. Please remember that all speaking is public speaking, whether it’s to one person or a thousand, for the reason that what affects one eventually impacts many. This week’s episode is titled How to Speak in Public.
This is quite an interesting topic. I am still a fervent student of public speaking, and my research on the subject has always been quite stimulating and thought-provoking. As a public speaker, your job is to do everything you can to capture the attention of the audience and make a lasting impression upon them. Therefore, among many other useful rules of public speaking, as we will hear from the Guest Speaker, first impression of the audience about you is fundamental. It’s been said that the audience gains their first impression of a speaker from four areas:
• Appearance: Dress and grooming.
• Orderliness: Giving an image of being organised.
• Qualities as a host: Making the audience feel comfortable.
• Credibility: Knowledge of subject and speaking ability.
After successfully scaling the hurdle of first impression, be very deliberate about your delivery. Use repetition, questions, quotations, statistics, analogies, comparisons, jokes and stories, to appeal to logic, emotion, and character, or to inform, persuade, motivate, or entertain your audience.
Then there are the various non-verbal communication methods, like eye contact, vocal quality, posture, gestures, expression, and appearance. Think about not only what you want to communicate to the people before you, but also how you want to communicate it.
At the end of every public speaking, evaluation of performance is necessary for purposes of improvement. So, key questions to ask are as follows:
• Was I thoroughly prepared?
• Did I capture attention at the very beginning?
• Did I present purposefully?
• Did I keep to my allotted time?
• Was I appropriately entertaining, or at least not boring?
All public speakers know that only the prepared speaker is confident. The audience does not judge the speaker, but they judge the value of what the speaker is bringing. And at all times, do not forget the mathematics of public speaking, according to Pythagoras, which is, not to say a little in many words, but to say a great deal in a few words.
Our guest speaker today, Mr. Paul Foh, a professional public speaker, will throw more light on the subject. He is an author, businessman and UK certified life coach. Please enjoy the episode.
Our amiable people of Rivers State, don’t forget to always let your manners speak for you.
God bless and keep you and your families and God bless Rivers State.
Her Excellency, Justice (Mrs) Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike
The Wife of the Governor of Rivers State and
Initiator of the RivEthics Character Development Programme
You can also listen to and download the Pidgin English version of this Episode below