By Olga Smith
Our speech is the reflection of our thinking. It tells a lot about us. To be successful we must learn how to form our thoughts and speak with clarity, power and persuasion.
This article is particularly useful for public speakers who present in a court of law, Parliament, or Senate, on TV, Radio and YouTube. The material for this article comes from years of experience of our elocution tutors who worked with actors, diplomats, politicians and top-level professionals on their speech mastery.
Thinking process:
Always start with a powerful and engaging beginning. You have 5 seconds to impress and engage your audience.
Get to the point. Avoid beating about the bush.
Create messages that are of benefit and interest to your audience. The human brain has a tendency to listen to something that is entertaining, vital, or helpful for their life. Make sure that your audience is engaged throughout your entire speech.
Avoid parasite words, swear words, and fillers like “so, you know, basically, like, em, ah”. People use these words when they are thinking and speaking at the same time. Simply substitute these unnecessary words with pauses.
Think before you speak, formulate your thoughts first in your head, and use pauses before phrases and sentences which allow you to create a really good phrase or sentence and prepare a beautiful delivery.
Do not jump from one topic to another, use logic and finish one thought at a time.
Avoid repetitions, use synonyms and antonyms.
Speak directly and categorically, and avoid words like “might, maybe, perhaps, it seems, would”, etc.
Speak about profound things using simple language. Avoid speaking about shallow /primitive things using sophisticated words; it is useless and a waste of time for your listeners.
Delete unnecessary words and sentences, and deliver the quintessence of your thoughts with clarity, emotion and high energy.
Speech delivery:
Make sure that you have good articulation and clear speech.
Stress key messages and “throwaway” unimportant words saying them with lass power, quicker and liaising words.
Use pauses.
Pay attention to your intonation/inflection.
Use your own emotions to connect to your audience’s emotions.
Do not copy TV newsreaders who read prepared scripts and just present the facts in an emotional way. It is boring and sounds almost subhuman.
Make sure that your hand gestures, posture and eye contact add to your message and empower it.
Use 4Ps, power, pitch, pace and pause and avoid monotonous speech.
Project your voice, avoid speaking too quietly.
Avoid shouting, use intensity of your voice instead
Avoid high pitched voice; it sounds childish and can be perceived as a weakness.
Make sure your voice is strong and comes free from the stomach. Straight posture and correct breathing help with it.
Avoid speaking too slowly or too quickly. Develop a good natural pace.
You can master your speech delivery and voice modulation with apps and books in the series get rid of your accent and by taking elocution lessons based on RP.