Picture this; you’re sitting in a seminar hall with 50 others, waiting for a famous industrialist to come and educate you about the Dos and Don’ts while starting a business from scratch. The speaker starts to address the public, and you see your batchmate yawning from the corner of your eye. By the end of the speech, half of your class has dozed off, and the other half regrets their decision to attend the event. Would the seminar be more engaging if the services of a public speaking coach were availed? Yes, you bet.
With all the advancements in technology and AI, one thing that has remained constant through times immemorial is Public Speaking. Whether it be Gandhi educating the masses on non-violence or Nelson Mandela addressing the common man, public speaking is part and parcel of daily life. More importantly, it’s the framework upon which successful people heavily rely.
What is public speaking, and why must I be good at it?
Public speaking is the art of formulating speeches and orally communicating with the public. Addressing the public is essentially a form of communication, just like the mailing system and private messages. However, the differentiating factor of this communication is that it is directed toward a group of people in a personalized form. Public speaking for everyday purposes is critical as it is used in every sphere of life. It has three use cases:
- Informative speaking –
This form is most prevalently used when there is particular information that is of importance and needs to be known by others. It is frequently used in academic settings and may also be followed in professional environments when onboarding recruits or for reporting purposes.
- Persuasive speaking –
Like its name, persuasive speaking is used to persuade or influence an individual. Debates and speeches usually fall under this category. Persuasive public speaking can also be utilized in general lifestyle scenarios, like influencing your friends to go to a new sushi joint, even though they detest exploring new places.
- Entertaining speaking –
This type of public speaking is usually incorporated in informal settings like a comedy club. Its primary aim is to entertain the audience. Its cues and techniques differ greatly and might require more practice as it needs much interaction from the audience, unlike informative speaking, which is usually one-sided.
Why is Public Speaking important?
- Captivating your audience
Whether it is an informative session or an intimate gathering in need of entertainment, you need to be able to catch the interest of your audience. These skills are important to keep people around you interested and wanting to hear you.
- Motivate Individuals
Successful public speakers are experts at motivating individuals. We are continuously bombarded with messages of seizing the day, the early bird catches the worm, etc. But what makes these speakers different, and keep wanting to gain inspiration from them? It’s their storytelling ability, which is a form of communication, an essential part of public speaking.
- Make new connections
Public speaking plays a significant role in helping you meet and interact with new people who share your interests. Once you are confident in communicating, it automatically enhances your personality as more people are drawn to you. It helps you get support or even expand your network.
The Role of a Public Speaking Coach
A public speaking coach is a person who helps and trains an individual or a group to speak in public. Public speaking is one of the most daunting tasks for some. Hence, a good public speaking coach can help you overcome stage fright and build self-confidence in the long run.
Sometimes, even after people have overcome their fear of addressing an audience, they might need help with the structure and presentation of their speech. Certain individuals need cues and tricks to remember their content and actively engage the audience. Professional coaches can assist you in improving these aspects. They help provide a definite structure and techniques that maximize the clarity of the message, and ensure that the public understands it. Professional coaches even help improve the body language and some minute cues you miss, but they are essential when addressing a crowd.
The way you walk, posture, poetic devices, punctuation, and accurate mix of humor and information all make a wonderful public speaker ready to bewitch the crowd. A person with the skills to enchant the public with his words and style is well-equipped to influence and sway them to his or her side. After all, there is a reason why Steve Jobs’ speech on ‘Stay hungry, Stay Foolish’ still has a huge impact on our minds.
Public Speaking is a necessary life skill that everyone should consciously work on. The training essentially starts from childhood when we speak in class. That make-or-break moment stays with us and prepares us for the future. If a person in his teens gains confidence while speaking in public, chances are the individual concerned is most likely to engage in public speaking and not actively avoid it in the later years of his life. These are the specific nuances that a public speaking coach will help you to develop.
For this reason, more and more parents and teens understand the importance of training themselves right from childhood. They usually admit their children to classes where a public speaking coach trains them in different areas.
Final Overview
Nowadays, there are a lot of classes in which you can get involved should you want to improve your diction or gain more confidence while speaking in public. Orator Academy is one platform dedicated to improving the lives of those in need of refining their skills. More and more companies realize the importance and role of public speaking. Hence they even hire professional public speaking coaches to help their employees. Instances like a presentation to clients, investors, or banks have been common practice. Therefore, public speaking has become an essential skill every professional must possess. If you need any such assistance, make sure you check out the official website of Orator Academy for more information.
