Image Credit
I’m sure that we’d all like to be a strong, confident speaker. The big question that we all face is just exactly how can we go about getting from where we are today to becoming the strong speaker that we’d all like to become? Nope, there’s no magic pill that will make this happen; however, there are a few skills that if we take the time to practice will serve to make us much stronger speakers.
3 Skills That Every Strong Speaker Uses
The importance of public speaking is all about being seen as a strong speaker by your audience. A great deal of what makes a strong speaker come across as a strong speaker is the words that they choose to use in their speech. One of the most important things that a strong speaker does is to not use phrases that tell their audience that the information that they are presenting comes from them. This is communicated when you use phrases like “I just want to add…” or “I’m just thinking…” The word “just” calls out your phrase and makes it appear as though the value of what you are saying is not that great.
Next, we need to remove any trace of appearing to be surprised at what you are telling your audience from your next speech. A strong speaker is very familiar with their topic and nothing that they are going to be saying is going to come as a surprise to them. That’s why using the word “actually” as in “I actually want to tell you something…” should never be used – it’s unnecessary and it seems to indicate that you are surprised at what you are getting to say.
Finally, never diminish the value of the information that you are about to share with your audience. This can happen very easily when you start out a portion of your presentation with a phrase like “I’m not 100% sure, but…” or “It just occurred to me that…”. You always want your audience to believe what you are telling them and using phrases like this will only serve to confuse them.
What All Of This Means For You
Strength in speaking means something different for all of us. However, I think that we can all agree that strong speakers are the ones who can take the stage and “own” it during their speech during which they exude self-confidence while they talk. It’s only by doing this that the benefits of public speaking can really be shared with our audiences.
In order for us to transform ourselves into strong speakers we need to take the time to work on three skills. The first is to stop saying phrases that demean what we are saying such as “I think” and “just”. Next we need to also drop the word “actually” in order to get the sense of surprise out of our speeches. Finally, never tell the audience why something that you’ve just told them might be wrong.
It turns out that becoming a stronger speaker has as much to do with what we don’t say as with what we do say. The first step in becoming a stronger speaker is to become aware of the words that we are using in our speeches. Next, we need to stop saying the words that are holding us back. Take these steps and you’ll be amazed at how much stronger of a speaker you will have become…
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™
Question For You: Do you think that you are going to need somebody in the audience to tell you if you are still using words that make you a weaker speaker?
Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Communicator Blog is updated.
P.S.: Free subscriptions to The Accidental Communicator Newsletter are now available. Subscribe now: Click Here!
Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!
What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
In some ways delivering a webinar can be easier than giving a speech. I mean, you don’t have to worry about that eye contact thing and your body language won’t be much of an issue. However, in a lot of other ways it can actually be much harder to do. What’s most important is that you don’t make mistakes. Let’s talk about three of the most common mistakes that are made when people give webinars and find ways to help you avoid them and find a way to still deliver on the promise of importance of public speaking.