Speaking Elevated

Category: Public Speaking

  • Focus on one area each speech

    Focus on one area each speech

    When a person speaks in front of the Toastmasters club, they want it to be incredible. They want strong eye contact, a good flow in speech, a passionate voice, and masterful gestures. Rookies who try this all at once, end up flopping because they get overloaded. Reaching this level of mastery takes time. We can cut the time needed by being efficient. By focusing on less instead of more.

    Focus on improving on 1 or 2 items

    If you try to focus on all the fundamentals at once, your improvement will be slow. Its to better focus on improving at one item at a time.

    If you have you have extra 2 hours to practice for a speech which will have more gains? 2 hours on practicing body gestures or splitting those 2 hours on 6 different fundamentals (20 min per fundamental?) The answer is 2 hours on body gestures.

    With 2 hours on practicing body gestures, You will have time to investigate what gestures you can use, as well as practice the motions. Just like practicing free shots in basketball, you ingrain the motions into your body each minute you practice. The motions become more natural. The more natural it is, the more you perform without even thinking.

    Bonus: Master more skills at once

    In the NBA, a basketball player practices all the fundamentals and skills required for their position. Can’t we do the same? Yes, but there is a catch. You need the time. You want to focus on a skill 2-3 hours per week, to improve. That’s enough to give a small noticeable gain per skill.

  • Be a showman for your roles

    Be a showman for your roles

    Whenever we’ve done a role dozens of times, our enthusiasm drops. Maybe our enthusiasm came from the stress of a new role. Maybe it came from the novelty. Now, when we perform the role, our energy is duller. It becomes noticeable in our performance. Our lack of energy becomes contagious to the rest of the meeting.

    Penn and Teller, two magicians, have performed the same old tricks for decades. Their enthusiasm still shows. They learned to summon it. That is how they still pull you to the edge of your seat.

    Part of their mastery of the trick is their communication. Penn’s choice of words and energy. Teller may not speak a single word, but he is able to communicate with his body. They’ve learned how to display the energy they need through practice.

    Whenever you communicate with colleagues, friends, or family members ask yourself this. What energy do you give out? When you lose that enthusiasm, find it again. Practice over and over again to get it to appear. The energy you have will flow through your body, voice, and eyes and reach your words. Be the showman who pulls in their audience.