You don't have to aspire to the major league of speakers alongside John F. Kennedy, but you need to be able to speak in public on your own scale. How to be a good public speaker?
Building a reputation in your environment is part of the challenge of building a self-brand. This means using almost any opportunity to tell about yourself. In part, this means being able to perform in front of at least a few people. You don't have to aspire to the major league of speakers alongside John F. Kennedy, but you need to be able to speak in public on your own scale. This is why I wholeheartedly encourage you to join the Toastmasters speaking community.
You don't need to have the eloquence of Ronald Reagan or John F. Kennedy.
But the world of self-brands is … the world of sellers.
That is, it is very important to present yourself well. (Highly.)
Here's a pretty good idea. Tame your (very natural!) Fear of public speaking. There are undoubtedly countless strategies that can be used to do this. I am a loyal fan of the Toastmasters International speaking community. Their approach seems to me a little overly structured, but it is almost not annoying. It is one of the best self-help organizations that has made hundreds of thousands of people masterful in public speaking and self-talk.
I am not affiliated with Toastmasters in any way. Not at all. There are other options as well. This is not the point. Here's one thing: you don't need to become a Great Master of Communication. But it would be unfair to assume that the new world of self-brands would not require more emphasis on self-presentation skills than in the past. (That is, these skills are worth their weight in gold.)
The Rules of Public Speaking by Tom
1. Join the speaking community Toastmasters International.
2. See point 1.
3. Practice.
4. Practice. Find an excuse to say a few words to the people gathered at the meeting of the residents of your area, etc.
5. Practice volunteering … For example, fundraising … Help the church … Participate in the parent committee.
6. It is normal to be nervous. I'm still nervous myself.
7. Do not open your mouth to the public until you are convinced of what you want to say. Passion / trust / caring is what you sell as a speaker / presenter. Regardless of the subject of the conversation.
8. Focus.
9. Focus.
10. Focus. Use standard 5-by-7-inch notes, or better yet 3-by-5-inch abstract notes. Hone those theses as hell. There should be no more than five of them … or even less.
11. Practice. On the wife / husband. On loved ones. Friends. Children. Taxi drivers. The dog.
12. Don't memorize. Don't read from a piece of paper. The boringness is deadly.
13. Don't tell jokes.
14. Be relevant. Link your speech to some event that today's newspapers write about.
15. If you use any audiovisual media, keep it simple and clear. Taking full advantage of PowerPoint's eye-catching multi-color charts and graphs is … awful. (Believe me.)
16. Rehearse. Reduce the number of key ideas to four or five … and formulate them at home in ten different ways.
17. Tell life stories. Great speaker = great storyteller. And the point.
18. Notice how the President of the United States gives living examples during his annual congressional address. Is there someone among your listeners who could be praised? And whose story would highlight your point?
19. Let all your stories be "from life." Real people (company employees, clients and contractors) are doing real things.
20. Use simple, interesting handouts that summarize what you said.
21. Try not to get defensive. (This is much easier said than done.) You came here to make friends and influence people … not to make enemies or show your intellectual superiority.
22. Never, never speak down to your audience. Show them full respect. They deserve it. (Whoever they are.)
23. Solve your listeners' problems. Your proposal or statement should sound something … personal to them. Great fundraisers say they "help donors make great investments in the future that make them feel better."
24. Maintain eye contact. (This is easier said than done.) You are speaking to one person at a time. (Even if there are thousands of listeners.) You are talking to only one person.
25. Look through the eyes of those who support you. They already love you. And their positive non-verbal cues will help you calm down. (Trust me. This is not a small thing.)
26. Forget most of the strict rules for speakers. You don't need to start with "hot" to grab the attention of your audience. No bright ending. You only need five clear theses in which you believe with all your soul … and which must be voiced by hook or by crook within the allotted to you 10-50 minutes.
27. Anyway … you will have another chance. Therefore, do not drive yourself into an all-or-nothing situation. In 94 cases, this leads to failure.
28. Be humble and discreet. Nothing repels a speaker like arrogance and boasting. (Al Gore is still trying to hush up his claim that he invented the Internet. It may have cost him the presidency.)
