- So to get cracking: Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as "who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?"
- For debate purposes I am going to try and focus on persuasiveness and clarity of a speech, which are most often described in debate books. To achieve that you mustn't be:
- BORING
- CRAZY- Get so over the speaking boarders that, the audience ask themselves: What is wrong with him?
- FRIGHTENED - being to anxious.
- Because anxiety often leads to either crossing the lines - CRAZY, or trying to control yourself too much and consequently being BORING lets deal with the deep inside, emotional issues first.In this way we get rid of the bad extremes in speeches. Wikihow has many hilarious and debate useless tips on this topic, but check them out anyway because they really are funny. Personally I think that your frame of mind is the most important, whenever emotions must be controlled. So, every time you feel that you are getting too anxious, I recommend asking yourself: Why am I debating? Is anyone in the public going to laugh out loud if I screw up? How many good speeches have I had so far? The answers to these questions should calm you down to a desirable level of pre debate excitement.
- Dynamism is the result of your eagerness and excitement about debating. To be the most persuasive you should sound just enough into it, enough active for the audience to feel you actively believe in what you are saying. Too excited, means hard to listen to - CRAZY and too controlled means BORING. So to find right balance. Concerning dynamism Dr. Tuna recommends:
1. Changing the way you speak, by having enough variation in your speech itself and your voice tone and making sure your gestures adjust to what you are saying. For example it is recommendable to be very calm and self confident when refuting other sides arguments and more zealous when explaining your crucial points.
2. Emphasizing things that are important, using your voice and gestures. So if you are moving on to next point of your speech emphasize it. I believe the same logic should be applied whenever you mention your underlying principles or ideas.
3. Always stay within your normal speaking range. Don't start jelling or waving your hands like you just ran out of a mental institution. On the other hand, don't start speaking as if you were in a tomb. If debate is like Tightrope walking then make sure you don't lean to one side too much!
- Voice is very important for persuasiveness and ability to be listened to. And although you probably don't have as smooth and sexy voice as Barry White, here are some tips to make the most of your speaking apparatus:
1. Be very clear. It is logically impossible to persuade someone if he doesn't understand you, so make sure you pronounce words clearly. Avoid too long and too complex words that might confuse your audience. That is why even the WUDC tutorial puts clarity on the 1. place.
2.Volume. Make sure you asses the acoustic space correctly or your yelling will make you intolerably loud. So if you are speaking in a small room make sure your eagerness doesn't shatter windows. But after achieving a normal volume, don't be afraid to be a bit louder or quieter in order to emphasize things you are saying. If they use this phenomena in music, why shouldn't you? And of course if someone listening can't hear you, he won't understand you.
3. Speed. Can become a major issue for "English first language- EFL" and especially American policy debaters, because they want to say too much in too little time. That makes them almost impossible to follow. And they can become boring too, because they don't make any pauses which would break the monotony of their machine gun fire.. So it is advisable to use pauses and variations of your speaking speed in order to emphasize things and avoid monotony of your speech.
4. Tone / pitch. You want to look confident and powerful, to be persuasive, so use a tone of a superhero instead of a small cartoon character. It is far easier to listen to deep voices instead of squeaking high pitched ones. This means you should try and lower your tone a notch or two, but at the same time make sure you audience doesn't start asking themselves the question: What is wrong with him?. When explaining the really important stuff, I believe it is acceptable to tighten your chords and show your energy. But overall you should be the cool one, who is so confident about his case that he speaks with a powerful voice of energy.
- Gestures. Are a very important part of body language. Psychologist say that body language makes more than 3/4 of the whole communication, so this part shouldn't be neglected. Always try to stand upright ( a good tip for that is to raise your chest), with relaxed, confident and deliberate movements. So at all costs avoid nervous movements. For example never touch yourself or your face, kick with your legs, or make aggressive rapid movements. You should also avoid movements that seem funny to the audience as for example moving your hands in dorky way. The gestures themselves depend much on personal style, but I believe that the most effective gestures are "squeezing a bug" in one of your hands, which is slightly elevated, counting and making a pyramid with all of your fingers... It is important that these gestures are natural and are never inconsistent with the ideas you are presenting. You should always try to mix your effective gestures to avoid using one and the same gesture over and over again and become BORING.
- Face expressions should always follow your emotions. So you shouldn't laugh when you are talking about starving children in Africa. The most important thing about face expression is the correct use of your eyes. Looking someone into the eyes is very powerful and persuasive. So never forget to establish powerful eye connection with your audience. Especially the part that decides on your rankings.
- Body movement is important to give your speech an aura of commanding the speaking floor. So by gliding withing your speaking space you leave a more self confident and powerful impression. You look in command and that is a good thing, because people usually follow people with the look of power on them. But make sure you don't go outside your speaking space. It is just odd. Odd means CRAZY. So don't go and check the adjudicators flows! The second important thing that you shouldn't do is sway. Unless you want your audience to get seasick, anyway. Which again is CRAZY. Thirdly, staying as put as a soldier won't do either, because it is BORING. Move within your speaking space to show who is in command.
So, to effectively speak in a debate you must strike the correct balance between two extremes of being too CRAZY or being BORING. You must make sure to make sure you aren't over anxious about debating, are dynamic enough throuoght your speech, use your voice in such a way that it is easy and pleasant to listen to, make sure your points are supported by your gestures and face expressions and that you show everyone who has the command of the floor by body movement.
"According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."- Jerry Seinfeld
1 comment:
Great blog post and I find Jerry's quote fascinating. I have been blogging about how I cured my Fear of Public Speaking, I hope some of you find this helpful!
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