My nugget today is about speaking and striving to be a great speaker. In my experience, speaking can be quite rewarding. As you strive to improve your speaking, I want to remind you: BE YOURSELF, please, because you are wonderful as you are. See what I mean in the video (or transcript) below.
Transcript
Greetings, Dr. Stephie here. Today’s nugget is about speaking. I invite you to strive to be a great speaker because there are a lot of rewards with it. At the same time, please, BE YOURSELF, because you are wonderful for who you are right now!
You might be an expert in whatever it is”
- Science
- Engineering
- Accounting
- Architecture
- Any area of expertise
It doesn’t matter which area, but you are an expert. Perhaps you don’t feel like you’re born to be a speaker. Let me tell you, most people aren’t.
Every speaker has a different style. It would be inappropriate and inauthentic to adopt someone else’s style. If I were to start talking like Les Brown, ”You’ve got to be hungry” (imitating his way of saying it), you would probably not think that’s me – because it isn’t. Yes, you (and I) can and ought to learn from other people.
Of course, it is important to learn the art of speaking. For example:
- Avoid filler words.
- Use your body language effectively.
- Use vocal variety.
- Give eye contact.
- Use the stage effectively if there’s one.
- Don’t fiddle around without purpose.
- Your stories. Don’t get hung up on details (this is one of my challenges – but practice makes any challenge better)
Think about the destination of what you want the audience to take away from what you say. Then reverse engineer what you’re saying.
These are all some of the things that I have been working on over the last two years or so. Throwing in a pinch of humor is good, too. It doesn’t have to be a joke. In fact, that’s a little risky because you never know what somebody thinks is funny, but to poke some fun at yourself seems to always work pretty well.
I invite you to strive to be a great speaker because there are many opportunities in it, and you can show off your brilliance. Please be and stay yourself – and just take it one step at a time.
I’m Curious
How do you feel about speaking in front of a group of people?
Dr. Stephie
P.S.: I appreciate you commenting and sharing this with others. Thank you!
