Improving your Public Speaking Skills: Part I

The first A: AWARENESS

I once shared with a wise guy my lofty ambition in life.

Idealistic me: I want to change the world! But where should I begin?
Wise person: It starts with yourself, my young Padawan.

This - my friends - is the first lesson I would like to share with you as well. Awareness (of self). The big "A". The most important "A" I would say. And it is as applicable to life as it is to public speaking. Unsuprisingly, it has been emphasized through history and mouths of numerous sages and normal people (like myself). Your ability to see yourself as how others see you increases your success in life and in this case, your public speaking skills.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. But question is do you know ALL your strengths and weaknesses? Here's how I look at it.

1. A known weakness is useful as it gives you an opportunity to improve or compensate.

2. An unknown strength goes unexploited is way too unfair to you and your audience. And it prevents you from taking your speech to another level (unless you prefer to be a mediocre speaker) And if so, I suggest you skip this blog.

3. An unknown weakness (or a blindspot) can kill your audience's interests immediately and trust me, you will feel like killing yourself too.

Yet most of the time, we just prefer to pride ourselves with our sweet sweet known strengths of ours. Don't you?

Until you know your own speaking capabilities, you will never be able to figure out to improve. That explains why the billions of speaking resources out there aren't exactly useful to you (I believe). It is like giving you access to a room full of world best armoury without the knowledge of using them.

Imagine yourself being lost. What will be the first question your friend will ask you when you ask for directions? That's right - it is WHERE ARE YOU NOW? I can give you the most accurate compass and the most detailed map ever, but if you do not know where you are, you will NEVER figure out how to find your way. And the sames goes with improving your public speaking skills. Know thyself - know what your strengths are and how they work for you. Know what your weaknesses are and how they work against you. Know what your audience like and dislike about your speech. That's the starting point I invite you to take!

Prologue to Improving your Public Speaking Skills

The 3As to Improving your Public Speaking Skills

Public speaking can be enjoyed, not feared. All you need is proper techniques, regular exposure and a little bit of faith (or guts depending on how you look at it). Plus, there are TONS of materials out there on how to be a better speaker. But here’s the problem. Most of the stuff out there are pretty standard. Ten tips on giving a memorable speech. Secret techniques on wooing your crowd etc. (So much for being secret if you can google for it??!!) And how many of you really really benefited from them?

In my opinion, what really helps you to be a better speaker is first AWARENESS. Awareness of your strengths (talents, some say) and weaknesses (or really just potential areas to work on). And one way of finding out your strengths and weaknesses is to ASK! Ask your friends. Ask your audiences. Ask what you did well and what you can improve. And APPLY! My friends, there lies all you need to know about improving your public speaking skills. I will talk about each 'A' in detail in the following entries. Stay tuned!