Public Speaking As A Communicaiton Medium

Posted on 11. Dec, 2008 by Crazy J in Communication

Public speaking is often used as a business tool to convey information both from a managerial level such as discussions of corporate policy as well as from an advertising perspective. Whilst the reasons may differ, the same basic principles apply in all situations: public speaking is predominantly a means of effectively conveying information to a group of people.

The emphasis has to be clarity, whether you are making a sales pitch to prospective customers or clients, or simply updating your sales team as to the latest timetable you as the speaker must ensure that the information is effectively delivered.

One of the key virtues of a good public speaker is flexibility. Regardless of what context the speaking is being conducted in, you must be able and comfortable in changing tact and direction of your speech. In a business setting, time is money and deadlines have to be met, so there may be times when your speech has to be shortened or made longer in order to cover more detail.

Get into the habit of preparing additional information and material which whilst not directly related to the subject material on which you are speaking about, provides a new, fresh angle or perspective for the subject matter. If you do find that you are required to speak for longer than originally specified, you will have a comfortable back up. If you find that your speech time is cut down, simply omit the additional material.

Another practical benefit of having such additional material is that if there is a questions and answer session afterwards, you can use this material to effectively cover any questions people may have. Be wary about relying on these notes too much though, because given that a question and answer session is dynamic this means that the effectiveness of the session will get lost. Make sure you familiarize yourself with this additional material so that you can answer questions proficiently and swiftly.

When drafting your speech, don’t factor in a question and answer in, hopefully the main body of the speech will be sufficient to answer any burning queries that your audience may have. Whilst it will be of use to be familiar with the material, bear in mind that it is impossible to be able to predict any and all questions that people may pose, so don’t get too neurotic about covering all the material!