Are You an Effective Speaker? Ask Yourself 5 Questions.

An effective speaker isn’t measured by how smart she is or how many degrees she has or how many letters follow her name. In fact, many successful speakers have none of the normal credentials that we as a society associate with success. What successful effective speakers have is a powerful message that captures the attention of their listeners. Whether you are a professional, executive, stay-at-home mom who heads up PTA meetings, an entrepreneur or a preacher, ask yourself these five questions to determine whether or not you are an effective speaker.

1. Do I read my speech?
2. Do I talk at the audience?
3. Do I interact with the listeners?
4. Do I show them or tell them?
5. Do I make sense?
   

Let’s address each question separately.

1. Do I read my speech? Whether you are reading your speech from a fully written document or note cards, if you are reading your entire speech—you are NOT an effective speaker. No audience wants to look at the top of your head and only see your eyes when you can occasionally break away from those very interesting note cards! As a speaker, you should KNOW your material or your topic so well, that you shouldn’t have to read it word-for-word. Word-for-word reader/speakers suffer from one or all three of the following scenarios:

a. Fear and nervousness—which is normal for new speakers

b. Lack of knowledge of the topic

c. Lack of proper preparation

If you have agreed to speak at a function, you should have taken the time to thoroughly prepare that you don’t have to read your speech. If you suffer from fear and anxiety when addressing an audience, there are many techniques that can help you overcome these—but the most important one is to seek out proper speaker training.

There are rare occasions when a speaker who has read their entire speech is effective and those occasions are often associated with heart-felt inspiring messages, but they are not the norm. A speaker who reads her speech may find that she has done more harm than good because the audience may deem her as non-credible and therefore, her message not one worth listening to. Overcome the temptation to read your speech by KNOWING your topic and practicing it at least EIGHT times. An effective speaker may have notes, but looks at them only on occasion.

2. Do I talk at the audience? Talking at an audience is quite condescending and very telling that you may think more highly of yourself than you ought. Engaging the audience in a captivating speech requires relating to them and interacting with them. If you are ‘tooting your own horn’ and telling them how great you and/or your services, products or knowledge are, then they will be turned off by your arrogance and self-promotional attitude. Which takes us to our next question…

3. Do I interact with the listeners? One of the most important elements of public speaking is interacting with the audience. The best ways to bring your audience into your message is to interact with them on a relational level. Here are a few examples:

a. Ask them questions. Invariably there is always at least one person (usually in the front row) who will answer the question. Of course, sometimes this person will try to take over your message, nevertheless, ask the audience questions. Even if you’re not expecting an answer, it invites them to participate by engaging their thoughts.

b. Invite two or three audience members to participate in the message. Do this ahead of time with permission. You should NEVER EVER embarrass anyone, so this should be done with tact and planning.

c. Use props. We are a visual culture and we love to see pictures and items. When you use props, your audience is going to notice what they have to do with your message, which is interactive.

4. Do I show them or tell them? No one really likes being told what to do—it’s the hidden teenager in all of us. Craft your message so tightly that you are showing them through stories, examples, statistics and topic results. These types of things make your message more lively and interesting. Share anecdotes and stories relating to your message.

5. Do I make sense? Sometimes what we are saying makes sense to us, but what about those people sitting there who have taken their precious time and spent hard-earned money to come hear you. If you are making sense, you will see audience members agreeing with you. You will hear laughter, see smiles, notice tears, assured nodding of heads or listeners taking notes. If you do not make sense, you will know it because your audience will be non-responsive or worse, they will look at you with questioning eyes that are saying “What are you talking about?”

If you desire to become a confident and effective speaker, pursue the following options:

Observe and listen to speakers who you admire. Take notes about what they do that engages you. Do not mimic this speaker, just know what you like so you integrate some of those same elements and tactics into your speaking opportunities.

Seek to be trained. There are many opportunities to be trained as a speaker. Consider college courses, speaker services companies (we at BURST can help you—because that is one of our main services), join a local speaker’s club and read books about speaking techniques. A well-trained speaker will be an effective messenger.

Being properly trained as a speaker will catapult you ahead in more areas of your life than you will ever imagine. For a minimal investment, you can become a credible messenger. Are you worth it? Are your listeners worth it?

©2011 by Esther Hughes. All rights reserved.