Learn how to say “I am a jelly dough­nut” with the utmost confidence

Pub­lic speak­ing is some­thing I thor­oughly enjoy.  I know, it doesn’t come easy to every­one, and it’s not that I don’t get ner­vous when I step in front of a large group of peo­ple, but there is a cer­tain magic that occurs when you gave a suc­cess­ful speech that is unfor­get­table and addic­tive. Most of the resources you’ll find about effec­tive pub­lic speak­ing are more about prepar­ing, rehears­ing, and tim­ing then they are about the actual effect your speech has on your audi­ence, yet I can say from work­ing both as an edu­ca­tor and an orga­nizer that there is much more to it than that.

Only Speak About Things You’re Pas­sion­ate About

Too many speeches are ruined by con­tent that is not only bor­ing for the audi­ence, but unin­ter­est­ing for the speaker. No mat­ter what the topic, your first goal should be to find an angle that you believe strongly enough that you can talk con­vinc­ingly about it. Your speech should show that both you and your audi­ence has a vested inter­est in the mate­r­ial. For exam­ple, if you’re asked to speak about the crime prob­lem in your com­mu­nity, title it some­thing like “How We Can Make this Com­mu­nity Safer for Every­one,” and not “The Trou­bling Rise in Crime in Our Com­mu­nity.” Make the audi­ence feel like they are part of the solu­tion, not part of the prob­lem.  If you take a doom and gloom view of your topic, your audi­ence will feel the same way about your deliv­ery. And of course, that’s almost cer­tain to hap­pen if the focus of your speech is on crit­i­cism.  No one is pas­sion­ate about crit­i­cism, at least not in a way that’s believ­able. Read More