Become a Natural Speaker 🔉
Quick guide to speaking like a PRO
“One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until you try.” - Sophocles
Hey learners,
I was listening to the book How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams last week and in chapter 22, he shares a list of skills he thinks every adult should gain a working knowledge of. Scott says mastery isn’t necessary, being merely good in each of these areas is enough.
The skills are:
Public speaking
Psychology
Business writing
Accounting
Design - the basics
Conversations
Overcoming shyness
Second language
Golf
Proper grammar
Persuasion
Technology - hobby level
Proper Voice Technique
The list resonated with me, so in no particular order, I will be using skills from the above list to work on in the coming weeks.
Starting with:
Public Speaking
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes 43 seconds“If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.” - Gerald R. Ford
🗣 Speaking about Public Speaking..
Based on my personal experiences, the 3 most important elements of public speaking are content, clarity and confidence.
You should have something meaningul to say, the audience should understand it, and you should portray a level of confidence that makes them trust you and be engaged.
(And yes body language, eye contact, knowing your audience etc. are all important, they’re all included the 3 elemenst I mention above)
But public speaking is hard. So much so that the fear of death ranks second to fear of public speaking.
I did not fear it that much, but I used to suck at clarity and confidence.
In high school, my sister always complained that I speak very fast and I miss a lot of words. I thought she’s just mocking me and didn’t pay attention until I finally listened to my own voice. Listening to yourself sucks. I did not want to speak publicly again after that.
In 12th grade, I enrolled in a 5 day course in Public Speaking at the Indo-American Society in Mumbai. Things improved just a little.
When I first moved to Singapore, my lack of confidence showed in my poor conversations with new people I met and college presentations. I remember we had a course on Business Speaking Skills and I scored the least in that subject.
Nonetheless, with lots of presentations in university and talking to strangers during my travels over 4 years, my speaking improved, albeit slowly.
Now I can comfortably lead 1 on 1 and group coaching calls, talk to a group of strangers, and pitch to a huge audience. I am still not at my best level, but much better than where I was even 2 years ago.
Even if you’re a pro speaker, there’s always a scope for improvement and lots of fun ways to learn.
🤖 Why learn? (Learning Objectives)
Pretty simple right? This is a skill that increases your chances of success in whatever you pursue. Both, in your personal and professional life.
Talking publicly (and talking well) opens up a world of new opportunities. Even if it’s just asking a good question in a conference.
The question is, are you ready to take a more strategic approach to learning this skill and work it NOW?
📋 Resources
The only thing that will help you - Practice, Practice, Practice !
This 4 minute video explains The Random Word Exercise, Forced Silence Drills and The Endless Gaze.
Watch:
Observe the style of people you enjoy listening to. It does not have to be a famous person, try finding inspiration in your own life and your own circle.
You can listen to these speeches by Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Charlie Chaplin, and watch this video.
Also, Chris Anderson’s 7 minute guide to public speaking below is worth checking out or read this - 15 lessons learned from watching TED TALKS
Courses:
If you’re into structured courses, this one stood out to me.
Check out the intro video, it’s very cool:
The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking/Speech Course
App:
Orai : AI based App to improve public speaking
Practice Presentations, Speeches, Sales Pitches, and much more using instant AI driven feedback to improve your professional speaking style. Also check out your local Toastmasters club. The stage is yours:
👉 Know any friends who want to work on their speaking skills? Please do forward this email to them :)
🔖 Something More
Daniel Ek (Spotify CEO) Interview (25 minutes read)
I came across this super interesting interview of Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek. Daniel does things very differently from other business leaders and shared insights into his leadership style, time management, decision making, Spotify's impact on the world and much, much more. It’s a long one, but a really good interview - do check it out!
Richard Koch on Mastering the 80/20 Principle, Achieving Unreasonable Success, and the Art of Gambling (2 hours 46m listen)
If you only listen to 1 podcast this week, let it be this one. Full of knowledge and wisdom, just under 3 hours long. I absorbed it in parts over 7 days.
I, Me, and Enlightenment - The Stoic Coffee (8 min listen)
Into something shorter? Check out this episode on seeing things without so much judgment or emotions by The Stoic Coffee.
Till next time!
Support: If you have a friend who is looking for learning inspiration, useful tools, and thoughtful articles, please forward or simply share this issue for some support :)
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