«Public Speaking... Your future depends on it!»

Business Spotlight, №6/2007

Умение выступать публично значительно повышает ваши шансы на успех как в профессиональной жизни, так и в личной, считает эксперт по публичным выступлениям и мотивационный спикер Николай Латанский. Из статьи вы узнаете, как овладеть этим умением.

Are you likely to succeed in life? Would you like to make something out of your life, something that most people would never even try to do? Is success in your private life also important for you? Do you want to earn more and be able to spend more? Do you want to start your own business or get higher in the corporate ladder?

If you answered “yes” to at least one of the above questions, please, recall some of the highly successful people you ever met in your life. Would you agree they all have quite a lot in common? And you will probably agree that all of them were first of all great communicators.

If there is something that predetermines your success in life for sure — it is your ability to effectively communicate with other people: at work, at home and in your free time. It is your ability to speak freely and confidently one-on-one, to groups and also to large audiences.

What is Public Speaking?

Effective communication with other people means the ability to successfully sell your ideas, to be able to persuade people, to motivate your colleagues and inspire your friends, to entertain your audiences and be remarkable and memorable, and also to be able to speak impromptu.

Being a good public speaker also means mastering some technical skills like: knowing how to structure your speech or presentation, how to get to the point, how to better deliver facts and technical information, understanding when to use and when not to use (!) Power Point, what kind of body language (stance, movements, gestures, facial expressions), eye contact, vocal variety (volume, rate, quality of voice, tones, pitch) and pauses to use and when to apply and so on.

Opportunities with Public Speaking

Would you agree that your life would be quite different if you were able to:

■ give a presentation in front of the board of directors of your company and feel totally confident before, during and after the event;

■ deliver toasts at parties, give speeches at weddings and graduations and be totally authentic and feeling good;

■ create your own speeches whatever the occasion and give them with pleasure and confidence.

If the above is of interest to you I invite you to have a glimpse at your possible future.

Imagine that everything became possible for you… Imagine you can achieve everything you want in life… Imagine that from now on you are able to speak to an audience of several hundred people confidently and powerfully.

Your name is being announced to all these people who came to listen to you today. You climb the stage, stop in the middle, and stay there silently for a split second looking in people’s eyes…

The whole audience of hundreds is silent, eagerly looks at you and waits impatiently for you to deliver your fabulous and remarkable speech. And you have a message to share with all these people. You take a deep breath and in the next second you begin to speak...

You feel absolutely confident with yourself; you know exactly what you are going to say next and how you will say it. You even know what impressions, influence and consequences your speech today will have on these people. Your each and every word is precisely selected and always hits the mark. You clearly deliver your every thought. Your body moves as the speech flows. Your face is the mirror of all the emotions you are experiencing yourself while telling the story. Your voice goes up and down, gets quicker and slower; you pause masterly and emphasize the importance of what you have just said. The audience is with you and every person in the room follows the way you lead them through your story.

Now it is time for fun and you build up the punch line and here it is — the whole room explodes in laughter. A moment later it is time for important information and facts to be delivered to listeners and every person in the room gets your message as exactly as you meant it. Time goes by and you approach the conclusion of today’s speech. At this point of time you see in people’s eyes how much they agree with you and with your message. Your listeners became supporters of your ideas!

You finish your speech. Every person in the room is highly motivated by your message. Final inspirational words — and the audience give you a standing ovation! You know you did a great job today; for your company, for your non-profit organization, for the movement you are in or for a political party you are a member of.

Now let me ask you: How different is your life now when you are really able to do all these things in front of an audience? What are your new challenges? Do you think you are capable of doing all these on a stage?

You might argue that such a speech by you would be impossible, that this would be too difficult, you weren’t born to be a speaker and so on. However I don’t agree with you and I strongly believe in the words of the prominent businessman W. Clement Stone: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve”. And you have just seen yourself delivering a brilliant speech. Haven’t you? Remember Henry Ford saying: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

How to learn Public Speaking

So now, if you have decided to become a better public speaker, I have good news for you: Public Speaking is a set of skills. And you know that every skill can be learned through regular practice and training. Persistence and consistency will be especially required if you want to master public speaking in a foreign language. As some kind of encouragement and support for you I suggest that you always keep in mind that great speakers are not born! Moreover, they were not great at all when they first started. And only through trial and error could they have achieved their level of success.

Where to start?

There are three ways to learn Public Speaking: first — through special training; second — with a personal Public Speaking Coach; and a third — in a Toastmasters Club.

As Public Speaking is a skill that has to be practiced on a regular basis, any training you attend in Public Speaking could only provide you some insights in what it means to be an effective speaker in front of an audience. Going throuh one or two trainings won’t be enough to master the necessary set of skills.

Hiring an experienced personal Public Speaking Coach is a great way to really quickly achieve high level of Public Speaking mastery through one-to-one work, but it is also the most expensive one.

Toastmasters Clubs worldwide proved themselves to be the most efficient and truly affordable way to become a good Public Speaker by attending a club’s meeting on a weekly basis for a year or two.

MYKOLA LATANSKY is a Motivational Speaker, Business Trainer, Success Coach and the author of No More Fear of Public Speaking! He is Advanced Toastmaster, Past Area Governor of Kyiv's Toastmasters Clubs, Past President of the DniproHills Toastmasters Club, and Co-Founder of the EBA Toastmasters Club. (www.latansky.com)

What is Toastmasters?

From a humble beginning in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, Toastmasters International has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. The non-profit organization now has nearly 220,000 members in 11,300 clubs in 90 countries including Ukraine, offering a proven — and enjoyable! — way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian.

There is no instructor; instead, each speech and meeting is critiqued by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved.

In Toastmasters club you will learn how to successfully formulate, express, and sell your ideas, yourself, and get rid of that nervousness you feel when called upon to speak.

Participating in the Toastmasters Club you will:

■ increase self-confidence and encourage personal growth!

■ become a better listener, a quick thinker and an excellent speaker!

■ easily lead teams and conduct meetings!

■ will comfortably give and receive constructive evaluations!

More about Toastmasters at www.toastmasters.org

Toastmaster Clubs in Ukraine

Kiev:

American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club

Location: Chamber Conference Facility

Address: 42/44, Shovkovychna str., LL2 floor

Meeting day & time: Wednesdays, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Contact person: Anna Prymakova, +380 (50) 448 2751, annaprym (at) gmail.com

Art-Talkers Toastmasters Club

Location: British Council (Library room)

Address: 4/12, Hryhoriya Skovorody

Meeting day & time: Saturdays, 11:00 - 12:00 a.m.

Contact person: Lyudmyla Povaliy, +380 (95) 462 6336, lu_cy (at) mail.ru

Dnipro Hills Toastmasters Club

Location: International Institute of Business

Address: 51, Degtyarivska str.

Meeting day & time: Sundays, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Contact person: Andriy Yaroshenko, +380 (95) 846 9999, andrey.yaroshenko (at) gmail.com

EBA Toastmasters Club

Location: Kyiv Alumni Resource Center

Address: 63, Melnykova str.

Meeting day & time: Mondays, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Contact person: Iryna Nikolaenko, +380 (67) 605 9827, irina_n_s (at) ukr.net

Kiev ToastCrackers Club

Location: House of Scientists

Address: 45-A, Volodymyrska str.

Meeting day & time: Wednesdays 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

(call in advance)

Contact person: Anton Zaytsev, +380 (67) 508 6314, ant.z (at) mail.ru

Top Talkers Toastmasters Club

Location: Leonardo Business Center

Address: 17/52, Bohdana Khmelnytskoho str.

Meeting day & time: Tuesday, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

(we meet at the entrance hall from 7:10 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.)

Contact person: Vitaliy Karpets, +380 (68) 360 6459, vk (at) toptalkers.org

Dnepropetrovsk:

First Dnepropetrovsk Toastmasters Club

Location: SoftServe company office

Address: 1, Barrikadnaja str., 4th floor

Meeting day & time: Mondays, 6:45 p.m. - 7:45 p.m.

(at entrance tell SoftServe name)

Contact person: Mykola Kudinenko, +380 (50) 334 4034, toastmasters.dp (at) gmail.com

Odessa:

Best Odessa Speakers Club

Location: Foreign Literature Library

Address: 5, Ekateriniskaya square

Meeting day & time: Saturdays, 11:00 -12:30 a.m.

Contact person: Yuriy Shvalik, +380 (66) 762 0566, yuriy.shvalik (at) gmail.com