When was the last time you spoke to an audience about something? Probably in school while you delivered a scripted speech on Independence Day or any other occasion. Did you feel nervous or did you stammer in between? Don’t worry, feeling this way is quite normal and most people stammer while delivering a speech. But today you are going to learn here the art of public speaking. This will help you boost up instant confidence and speak effectively in public.
For this, let us understand the concept of Public Speaking first. No, not everybody reads from a piece of paper while speaking in public. Public Speaking is the art of sharing information with a group of people, which we call an audience. This group can be as big as millions of people or as small as a handful of your classmates.
Now, there can be different purposes of speaking to the public, like speaking on a ceremony or occasion, conveying some information, persuading the audience, or explaining procedure, etc. Based on this public speaking can be categorised into four categories namely, Ceremonial Speaking, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking and Demonstrative Speaking. Let us understand them in detail here.
1. Ceremonial Public Speaking
There will certainly be at least one occasion in your lifetime when you will be expected to share a few words of acknowledgement to a gathering. This occasion can be a big birthday party or an office farewell. It can be anything from graduation, weddings to funerals. Well, are you prepared for that? Don’t worry, we will help you. Ceremonial public speaking requires the speaker to maintain an emotional connection with the audience throughout her/his speech. Your words should bring the audience closer to you and unite everybody. Your tone and style of speaking should be touching. The goal is to make the audience feel they are important. Speaking in front of your loved ones- family and friends, isn’t a tough task right? Go ahead, choose the right words, be honest and you can do that effortlessly!
2. Informative Public Speaking
From lectures to conferences and seminars, the public speaking method used is called informative public speaking. Here, the focus should be on the subject matter and information s/he wants to convey more than anything else. It needs to be precise and easy for the audience to understand and learn from it.
3. Persuasive Public Speaking
This is the most important category, also known as the bread and butter of public speaking. The focus is to make the audience do something in agreement with the speaker’s viewpoint. The speaker should be clear with her/his motive and should have a persuasion plan ready. From politicians to salespersons, lawyers to motivational speakers, everybody uses this technique to sell their ideas or products. Mastering this can really benefit you in the future.
4. Demonstrative Public Speaking
This category requires the speaker to perform actions for the audience to understand a procedure behind something. The actions should be clear enough as the idea is to engage the public in verbal and non-verbal communication both. The speaker needs to focus on the choice of words, facial expressions, hand gestures and body movements all at once to connect to the audience. What’s more, everybody should find the speaker’s ideas and views relatable and worth their time.
Conclusion:
Awesome! Now you know everything about the four types of public speaking skills. Practicing these will make you a master public speaker while you grow up. So, what’s stopping you from becoming the next Barack Obama or Steve Jobs?
Check out our amazing collection of worksheets and printables of Public Speaking Skills on English Bix. These will help you master this skill with exciting activities.