Life Desk :”The quality of your life depends upon the quality of your communication.”Over a period of time, I have realised that the best public speakers in this world have a few things in common. People who are interested in mastering the art of public speaking can adopt the following traits.1) Personality of the speaker: Accept it or reject it, a public speaker is always judged by his or her audience not only on the basis of the content but also on the basis of the personality. The way you dress and the way you carry yourself on stage will have a huge impact on the quality of your presentation2) Content & knowledge: You cannot speak that you do not know. There are a lot of people who speak a lot more than they actually know. Read as much as possible about the topic and from as many sources as possible. This will widen your perspective and will help in taking an intelligent stand.3) Audience profile: As a public speaker you should be well aware of your audience- their background, profession, expectations and priorities. This exercise will provide you with valuable insights about how to structure the talk.4) Passion: People may forget what you say, but they rarely forget your emotions about the topic. After spending years in professional public speaking business, I can say one thing without any doubt that it is possible to increase or decrease your emotional intensity about any topic. How much you believe or do not believe in the topic will be sensed by the audience to great extent.5) Non-verbal communication: It is said that about 60% of any communication is done non-verbally. The best public speakers pay a lot of attention to their non-verbal communication- tonal quality and body language. A simple message can be amplified by variation in tone and appropriate usage of body-movement.6) Fun & emotional quotient: It has been proven that the audience will remember a message only if it has one or more of the following two elements- humour and emotional appeal. The best presentations have both of these components.7) Medium: Once you have done your research about the topic and the audience profile, think about the best medium to convey the message of your presentation. Do you really need a power-point or there is a better way of communicating your ideas about the topic?8) Practice: Repetition is the mother of all skills. More you practice on your presentation, better are your chances of perfecting it. Stand in front of a mirror and speak for few minutes on a different topic every day. If possible record yourself on a phone camera. Public speaking is a learnable skill and anybody can master this skill if they decide to.Siddhartha Sharma is a organizational consultant and a professional motivational speaker. His workshops and books have transformed over a million lives. His is the bestselling author of 5 books- Love Your Mondays and Retire Young, The Millionaire Entrepreneur, 60 Keys to Success with NLP, Mom I got the Job, and TGIM-Thank God It’s Monday. -Indian Express
