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Test Your Public Speaking IQ

To test your public speaking IQ, define True / False statements.

 

When speaking before a group: True False
a. Try to memorize your speech. b. Try to fight your nerves. c. Speaking fast is good. d. If you take a deep breath, you could faints. e. Always know your audience. f. People know when you are nervous. g. Taking a drink beforehand will calm you.    

 

Answers

a. False. It’s not necessary to memorize a presentation, especially if you tend to be nervous and forgetful. Many excellent speakers use a script or notes. The trick is to learn how to use them effectively!
b. False. Never fight your nerves. Instead, you can learn techniques that will help you harness your nervousness and energize your presentations.
c. False. People need time to hear and absorb what you are saying. Speaking too fast doesn’t give your audience time to digest your presentation.
d. False. When you hold your breath and your body doesn’t get enough oxygen, you can feel faint and lightheaded. Breathing deeply helps calm your nerves and also improves vocal quality.
e. True. It’s always important to know who your audience will be so that you can alter your content and delivery to their level of knowledge. You wouldn’t want to deliver a paper full of technical terms.
f. False. People don’t necessarily know when you’re nervous. You could feel your heart pounding and your knees shaking but if you look and sound confident, your audience may never know.
g. False. You may fool yourself into thinking you’re calm, but alcohol dehydrates and can slow you rather than soothe you.

How did you score?

6-7 correct: You’re a public speaking pro!
4-5 correct: There’s room for improvement.
1-3 correct: You may want to sharpen your public speaking skills.

D

Read the facts about “fear of public speaking” and discuss them in small groups of 3-4 students

1. Some surveys and research results show that most people rather die instead of talking in front of a live audience. The Times survey found that 41% of the 3000 respondents listed "fear of public speaking" as their number one fear, while 19% listed "death."

2. Fear of public speaking has negative effects on careers and influences success in life negatively when you do nothing about it.

3. Three out of every four individuals suffer from speech anxiety: that's 75 percent.

4. Up to 5 percent of the world population, yes, hundreds of millions aged between 18 and 54, experience this kind of social phobia in any given year.

5. Women and men are equally affected. Although there is fear of public speaking statistics that presents figures in which more women suffer from speech anxiety related problems.

6. More men than women seek treatment to cure fear of public speaking. Some public speakers have turned to beta-blockers or hypnosis therapy to find relief.

7. Social phobias often start with shyness in childhood or early adolescence, and progress during adolescence, according to scientific studies of fear of public speaking statistics.



NOTE:

Public speaking fear is called by many terms, like speech anxiety, stage fright, fear of speaking, speech phobia or performance anxiety. It's a social phobia that is related to self-presentation in front of an audience. Scientists call it sometimes social anxiety disorder. Their medic term is glossophobia, it comes from the Greek words glossa and phobos. Glossa means tongue and phobos stands for fear or dread.

1. Listen to five experienced presenters talking about what still makes them nervous every time they give a presentation. Underline the speakers whose worries you share.

Speaker 1    
Speaker 2    
Speaker 3    
Speaker 4    
Speaker 5    

2. Complete the following expressions from the extracts in 1 using a single verb.

a) your mind b) your mouth c) your mike d) the audience e) everything   blank dry funny quiet wrong

 

3. Complete the expressions from the extract in 1.

up (3) down (2) out about over of to

 

a) you dry ……….completely

b) your equipment breaks ……….

c) you run ………. ……….time

d) you run ……….schedule

e) you pace ……….and……….

f) you wave your arms……….

g) your heart speeds……….

h) your legs turn ……….jelly

Answer the questions

1. Do you remember the last time you made a speech in front of the audience?

2. How did you feel?

3. Did you fail or succeed in making this speech? Why do you think so?

4. Do you know anyone who is very good at public speaking?

5. What helps that person to be successful in speaking?

6. Can anyone learn to be a good public speaker?

Are you a good public speaker? If you want to know what kind of speaker you are, work through this quiz and note down your responses to the questions. At the end you’ll have the chance to convert your answers into points to see how well you scored.

1. What do you do with your hands while speaking in public?

a. Keep them perfectly still

b. Gadget

c. Gesture enthusiastically

d. Gesture naturally

2. How do you feel about smiling?

a. I only smile when I’m happy

b. I only smile when I’m relaxed

c. I can force a smile when I’m nervous and that helps me to relax

d. I am confident and relaxed in front of an audience and smiling comes

naturally

3. How do you remember what to say in a presentation?

a. Prompt cards with the main points for each topic

b. Everything is scripted word for word

c. Presentation slides have all the relevant information on them

d. Just try to memorize it all

4. Can you control your nerves?

a. I go to pieces in front of an audience

b. I am relaxed as long as I have prepared carefully

c. I thrive on the excitement of flying

d. I get stage fright, but I’m okay once I get into it

5. What is your presentation style?

a. I read from my script and rarely make eye contact with the audience

b. I talk naturally about my subject and interact with the audience where

appropriate

c. I deliver the presentation as I have practiced it, but can’t handle interruptions

from the audience

d. The material speaks for itself

6. How do you look when you are presenting to an audience?

a. I tend to shake or sweat

b. I look nervous and my voice doesn’t sound natural

c. Even if I’m a bit worried, I don’t tend to let this show

d. I look nervous at first, but become more confident once I’ve got going

7. How do you keep your audience attention?

a. I interact with the audience and vary this pace of my presentation

b. My material is interesting enough to keep people’s attention regardless of

how I present it

c. I stop talking once I think people are getting bored

d. I use sound effects and lots of different fonts and colours in my presentation

material

8. How do you use humour in your presentation?

a. There is a joke on every slide

b. There is no humour at all. I want people to take me seriously

c. I use humour periodically to keep my audience relaxed and involved

d. I always start with a joke to get people’s attention

Answers:

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 A 1 A 0 A 2 A 0 A 0 A 0 A 2 A 0 B 0 B 0 B 0 B 2 B 2 B 0 B 0 B 0   C 0 C 1 C 0 C 1 C 1 C 2 C 0 C 2 D 2 D 2 D 0 D 1 D 0 D 1 D 0 D 1

Rating:

0-7

You are not a natural public speaker, but everyone can learn to be more confident at it with practice.

8-11

You are a capable public speaker, but there is still room to improve your technique.

12-16

Congratulations! You are a great public speaker.

 

Pre-reading exercise Look through the statements below and arrange them in the correct logical order.   a. Choose the appropriate outfit. b. Plan and prepare thoroughly. c. Be sure all necessary equipment is set up and in good working order. d. Know your audience e. Know the length of your speech. f. Practice it.

Read the text and check your answers.

Speaking in Public

Hard work and good ideas are essential to success, but your ability to express those ideas and get others to join you is just as important. Much of this verbal expression will be one-on- one or in small groups but sometimes you will be involved in more formal and public speaking in front of larger numbers.

If this thought makes you nervous you are not alone. Stage fright, speech anxiety, or talking terror is common to everyone. Surveys show that fear of speaking in front of groups is one of the greatest fears people have. Other surveys find people actually claiming that the thought of giving a speech is more frightening than falling off a cliff, financial difficulties, snakes, and even death!

The truth about public speaking, however, does not have to be stressful. If you correctly understand the hidden causes of public speaking stress, and if you keep just a few principles in mind, speaking in public will soon become an invigorating and satisfying experience for you.

 

WHY AND WHO

Never overestimate an audience’s knowledge, never underestimate their intelligence.”

K. Chesterton

Before you begin to think about delivering a speech, you must determine why you are giving the speech. Speeches serve a variety of purposes, but most of the times people assemble for a speech because they expect to hear or learn something they did not already know and therefore a speaker must satisfy these expectations.

Know your audience! Before you begin to prepare your material to present, you need to know what group of people will most likely comprise your target audience. It is important to speak at the level of understanding of that particular audience so as to ensure clarity and interest. One way to be certain to put an audience to sleep is to talk over their heads or far below their level of knowledge.

 

PREPARING

“In all things success depends in previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”

Confucius

Plan and prepare thoroughly in advance. Successful speaking is determined by how well you have thought through what you are going to say before you stand up to say it.

You should know the subject you are going to be speaking on to the level of detail that will prepare you to answer questions from the group. Research, read, search the Internet, talk to experts, or whatever is required to gather the information so that you know your topic well. Remember, you will need to be able to offer specific facts or anecdotes if you are to create a lasting impression with your speech, so if appropriate, make sure to take at least mental notes of real-life examples to pepper throughout your speech.

Know the length of your speech by practicing it. Never say to an audience, “I’m running out of time, so I must hurry along.” Audiences will appreciate your respect of their time and will think more highly of you as a speaker because of that.

 

PERFORMING

“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.”

Unknown

Start with a Bang!

People tend to learn better the first things they hear/see, so the first impressions or pieces of information that the audience will receive from you are really important. Therefore, remember to include all of the key point at the beginning of the session.

Grabs their attention and connects you emotionally to the audience:

ü A provocative or dramatic statement

ü A humorous anecdote (not a joke – it’s sure to offend someone in the audience!)

ü Audience participation (a question, a survey of views, a reference to participants, etc.)

ü An audio-visual « gimmick » (slide, video, tape, etc.)

ü An object (a «prop», a product, a model, etc)

ü An action (a demonstration, an unexpected entry, a song, a quotation, other «actors», etc)

ü A reference to a current event

ü A story which you have lived, giving only relevant details relive it as you speak

Voice and Language

Remember, all your audience wants from you is to walk away with one or two key points that will make a difference to them. If you structure your talks to deliver this result, you can avoid lots of complexity that isn't really needed. This coupled with appropriate humour, can go a long way to making your presentations easier, enjoyable, illuminating and entertaining for your audience.

ü Speak with passion, slightly slower and louder than usual.

ü Avoid a dull monotone. Vary pitch and tone.

ü Avoid idioms or complicated expressions if not all participants speak your language fluently.

ü Repeat key concepts slowly.

ü Vary the speed – faster to excite, slower to emphasize.

ü Catch attention with a silence – don’t be afraid about pauses.

ü Enunciate and modulate!

ü Watch out for nervous “tics”: “Uh”, “OK”, “right”, “er”, “you know”, “I mean”.

ü Use active voice, short sentences, short words.

ü Avoid generalizations, clichés, redundancies and jargon.

ü Be clear, concise but complete.

 

Body language

An American University (UCLA) research into communications showed that a speaker influences an audience in the following way:

Spoken Words 7 %

Voice 38 %

Body Language 55 %

Be natural. The body language should always match the words at the appropriate moment. Keeping your hands by your side or resting them on the lectern will have them ready for action. This is better than having them in your pockets or clenched behind your back where they aren’t in a position to be ready to start working. Avoid pacing, rocking, swaying, or leaning / slouching on the lectern as this will be distracting to the audience, a sign of nerves and will prevent the upper body from using body language.

Maintain sincere eye contactwith your audience to make everyone feel involved, but NEVER stare at one person. Sweep the audience with your eyes, 2 – 3 seconds per person. You can also divide large audiences into halves, quarters, and spend 3 seconds on each section.

NEVER:

ü look at your slides

ü turn your back on the audience

ü look elsewhere than the audience

Dress to feel comfortable and confident.Find out as much about your speaking event as you can, look through all of the appropriate outfits in your closet, and choose the one in which you feel most comfortable. When you feel comfortable, your confidence increases, and therefore so does the quality of your presentation.

Visual aids

Use audio-visual aids or props for enhancement if appropriate and necessary. Master the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint well before your presentation. Do not over-dazzle your audience with excessive use of animation or sound clips that are inappropriate for your topic and avoid torturing them by putting a lengthy document in tiny print on an overhead and reading it out to them.

Be sure all necessary equipment is set up and in good working order prior to the presentation. If possible, have an emergency backup system readily available. Check out the location ahead of time to ensure seating arrangements for audience, whiteboard, lighting, and location of projection screen, sound system, etc. are suitable for your presentation.

Have handoutsready and give them out at the appropriate time. Tell audience ahead of time that you will be giving out an outline of your presentation so that they will not waste time taking unnecessary notes during your presentation.

 


Date: 2016-01-14; view: 796


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