Profile of a good speaker
Profile of a good speaker
- A good speaker is lively, interested, enthusiastic, and vital. He feels alive; he sees his audience as living people. He is interested in his topic and considers it vital to such people. So he speaks of it with enthusiasm. That’s the best way to interest the audience.
- A good speaker is earnest. He doesn’t talk sake, to show off his clothes, or his smile, or his smile, or his diction, or his voice. He doesn’t turn on the charm when he stands up only to switch it off as he sits down.
- A good speaker has a sense of responsibility to his listeners. He realizes that if he talks for five minutes to a hundred listeners he is taking five hundred minutes out of people’s lives. He tries to say something that will be worth that precious time.
- A good speaker has a sense of responsibility to others on the program. If he has been allotted five minutes, he does not take ten. He takes care not to squeeze others off the program, or force them to hurry. They, too, may have something worthwhile to say.
- A good speaker has a sense of responsibility to his subject. He doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. He doesn’t spread it thin.
- A good speaker has a sense of leadership; he stands up tall; he talks eye to eye; he speaks responsibly and with authority, as a leader should. He is positive , friendly, straight forward.
- A good speaker keeps his head. He doesn’t let his enthusiasm carry him too far. He doesn’t become a zealot. He doesn’t let his confidence become overconfidence. He doesn’t let himself get intoxicated with the sense of power that comes with being in the public eye.
- A good speaker tries to balanced, sane.
- A good speaker keeps his sense of humor.
To the beginning speaker: Be yourself. Say what you think, not what some columnist or newscasters think.
Study other speakers, but don’t ape them.
Recognize and admire the fine qualities of experienced speakers. But don’t feel that these are necessarily the qualities you must have. You must develop your own potentialities, work out your own style, and discover what will make you an effective speaker.
Therefore, another word to the beginning speaker: know yourself. Do not indulge in wishful thinking about your speaking ability. Be realistic about the extent of your capabilities.
Learn to accept criticism and to profit by it
After each performance, analyze it. Ask trusted friends about it. Try to form some objective estimate of its worth.
Discover your weaknesses; don’t cover them up. Do something to correct them.
Discover your strengths. Emphasize them, develop them.
