"Public speaking" is a term often heard in every place. Right from board meetings to panel discussions, conferences, universities, schools and colleges, offices and streets too. Few words don't need to be defined whereas some ones are best understood only when the dictionary defines it.

Anybody who addresses public can be regarded as a public speaker or it requires somebody very special, eminent one to be called a public speaker? Are public speakers trained to speak or speak spontaneously? Is it a fact or a myth that public speaking is too tough? If one can read and write well, what is the necessity to speak in-front of a large crowd?

Before we answer to the above questions, let's quickly understand as to what exactly does the term mean; so that it can be gauged with the same intensity by every reader.

When an individual addresses a large gathering, whether indoor or outdoor; the one addressing, is termed as a ‘public speaker’ and the ones being addressed, become ‘public/audience’. This is the simplest definition in Rancho’s(3 idiots) language.

Public speaking, also called oratory, is an act or a skill of delivering speeches on a subject before a live audience; in Chatur’s language!

Having understood the definition and perhaps getting our answer to the very 1st question of whether or not anybody could categorize oneself as a public speaker or not; let’s travel to the next prerequisite. Ingredients necessary for a good public speaker:

1. Body language:

Your body language speaks a lot much, even before you begin to speak too. How you stand, how you sit, how you shake hands with the dignitaries, the way you walk and the way you talk etc together culminate your body language.

A confident human walks straight with vision erect; while an under-confident one walks with fear. A confident one is noticed-out even amidst a huge crowd; whereas an under-confident one simply tries to obscure himself/herself, fearing she/he shouldn’t get noticed.

2.Code of Conduct:

Etiquettes exhibited by an individual with the choice of words and so as the choice of his/her attire; both coincide with ‘code of conduct’.

In the tech era, where 'as soon as possible' is replaced by "asap" and 'talk to you later' by "ttyl"; one needs to take care to not use such texting language over mike.

Also, it is generally seen in our society that we often have a tendency to rush to an empty seat or be the first one at the dinner counter. But this norm does not hold good when you engage with official guests. There, one needs to quickly adapt to ‘you first’ over ‘I, Me, Myself’.

Also, at least 1 out of every 4 of our galleries have our photographs with a Ray-Ban goggle put on. This needs to be highly avoided in official ceremonies, especially when you hold the responsibility of speaking in-front of a large crowd.

3. Proper mike alignment: 

Too often we sight cases where speakers hold mikes either too near to themselves or too far off. As long as it is a hand-mike, kindly hold it at a moderate distance. If not, then in case of stand-mikes; adjust yourselves, considering how close or how near you ought to stand in-front of the mike.

4. Speak over Scream: 

Remember, you are assigned to ‘speak’ to public and not ‘scream’. So, modify your vocal cords accordingly. Maintain distinct articulation of your voice. Have some water before you begin to speak.

5. Engage with the audience: 

Any speech, to become a memorable speech; requires the response which it receives from the listeners. Responses if end up becoming ‘no response’, it just means that you weren't good enough to generate that sense of excitement in your audience. Let’s consider a ‘live concert’ of a singer: The minute you understand it to be a concert, you expect your spirits spiking next level of enthusiasm. Don’t you? How did that happen? Because the concert organizers, anchors, hosts, singers, band, musicians etc together keep the audience engaged throughout. Have you ever seen anybody checking their watches/phones to check for time in between concerts? Never! Whereas, the same audience, if witnesses a boring lecture the next day, sits staring at their wrists, badly wanting it to get over.

One cannot argue saying concerts are meant to be energetic irrespective of who organizes them, while official talks or speeches often generate boredom; however good you are, because a concert is after all a Concert! I don’t second to that misconception because we’ve had some of the finest Orators and Motivating speakers/influencers etc whose orations earned similar response as any concert/s. The question is not about the event but ‘You’, who is expected to engage with the audience!

How to actively engage with the audience?

• Try to measure the atmosphere with some face reading ie to say that if you sense your audience being passive, begin to talk to them by looking in their eyes. Make eye contacts. It becomes next to impossible for anybody to ignore a person who is looking at you and is trying to interact with you.
• Ask their opinions or suggestions. Let’s say you got to speak on ‘cognitive learning’. Begin by asking people as to what is their perception or at the most, even if they shy out to express through words, at the least, ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions or make them raise their hands to express if they agree/disagree with you. Make them comfortable of having you in the surrounding for the next few minutes as long as you choose to speak.
• Incorporate some humour in your speech. Nobody opts to continue listening to a speech if gets too complex or too serious because it is a human tendency to welcome yawns! So, best assure that you hear good laughter over yawns, here and there. But keep in mind, humour shouldn’t hurt/harm anybody!
• Try to keep your speech pretty simple or easy to understand. Invent techniques that can help you convey your point to your audience in an innovative manner, such that it can be understood easily. For eg: lately, our Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Ma’am presented an interim budget, which I’m sure all of us are aware about. What made her presentation unique was - her way of simplifying the points, which made it easy to be decoded by a layman. For instance, she said - GDP means Growth, Development and Performance which the budget plan inculcates in it. So, that garnished for imbibing in creativity even when you speak upon serious topics as that of a Nation’s budget too. So, even if you forget the figures or values tomorrow, you’d know that its about growth,development and performance. Economic GDP was the only GDP which we knew till date. But with Ma’am connecting those 3 terms to GDP, she actually encapsulated the optimism which one can expect out of that particular document. And with this, she also strengthened the summary of the entire budget too.

Alongwith the basic understanding as mentioned above, let's try to take up two questions simultaneously. One being - whether or not public speaking needs training and another one - is it a myth or a fact to regard it too tough?

Well, few organisations (online/offline) do provide soft skills inorder to enhance communication skills by focussing upon the accent, vocabulary, grammar etc. No doubt, they have excelled in their motive by producing some of the finest public speakers too. So, opting for such formal learnings is one of the options, but not the only 'Option'. One may or may not take up official courses as such. Taking up a call for such decisions is purely based upon available resources (monetary and otherwise/distance/means of transport/time and space). However, if you choose to develop public speaking skills all by yourself;that also bears fruits similarly, provided you sow 'fruit-bearing-seeds' abruptly.

After traversing varied dimensions concerning 'public speaking' so far, I'm sure there ain't any necessity to question pertaining myth or fact because it can be rightly proved that it is a wholesome myth to state that - "Public speaking is too tough"!

We dealt with the ingredients for a good dish. Dish is all ready. But do you serve your dishes without decorating it? Paneer Butter Masala (for instance) is not ordered by the customers only because it tastes good but also because it was presented well. Very often, you may have seen or experienced your friend eating something which looked good to your eyes. Haven't you heard or said - “It seems tasty?” How did it ‘seem’ tasty even without tasting it? That was where - its presentation came into picture. It may have been garnered well with coriander or chilly or butter or any other ingredient just to nurture for an arranged decoration, in order to impress the customers.

Similarly, after a Public speaker is all set with the above discussed ingredients, the only thing that awaits for a perfect finish is yet another quintessential ingredient called “Confidence” which decorates your personality abruptly.

Confidence if is complimented with a gentle smile, I bet, your customers (audience) would love to re-visit you frequently. And the best part is - you don’t even have to ask them to re-visit you, because your performance would have conveyed that to them, on your behalf already. And this answers our last question as to what does a public speaking do, despite reading and writing. Though words have immense power, it's a combo of speech + lyrics together that knits in an Enhanced,Enriched and Empowered Personality altogether.

Thus, I’d like to conclude saying - Its not much about whom you speak to, but lot more about ‘What you speak’ and ‘How you speak’.

Hence, if ‘How you speak what you speak’ succeeds in attaining glitters to your speech; then you no longer have to bother about “How to speak to add value to what you speak”!

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