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Public oratory — what is now referred to as public speaking — was a valued skill to those to live in classical Greece and Rome. The classical techniques of rhetoric used by famed orators such as Socrates, Plato and Cicero still apply today. Over the next few posts, I’ll cover some of these techniques and how you can use them to improve your public speaking skills.

Exordium

The exordium, or the opening of a presentation, has two goals:

1. To gain the sympathy of the listeners — get your audience to like you before you try to persuade them to your way of thinking; and

2. To clearly establish your own credibility — show your audience that you are the right person to be speaking about your topic.

The Greeks and Romans felt that what you say first to a “captive” audience is much less important that what you leave them with at the end of the speech. Therefore the beginning is the best time to get the “niceties” out of the way.
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Here in the U.S. we celebrate at Thanksgiving today, so there won’t be a regular post today. Please check back next week.

Occasionally, I come across resources that I think will be of value to you. Today is just such a day. There is a website called eHow, where people write about how to do things. Several of the topics revolve around public speaking. You might want to check them out:

How to Speak in Public

How to Manage Fear of Public Speaking

How to Gain Confidence for Public Speaking

How to Use “the Secret” for Public Speaking

How to Warm Up for Public Speaking

How to Teach Your Kids Public Speaking Skills

How to Promote your Small Business with Public Speaking

How to Improve Your Speaking Voice

How to Establish Credibility as a Public Speaker

Using Your Body’s Response to Fear to Give a Better Speech

Every time I stand up to give a speech, my stomach does flip flops because, for some reason, my body thinks that standing up in front of an audience to speak is just like facing a great danger to my person. My body prepares for fight or flight.

I’m sure you’ve had this experience, too. Most people do. Your hands may sweat. Your ears may burn. You may even loose your appetite. This nervous energy can make you want to run away and run away quickly.

But you have another choice. You can channel that nervous energy into a great speech. You can harness it to give your presentation enthusiasm. And though you may not realize it, this is a choice.

Don’t let you body tell you what to do — take charge. Choose to use that “fight or flight” energy to fight! Choose to use that energy to infuse your presentation with earnest enthusiasm. As you do this, you’ll notice that the nervous energy dissipates and your confidences soars.

Guest Writer: Tom Antion

Good public speaking should use attention gaining devices. Here is one that works every time: Virtually every speaking presentation I do, I find some excuse to get someone on stage with me. When an audience member is on stage, the rest of the audience is glued to the action for the following reasons:

1. They want to see what is going to happen to one of their own.
2. They are priming themselves to be up there.
3. They are worrying to death that they may be asked to be up there.

Reasons 1 and 2 are good and reason 3 is not so good. For 1 and 2 the mindset of the observing audience member is that, “I want to watch to see what my colleague or other audience member will do when they are on stage. No matter how exciting you are as a presenter, you cannot compete with the excitement generated by someone who is on stage who is not “supposed” to be on stage. Read more »