Hampshire Presentation Skills & Public Speaking Trainer

Is public speaking as subjective as art?

For everything we learn about public speaking and all that we are taught about so-called ‘best practice’, is public speaking really as subjective as art?

One person may enjoy a speech that is made up of repeated, booming sentences with very little change of pace, whilst another audience may appreciate a well-crafted speech with thought-provoking content. We all have different tastes and like different things.

Add to this the influence that the circumstances under which we are hearing a speech (is it for work, entertainment, something else?) may also have on our enjoyment or appreciation of a speech and it begins to raise some very big questions about just ‘what is a good speech?’.

In my opinion, a great speech is one in which the speaker understands his audience fully and so tailors and crafts his speech exactly for their tastes, whatever the circumstances. This might mean that content is tailored, delivery is tailored, or even the appearance of the speaker is tailored.

If you understand your audience and deliver your content in the way that best suits them, then they will always judge your speech as a truly brilliant piece of art.

More thoughts on confident learners vs. nervous learners

Later on in their public speaking ‘career’, is it possible to identify a public speaker that was initially a nervous learner vs. one that was a confident learner?

Can we see traits in their speaking that suggest they learnt by doing or learnt by observing others?

Do nervous learners show greater nervous traits later on in their publis speaking development, can they develop a ‘confident’ personality? (I like to think the best speakers could develop any personality when speaking, should they wish.)

Read the original article on nervous and confident learners and basis for this brain dump here!

A public speaking thought for the day – confident learner Vs. nervous learner

Interesting thoughts last night that I need to get written down some where, hence the blog post.

I’m rapidly approaching the conclusion that there are two very distinct types of person when it comes to developing public speaking skills.

1. The speaker who has the confidence and personality, but not the speaking skills. (The confident speaker)

2. The speaker who has a greater awareness and knowledge of public speaking technique, but does not have the confidence to stand up and find their voice. (The nervous speaker)

The confident speaker is likely to jump in at the deep end’ and develop their speaking skills by speaking in front of an audience repeatedly, improving and refining their skills as they go – learning on the job!

The nervous speaker is unlikely to dive straight in, and will take the time to learn, understand and perhaps develop in private, their own public speaking skills. It is for this reason they have a greater knowledge of speaking technique – they take the time to absorb and learn before getting involved.

I believe that the nervous speaker actually benefits from being in the presence of the confident speaker, as they learn from viewing the confident speaker’s exploits, failures and successes.

How does the confident speaker learn, other than by doing? The confident speaker can also learn from a mentor, an audience that they can present to in a more private setting.

I think these two personality types provide a good basis for a day of public speaking training. Having a group with both personality types in, means that the confident speakers can get the session moving by ‘learning by doing’ whilst the more nervous and analytical learners can view and absorb their experiences, before participating later in the session.

The lesson above for nervous speakers attending training is not to be intimidated by the confident learners – they’re doing you a favour!

So where are my thoughts headed now?

I would be interested to see how the confident and nervous learner types synchronise with traditional models of personality type. At its most basic I think we can model this as ‘introvert’ and ‘extrovert’, but can this be taken deeper?

Can we ever class different types of character when it comes to public speaking, as the social, technical and opportunistic aspects of developing public speaking skills are so different for every person on the planet?

Hmmm…