A lot of people dream about being great public speakers, confident presenters, and eloquent orators but the problem is that they don’t know where to start.
Do you know the feeling of being overwhelmed with a task because it seems to be so gigantic that the very idea of starting this journey actually paralyzes you?
A lot of people have a strong fear of public speaking, but deep down, they wish to become great speakers.
The first step.
I have a simple strategy that will lead to an almost effortless journey of becoming an outstanding speaker. I'm going to share it with you here.
You have to start somewhere, and even though we know that all the magic happens outside of your comfort zone, it is better to start in it than not to start at all.
So, how can you get started if you are terrified and you refuse to be thrown in at the deep end? The secret. As I said, it’s simple. Here’s the secret! You can start by watching other speakers, from the comfort of your own home and couch.
The internet offers access to recordings of the greatest speakers in history, as well as the worst.
All you have to do is to open up your phone, tablet or laptop and go to YouTube. There, you can watch the best of the best public speakers (along with the worst of the worst) in action.
Start big!
Start with the big, rather obvious ones:
Martin Luther King’s: “I have a dream”;
John F. Kennedy’s: “Ich bin ein Berliner”
Winston Churchill's: “Blood, toil, tears and sweat”
After that, you can watch other speakers and speeches like TED Talks, commencement ceremonies, monologues found in popular screenplays - there is an endless amount of content for you to watch and learn from.
Watch, observe, analyze.
Here’s the catch. If you just consume the speeches and talks, you won’t get anywhere. If you want to learn, you need to watch, observe and analyze the speakers. Take notes and, as you do this more often, you’ll start noticing techniques, start identifying the speaking tools that you like, and others that you don’t like. Again, you have to take notes.
Use what you like. What do you do with all this knowledge that you will eventually acquire? Put it to use, of course. Try the techniques you saw from other speakers. Copy what you like and see what works for you and what doesn’t.
You can do this during everyday conversations, during small presentations at work, at dinner with friends, etc.
Take your time, but don’t be afraid. Start small and see where the journey will take you.
Follow this advice and I guarantee that you will become a better speaker, not without effort, but with a very comfortable start.
I've prepared a YouTube playlist of a few speeches you can watch to get started, you can access it here. You can also click the link on individual videos below
WORLD CLASS SPEECHES
Martin Luther King’s: “I have a dream”
John F. Kennedy’s: “Ich bin ein Berliner”
Winston Churchill’s: “Blood, toil, tears and sweat”
TED TALKS
Amy Cuddy’s: “Your body language shapes who you are”
Hans Rosling’s: “Religions and babies”
James Veitch’s: “This is what happens when you reply to spam email”
OTHER SPEECHES
Steve Jobs’s: “Stanford Commencement Speech 2005” Jim Carrey’s: “Commencement Address at the 2014 MUM Graduation” Barack Obama’s: “Final White House correspondents' dinner speech” Mehdi Hasan’s: “Islam Is A Peaceful Religion, Oxford Union” Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy: The opening scene of HBO's "The Newsroom" “Why America's not the greatest country any longer... But it can be.”
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