Previous

Part - II

Now how do you start your speech? You have got to arouse curiosity of the audience in the first line of your speech. Sometimes it is better to remain silent and appear a fool rather than to speak and remove all doubt. How do you arouse curiosity? Let me tell you one of the methods.

I am reminded of a particular anecdote of an older priest addressing the church on a Sunday morning. When people tend to sleep, the older priest said, "Last night I held in my arms, a women and she is the wife of another man." Everyone was shocked. "My God! What is happening?" And they waited for the bombshell, the older priest said, "It was my dear mother." Two weeks later, the younger priest found the congregation sleeping off, and he thought he will use the same trick, and he said, "Last night I held in my arms, a woman." People were shocked and started wondering, "Young priest... What is happening to him?" He continued, "And she is the wife of another man." And they waited for the bombshell, when he said; "I can't remember who she was!" And he promptly lost his job.

Prepare well for the main part that is the body of the speech. Woodrow Wilson was once asked how long he prepares his speeches. He said if it is a 15 minutes speech it takes me seven days. If it is a 30 minutes speech, it will take three days and if it is a 1-hour speech, I am ready now as you can bluff your way through. That is what a politician does. That's the difference between mass oratory and effective public speaking.

Now we come to the closing part of speech. Never start a speech with an apology. Never close a speech by saying, "Now that I have nothing more to say so I end now." If you have nothing more to say, go and sit down. Why do you want to announce? Many people say that. Never give an abrupt ending and never be too long in your speech. The key to be a good speaker is practice, practice and practice, continue that word. There is no other formula. The greatest speakers of the world have rehearsed wonderfully well.

Friends, our career is no laughing matter. That is why it is time to get serious about humour. In the era of global competition, you need every advantage you can get. So always try to use humour wherever possible, it gains a lot of marks. But it should not fall flat. It happened to me some years back. When I cracked a joke, nobody laughed, and I said, "What is the problem? Why don't you laugh?" And then they laughed.

Next

* Contributed by -
Sandeep Mohapatra,
PGP 2004-2006,
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.