What is Public Speaking: Certification, Courses, Career, Salary, Admission & Fees

Public speaking/oratory/oration is the art of speaking in front of an audience. The aim is to present ideas as well as information about a specific topic to multiple listeners. It can be either a staged or a formal event. Also, public speaking can be either extemporaneous or performed after preparation. Through public speaking, the orator or the public speaker aims to deliver the meaning behind a message and thus inform, persuade the public. 

What is Public Speaking?

Public speaking is the art of conveying an idea or a concept to the public in a clear manner. It can be either delivered to a live audience or on record that is later shared with the audience. In public speaking, there are following four main components:

1. Speaker: The speaker is the orator that shares the message with the public.
2. Message: The idea that the speaker will share with the audience.
3. Audience: People who are listening to your speech.
4. Channel: This represents the different ways in which the message is communicated to the audience. This includes non verbal, visual and auditory channels. 

Public speech is composed of content and delivery. Let us understand these components in detail.

1. Content 

It is the way in which we present an idea through public speaking. This is the elaboration of the idea so that it reaches the audience. Content can be presented in the form of presentations, stories, and analogies. Let us take a look at the different types of content that are delivered by public speakers. Content can be motivational, informative, promotional, debate-oriented or entertaining in nature. 

The type of content varies according to the type of audience to which content is being delivered. If the aim is to inspire people with an idea, public speakers deliver motivational content. In case, the public speaker wants to share information, then the content type is informative. Standup comedians and actors often deliver entertaining content.

2. Delivery

Just like different types of content, delivery style can also vary. Delivery style varies with the channel via which message is being shared with the audience: 

1. Verbal Delivery: In this type of delivery style, the speaker uses voice and language to address the audience.
2. Non-verbal Delivery: In this type of delivery style, speakers use their body language, gestures and facial expressions to convey the message.
3. Visual Delivery: Through this channel, visuals are projected so that audience can get the message only via visuals. 

Types of Public Speaking

The following are the different types of public speaking:

1. Informative Speaking: The aim is to share information via speaking in public.
2. Motivational Speaking: The aim is to motivate people.
3. Debate: Discuss a topic on different perspectives so that audience can gain a holistic understanding of the topic.

Significance of Public Speaking

There can be several reasons behind public speaking including the following:

1. Sharing the idea with a larger audience 

The aim of public speaking is to share an idea with a larger audience. To share ideas, public speakers tell relatable stories so that the audience can easily understand the context. These stories may be the narration of real-life incidents or made-up stories to explain it to the audience. 

Another way to share information is via presentations. Public speakers can show case studies, graphical representations, and statistics to present the data related to the idea. This is a useful method to convey information since visuals are fed more strongly than text and the audience can understand the real-life impact of the idea. 

2. Inspiring the Audience

Another reason behind public speaking is to inspire and motivate the audience. Public speaking is quite effective in motivating people since emotions gain momentum. The public speaker is in an energetic mode with the tone higher than usual with the aim to empower the audience. They deliver content that is filed with positivity and motivational stories. This helps in easily inspiring people as the atmosphere is filled with positive energy.

3. For Marketing Purposes

Public speaking helps in gathering audience. This can be really useful for companies to find a larger platform to  market its products and services. Public speaker can engage the audience to promote the product or may even take feedback on products. At a larger platform, it is possible to tell more people about a product.

How Speaking in Public Helps The Speaker?

While public speaking can inspire the masses, it is also beneficial for the speaker in the following manner:

1. Overcoming the fear of speaking in public: Glossophobia is a fear of public speaking that affects 75% of the world population. Due to this reason, many people do not speak up what they feel in front of others. Through public speaking, people can overcome this fear,  voice their thoughts and express them.
2. Gaining confidence: Public speech helps in gaining confidence as the speaker starts expressing himself in front of a large group of people. Once you have delivered a speech, you overcome the fear of judgement and ultimately you gain confidence to speak in front of people.
3. Personality Development: One of biggest benefits of speaking in public is personality development. By speaking out in front of a larger audience, one gains the confidence and overcomes fear. This helps in building personality. 

Tips for Impactful Public Speaking

Public speaking skills are really important if you want to deliver a message impactfully. By keeping the following tips in mind, your speech can become really powerful. Let us discuss these pointers. 

1. Understanding the audience: To deliver a powerful public speech, it is important to understand the audience. It is important to understand the requirement, demographics and expectations of the audience. Also, it is equally important to understand what the audience does not like. 
2. Prepare a content flow: While speaking in front of the public, it is important to be prepared with the content in a proper structure. Do not go unprepared. Once you have a structured flow of content, you can easily and seemlessly give a speech. Ensure that your content is relatable in nature.
3. Strong head start: As it is said that first impression is the last impression; it's important to give a strong introduction. This will impress your audience in the very beginning. 
4. Work on clarity in your speech: It is important to maintain coherency and clarity in your speech. The aim is to communicate with people so that they can clearly get the message. 
5. Proper body language: Body language is equally important without which it is difficult to clearly share the message. With a strong and positive body language, one can easily influence the audience.
6. Engage with the audience: Delivering a powerful speech is incomplete without engaging with the audience. You can ask them questions, involve them in activities or answer their queries. 
7. Strong ending is important: Say your speech has been well recieved by the audience, it is important to leave a strong last impression. If your ending is weak or is not conclusive, then the audience will not be able to hold on to strongly to your message. 

What to Avoid While Speaking in Public?

While giving a speech in public, it is important to avoid the following to ensure that the message remains powerful:

1. No coherency: If you lack clarity of flow and thoughts, then you cannot deliver a powerful public speech. It will be an obstacle in maintaining flow and fluency throughout the speech. 
2. Using unrelated analogies: If you mention incidents, stories or analogies that your audience cannot relate to, then, your message will not reach the public. 
3. Keep your pace consistent: Don’t change the pace of your speech frequently. This will make things difficult for the audience to understand. Ensure that your pace remains consistent throughout the speech so that your audience can easily catch up with you. 
4. Switching the eye contact: It is important to maintain eye contact with the majority of your audience. If you do not maintain the eye contact, audience may feel left out.