Author of the material:
Svetlana Smyshlyak
philologist, writer, lyric poet
Politicians, public figures, meeting leaders, and coaches at development seminars are often called speakers. But what about other professions? Can the same title be attributed to a literature teacher, football coach or clothing salesman? After all, they also communicate with people and encourage them to make new decisions. If the answer to such a question is interesting, it’s time to read the sections of this article. Who is a speaker? Is it possible to turn yourself into a good rhetorician without natural talent? And how to prepare for your first public performance?
Speaker
Who is a speaker? How is he different from a speaker?
Who is a speaker? Can any speaker be called a speaker?
- No.
Who is a speaker and who is not?
Example. Imagine a teacher is giving a lecture to students. Several people from the front row listen to him, some of the students pretend to take notes, the rest do whatever they want. Not an imaginary situation? This happens, and often.
Why don't we call this teacher a speaker ?
- Because if he were a speaker , everyone would listen to him! (or almost everything).
- The speaker would see everyone, including those who pretend to listen but are doing other things.
- The speaker would attract attention to himself.
Classification according to S.A. Mineeva
The first two approaches to the classification of types of speakers were based on the psychological characteristics of the author’s personality, while the third classification, proposed by the author of many books on the art of rhetoric, S.A. Mineeva, refers to what the speaker puts at the forefront of his speech: his speech, the audience or himself.
Constructive
A constructive speaker sets priorities so that the speech comes first, which is why such an author devotes a lot of time to formulating the thesis of his speech and how to most effectively convey it to the audience.
For authors of this type, it is important not just to give a speech, but to fully disclose the problem to the public and consider all possible ways to solve it. They need a concrete result to remain after their speech, which will be the impetus for resolving the situation under discussion.
As a rule, rhetoricians of the constructive type carry out painstaking work on their speech, carefully thinking through the structure of the speech and selectively filling it with linguistic means to establish the necessary connection between the speaker and his audience. Special attention is paid to preparing a convincing argument in favor of the proposed solutions.
Rhetoric in the hands of such authors becomes a real weapon for achieving persuasion of the audience by any means available to rhetoric.
Thus, Aristotle wrote that rhetoric is “the ability to find possible ways of persuasion regarding any given subject.”
This is precisely the approach to rhetoric that constructive speakers take.
Populist
Populism is a striking example of almost all speeches made by politicians during the election campaign. Based on this thought alone, one can guess that a populist speaker is focused, first of all, on attracting a mass audience.
As a rule, the speeches of such speakers are a mirror reflection of what the public wants to hear. Hence the numerous election promises that the speaker forgets about after achieving his goal. By the way, the goal of a populist is to attract public attention to a certain person. This personality is usually expressed in the image of a hero (which is most often the speaker himself or the one for whom the speaker is campaigning) or in the image of an enemy against whom it is necessary to unite under the leadership of the hero image.
The means used by a populist usually consist of abundant criticism of opponents, promises to lead the audience to a better life, and vivid descriptions of solutions to all problems existing in society. With his speeches, a populist speaker creates an imitation of vigorous activity to restore subjective justice.
Populist methods of attracting audiences are distinguished by their destructiveness and, in contrast to the creative call of constructive speakers for practical solutions to problems, they create only the illusion of resolving pressing issues, and their inherent criticism even generates a negative attitude in society towards opponents, up to conflicts and clashes.
Demagogue
For this type of speaker, rhetoric is a way of self-expression and drawing attention to oneself, thus putting the speaker himself in priority.
The speech of a representative of this type of speaker is characterized by inaccuracy and generalization of formulations, lack of references to specific events and personalities.
As the Roman rhetorician Quintilian said, rhetoric is “the science of speaking well,” and a rhetorician is “a worthy man, ready to speak.”
This is what distinguishes a real demagogue - he is ready to speak in any situation, with or without reason.
The demagogue's speech lacks idea and purpose. As a rule, such a speech turns into a thoughtless stream of general phrases, devoid of any specifics.
What is the difference between a speaker and a speaker?
A speaker is not only gestures, voice, gaze...
The same thing that distinguishes a master from an amateur.
Each of us has cooked in the kitchen, but we don’t call everyone a cook or pastry chef.
A speaker may know everything about public speaking, but that will not make him a speaker, any more than reading a cookbook will make him a cook.
We call a confectioner a person who knows how to make delicious cakes.
And not the one who put on an apron and a chef's hat.
a speaker a person who knows how to make a speech that the public will enjoy. Pleasant for the ears, eyes and mind.
Speech rate
Most inexperienced speakers talk too quickly. As a result, the interlocutor does not have time to follow your train of thought. Remember, you have to make the person or audience listen to you. By chattering, not pronouncing sounds and swallowing words, you will not be able to gain attention and will quickly tire your listeners. Every person is primarily interested in his own thoughts and beliefs. If you talk too quickly, the most you can achieve is imitation of attention. In fact, the interlocutor will patiently wait for the end of your monologue.
It is also worth considering the speed of perception of someone else's speech. You understand the meaning of what you want to tell others about. But they have to hear, perceive and think about the meaning of your words. This requires some time.
There is a common belief that slow speech is boring. But in fact, inexpressive monologues, devoid of emotions and meaning, drive the interlocutor into boredom. Pay attention to the performances of good lecturers and conversational artists. They make meaningful pauses, highlight important points with intonation, raise and lower sonority. Masters of public speaking who master these secrets are able to hold the attention of large audiences for several hours. If you listen carefully, you will notice that the rate of their speech is low. But there is no trace of boredom - everything is due to expressiveness and meaning.
What kind of speaker is he?
The speaker sees everyone. Everyone, even if there are a lot of people in the hall.
A true speaker feels everyone. How do you feel about speech: some like it, some not so much, some don’t like it at all.
The speaker attracts attention. To yourself. To the topic of the speech. Strengthens and weakens this attention.
Also, the speaker monitors the perception of speech. Slows it down or speeds it up.
The speaker speaks clearly and understandably. And listeners not only understand this speech, but also remember it, in the form of words or images.
It's never boring with a speaker. Nobody notices how time passes.
Watching the speaker is a pleasure. Because the speaker himself enjoys the performance.
Let's sum it up
This article is an information source for both children and adults. After all, you can become a speaker at any age, the main thing is to find your topic and people who will be interested in it. These skills will also be useful in business and personnel management.
We told what kind of profession a speaker is, discussed all the pros and cons of this type of activity and gave a description of the professional qualities that such a specialist should have.
Now you are not faced with the question: “Who is this speaker?”
How to become a speaker?
There is a science called rhetoric. But, like any science, rhetoric is boring. It's difficult to learn from a book.
Like flowers and botany.
Botany is also a dry and boring science. And growing flowers is a fascinating activity. Young flower growers grow flowers without botany, but if problems arise, they immediately turn to science. And only then does botany become interesting and useful.
You can also speak without rhetoric. Young speakers do just that. When the speeches are easy and the listeners are grateful, speaking is easy even without special knowledge. Rhetoric comes in handy later, when the topics of speeches are boring, the audience is impatient, the responsibility is great, and there is no room for error.
That's when rhetoric helps. After all, the same problems were studied by orators two to three thousand years ago. Since the times of Cicero and Demosthenes, nothing has changed significantly in rhetoric.
The listeners remained the same. A little smarter and a little more impatient. But the same. They want pleasure for the mind, for the ears and for the eyes, as Cicero argued.
Notes
- "orator | Definition of the word orator in English according to Oxford Dictionaries." Oxford Dictionaries |
English . Retrieved 2018-06-05. - African-American Speakers: A Biocritical Sourcebook, edited by Richard W. Lyman, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 0-313-29014-8
- Daggett, Windsor (1920). Eastern Yankees from the District of Maine
. Portland, Maine: A.J. Houston. paragraph 30. OCLC 1048477735. - Sears, Donald A. (1978). John Neal
. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. paragraph 98. ISBN 9780805772302.
Learn oratory
A speaker has many skills.
A mathematician operates with numbers, a dancer masters movements, an artist imagines images and transfers them to canvas...
And the speaker?
The speaker presents his speech as it will be delivered. He feels every word before he speaks it.
Of course, the speaker does not immediately master this. Young speakers say everything without really thinking about the words. This skill comes with experience. From the need to speak so that they will listen.
The speaker not only sees each person, but also feels him at this moment.
This skill also comes with experience. But, unfortunately, not everyone. Without this feeling it is difficult to manage the audience.
The speaker has in his memory many told jokes, parables, stories.
And at the right time they themselves come to mind, helping to cheer up the audience. This is also the result of practice. It is necessary not only to read stories, parables and anecdotes, but also to tell them often so that they are remembered in the state of performance.
The speaker masters gestures and all body movements.
How the dancer wields them. How an acrobat wields them. First, the movements are studied, practiced, brought to automaticity and naturalness. During a performance, he no longer thinks about his movements, and has no doubt at all about how he looks from the outside.
The speaker does not speak - he talks to people.
Like with best friends. This is a dialogue, even if there is silence in the hall. The speaker sees the response of each of his words in the eyes, smiles, nods... However, there are other threads invisible to the eye that connect each viewer with the speaker.
How to learn this?
Young speaker masters gestures
This can only be learned through practice. Perform, perform, and perform again!
And the sooner you start learning, the better!
Make mistakes (useful for research purposes), run into problems. Look for answers in wise books or ask experienced speakers. And again - to perform!
for a speaker to master many skills.
Some skills are clearly speaker skills: words, intonation, gestures, impromptu, emotions and others... Some skills take roots from other sciences. It is useful for a speaker to know philosophy and psychology. Acting skills don't hurt either. Erudition will also be a big plus.
But what about a speaker without a healthy and beautiful body? Sports are simply necessary for a speaker.
So you can list many sciences that will be useful to the speaker. And the more skills a speaker has, the better he will perform.
But what if the young speaker does not yet know everything and has not mastered all the skills?
This is how the speaker's style emerges. Some rely on beautiful words, others on beautiful gestures. Some people give only prepared and rehearsed speeches, while others will learn to think about the words while speaking, and therefore can allow themselves to be completely impromptu.
But the criterion for a speaker’s performance will not be these skills, but the reaction of people to the speech. You can only do so much and still make an impression on the public. Use a minimum of skills, but get maximum results.
The audience pays the speaker with emotions, questions and applause. The time spent with a good speaker is not noticed.
From the outside it seems that performing is very easy. The way it is.
Representatives of foreign rhetoric
It is worth noting many of the greatest speakers in foreign countries. These are famous politicians and public figures.
Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of America. He became famous thanks to his unique eloquence. He came from a poor family, but from childhood he showed an interest in learning. Lincoln received a law degree and first became known as a master storyteller. People came from far and wide to listen to him. His famous Gettysburg Address also went down in history. The President prepared his speeches for a long time. And he took this process very seriously.
Churchill
Winston Churchill is known as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. But he was also a writer and journalist and even a Nobel Prize laureate in literature. He remained in history as a great orator. His performances were distinguished by emotion and devotion to ideas. Churchill spent a lot of time working on technology.
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King was a great orator, Baptist preacher, and leader of the black rights movement. His teacher was Mahatma Gandhi, whom he admired. In one year, he gave more than 230 speeches while traveling around the country, during which he tried to convey words of freedom and peace to people.
It is easy for a good speaker to speak.
Just like a good artist paints a portrait. How a good musician plays instruments.
A friend came and sat down at my synthesizer and played “Moonlight Sonata.” Easy and relaxed. It would seem, what could be simpler? Fingers glide over the keys. After her I tried. For some reason it didn't work out. No way. Despite the fact that I know the notes and can play. But just being able to do it is not enough for mastery.
Many people performed on stage. But we will not call each a speaker.
At the end of the article, I will write that we train speakers both in live trainings (this is the best type of training) and online (individually via Skype). If you have the opportunity to come to the training, we will teach public speaking. If this is not possible, sign up for online training:
- Online public speaking training
If you don't want to learn, read on. This site has a lot of useful information for both beginning speakers and experienced speakers. Read the next page of the book or choose interesting pages from the table of contents of the book.
Sincerely, rhetoric coach Oleg Bolsunov.
Read next page →
↑ Book table of contents
/ Speaker / Who is a speaker Article /
Facts about the profession
The ability to communicate skillfully and attract the attention of others with your speech is not given to every person. However, it is worth understanding that the possession of public speaking skills is one of the most important components of success.
Logical arrangement of thoughts, combining words into correct informational sentences give the speaker advantages that help win over people.
Currently, there are courses where those interested can undergo training and acquire public speaking skills.
