Workshops to increase self-confidence
Workshop 1: get the listener interested
Come up with a topic for your speech. For example, “Types of securities”. Now imagine that several characters from films, fairy tales and fiction are sitting in front of you - from Bluebeard to Cinderella and Darth Vader. You need to come up with some “enticing ideas”, present your topic in such a way that this particular character wants to listen to you.
Workshop 2: Convincing the Buyer
Remember the joke about selling an elephant? Take a few items that come to your hand first. Now try to convince imaginary buyers at the market to buy these items. Regardless of what they are - a shabby broom, a plate, a scribbled pen refill, an old computer disk... Your task is to find such arguments so that the buyer understands: he needs this item!
Workshop 3: make a phrase expressive
Try greeting the audience by putting different “subtext” into the words “good afternoon.” For example, first try to make your greeting sound sincerely happy. Then try to express your disgust at the upcoming lecture with your “good afternoon” (in real life this is unacceptable, but for now we are just having a practical lesson!) Then - embarrassment, doubt, coquetry.
“Speaking a lot and saying a lot are not the same thing” (Sophocles)
Workshop 4: answer questions
For this game you will need the help of several friends. Write a short report on any topic. Ask your friends to read something on the topic, but don't let them watch the text of the report itself. And also inform that each of them will have their own role: “overly inquisitive”, “boorish”, “unintelligible”. Let them try to prepare questions for you in accordance with these roles. When everyone is ready, give your message to them and wait for questions.
Let your friends, without particularly sparing you, play out their roles: the “unintelligible” one will ask obvious things again, the “boorish” one will try to assert themselves at your expense, the “overly inquisitive” one will bombard you with questions that may not be particularly relevant to the topic...
Your task is to fight off all these questions in accordance with the rules described above: do not respond to aggression with aggression, be competent and not afraid to demonstrate this, do not run wild with thoughts.
After this, discuss the performance with your comrades.
Were you convincing in your presentation of the topic?
Did they get answers to their questions or did you lack competence or confidence?
Are they satisfied with the answers?
Were you able to attract their attention?
Was it interesting for the listeners?
Were all the rules followed: introduction, main idea, conclusion, etc.?
Pros and cons
When you're learning how to write speeches, the following interesting tutorial will help you practice making persuasive arguments. Try to compose a speech calling for something in two versions. In the first option, you will call on a person (society) to do something, and in the second, you will convince the same person not to do it under any circumstances! For example, in one text you will strongly advocate for weightlifting, and in another you will categorically oppose it.
What is neo-rhetoric?
Neorhetoric, or new rhetoric, is a modern philosophical and philological theory that uses the achievements of various branches of knowledge (linguistics, psychology and even anthropology) made in the 20th century. One of the scientists on the basis of whose work neo-rhetoric emerged is the Russian philosopher and theologian M. M. Bakhtin, who developed the theory of dialogue. And the most authoritative theorist of neo-rhetoric is R. Barth. The areas of interest of neo-rhetoric are speech practices that existed in different cultures and the interpretation of literary works from the point of view of structural and rhetorical structure.
Fear of public speaking
Anxiety and self-doubt prevent a speaker from expressing his thoughts clearly. He often gets confused, his speech becomes confused and the viewer has to strain to catch the essence of what is being said. Excitement and fear of an audience can lead to failure of any performance. How not to be afraid of public speaking?
The first step to solving the problem is to analyze and identify those factors due to which a person experiences discomfort before going on stage and is afraid of the audience. Most often, the reasons for such a reaction are psychological in nature. Uncontrollable fear and anxiety can occur due to:
- childhood memories (unsuccessful performance at an early age);
- strict upbringing (prohibitions and restrictions on the part of parents, the belief that one should not attract the attention of other people);
- complexes (dissatisfaction with oneself, expectation of laughter from the audience);
- painful pride (fear of criticism, desire to be perfect in everything).
Fear of public speaking is a very common phenomenon, familiar to almost everyone who has worked with a large audience. A little anxiety makes a speech more emotional and interesting, but it is very important to ensure that it does not develop into panic.
Read next: 15 tips to overcome your fear of public speaking
How to avoid anxiety before public speaking
There are many techniques known to help you cope with emotions and overcome stage fright. Exercising and playing sports before a performance helps you relax and relieves nervous tension. A cup of warm milk or herbal decoction with honey soothes and makes the voice softer and clearer.
Exercises to develop voice and articulation
Speak tongue twisters! Very different, for example: “The cap is not sewn in the Kolpakov style, the bell is not cast in the Kolokolov style. The bell needs to be re-capped, re-capped, the bell needs to be re-belled, re-capped.” If you speak foreign languages, great. Almost all nations have similar “language breakers”, which very well contribute to the development of the speech apparatus and diction.
Start counting: “One, two, three, four.” With each new word, raise your voice slightly. Stop when you reach your maximum pitch. And then count down, for example: “Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen...” - lowering the volume.
“A beautiful thought is depreciated when poorly expressed” (Voltaire)
“Chant” the consonants. For example, draw a lot of air into your chest and hiss as you exhale: “SHSHSHSHH” or “FFFFFFFF.” You can, for example, “sing” the letter “R” like this. If you know of any defects in diction or pronunciation, pay special attention to them. So, if you have trouble pronouncing the letter “R”, pay special attention to those exercises in which it is present.
Whisper a few paragraphs from your favorite book.
Another good exercise is to read a couple of pages, reading all the words backwards.
How to learn public speaking
Oratory skills can be improved in two ways. Take special courses or engage in self-education.
Self-directed learning has particular advantages. You can study on your own schedule and try out all kinds of techniques. For training, you should use special video lessons, tutorials and useful recommendations.
Learning public speaking is possible at any age. It will be useful for both young and experienced professionals. With such a skill, it is necessary to constantly expand your abilities and skills in the field of rhetoric. This will help in studies, business and personal relationships.
Exercises on intonation, logic, stylistics
Exercise 1: placing emphasis
Write some affirmative phrase on a piece of paper. For example, “I want to buy a coffee cake.” Now read this phrase several times, placing semantic emphasis on a different word each time. For example:
I want to buy a coffee cake (me, not my mom or husband).
I want to buy a coffee cake (I want to buy it, not bake it or receive it as a gift).
I want to buy a coffee cake (coffee cake, not lemon or strawberry).
I want to buy a coffee cake (that's a cake, not a cake or a cookie).
Eugene Delacroix. Talma as Nero. 1850s. Famous actor François-Joseph Talma helped Napoleon Bonaparte study the art of gesture and recitation
Exercise 2: Rewrite in a new style
Try to take the plot of a famous fairy tale and rewrite it in different versions. For example, "Little Red Riding Hood". How would this tale sound if written in the language of a police report? What if it was written by a botanist? What if revolutionaries used “Little Red Riding Hood” for their propaganda? Don’t be afraid to sin against the plot, the main thing is to adhere to the chosen style. If you are literary gifted, try translating “Little Cap” into verse, rewriting it in the spirit of a Russian folk epic or a medieval theatrical farce...
“Where words are few, they carry weight” (William Shakespeare)
Exercise 3: Define the term
Take a dictionary and randomly point your finger at some terms. Now, without looking at the text of the book, try to define them. For example: “Marketing is activities aimed at studying the market in order to determine demand and potential supply.” Don't know the meaning of the word? No problem. Look at the definition given by the authors of the dictionary and try to remember. A good speaker learns throughout his life!
Exercise 4: Develop the Topic of the Speech
Write down the names of famous (or not so famous) books, plays, stories on cards. Imagine these are the topics of your speeches. Now try to write an introduction to a speech on this topic and sketch out an outline of what it could be. For example, your topics will be:
“War and Peace” (discussions about peace, war, conflicts, their causes, and so on);
“Crime and Punishment” (you can probably already guess what we can talk about here: the causes of crime, the possibility of softening/tightening the Criminal Code, statistics of serious crimes in Russia and abroad);
"Fathers and Sons";
"Mother";
"Much ado about nothing";
"Death of an Official";
"Inspector".
Exercise 5: Rewrite the phrase
Take any selection from the series “You Can’t Invent It on Purpose,” where they place “pearls” from school essays, police reports, office orders... Now try to rearrange these “pearls” so that they comply with the rules of logic and the Russian language. For example:
“Pechorin’s face had many features that were of interest to the opposite sex.” How can you rewrite this phrase “humanly”? Can you correct someone else's tongue-tiedness?
Find articles in newspapers or on the Internet whose authors consistently and logically defend a specific thought, idea, or theory. For example, they talk about the dangers of computer games for the younger generation or urge them to eat only green vegetables.
“True eloquence laughs at floridity, true morality laughs at moralizing” (Blaise Pascal)
Now try to write your own article that will refute these theses. Important: you are not at all obliged to actually disagree with the point of view expressed by your “absentee opponent”, but your task will be all the more interesting.
One more point: your arguments must still have a real basis that is adequate to the situation. That is, there is no need to write that computer games can help young people prepare for a possible alien invasion. Try to focus on those facts and arguments that your opponent did not take into account. For example, if the article talks about how virtual reality instills in children cruelty and a distorted perception of reality, counter: but parents should “educate” first of all! Why is the author trying to shift responsibility for the cruelty of children not to those who are directly responsible for them, but to game developers? (In this workshop, the use of “black rhetoric” is quite acceptable, so you can afford arguments, as they say, on the verge of a foul. But they still should not be divorced from reality).
Try your hand at a small experiment that was once quite popular among teachers who worked with future psychologists. Two groups of students, located in different rooms, were given the same photograph of the same person. Let's say a portrait of a man in a black jacket and gray cap.
One group was told: “In front of you is an insidious criminal, a cruel killer.
Do you think if you met this man on the street, would you be able to tell from his appearance and the way he dresses that this man is dangerous?” “Of course,” the students answered. — An addiction to black clothing reveals a gloomy, pathological personality. An indifferent facial expression indicates a lack of empathy; this person is incapable of compassion and normal feelings...” And so on.
“The main thing in oratory is that the art itself should be invisible” (Quintillian
To another group of students, the character in the photograph was presented as an exemplary family man, a talented scientist and a very kind person. The question was (you probably already guessed): “What features of this man’s appearance indicate his positive qualities?” Students said: “He likes dark clothes - it means he is a modest person, does not want to stand out from the crowd, and is not prone to shocking behavior. His face is calm, he is balanced and certainly pleasant to talk to.” The essence of the experiment was to show students how strongly our opinions are influenced by the “attitude” received from the outside.
Let's try to turn this experiment into an exercise. Take some photograph and try to first imagine the person depicted in it as a kind, bright person (and describe the photograph accordingly), and then as an insidious criminal and again find confirmation of your point of view. Your stories do not necessarily have to correspond to reality; it is important for you to demonstrate the ability to draw conclusions, persuade, and build logical conclusions - after all, the art of rhetoric is partly based on this.
There are a great many similar exercises. And if you want to improve your skills as a speaker, as a lecturer, then finding additional manuals and workshops will not be difficult.
Basic mistakes
When starting your training, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the main mistakes novice speakers make:
- Poor vocabulary. In this case, when speaking in front of an audience, you have to memorize the entire text. If words are suddenly forgotten, it is difficult to find a replacement for them.
- Words are parasites in speech. They are used when you can’t correctly express your thought or find the right word.
- Confused pace of speech. With such a problem, it is worth learning to control the speed of speech and pause on time.
- Uniformity of text. The real skill of a speaker is evidenced by the ability to use quotes, sayings and short stories. Quotes can be selected in advance in books.
- Inability to control oneself and increased nervousness. Breathing exercises will help to cope with this problem.
We hope our review will help you regularly improve your eloquence and improve your communication techniques. Only regular training will help you achieve great success.
