As a communication expert, people often ask me what the most powerful form of communication is. The answer to that question is, without a doubt, public speaking. The power of public speaking lies in the realisation that it enables us to encourage a large number of people in a very short period of time to make certain changes in how they feel, think and act. Ever since the development of the early civilisations, and especially in the period of ancient Greece and Rome, people have been aware of the power of speaking in front of a large group of people. Not only were they aware of that, but they were also responsible for writing some of the most important rhetorical works of that time which can be used as excellent guidelines for public speaking even today. On the other hand, we are still failing to use public speaking opportunities, such as business presentations, conference presentations or public speaking in general, in the most effective way which would enable us to really take words into our own hands and encourage our audience to make changes that we would like to bring about.
When preparing for any public speaking act, it is important to always keep in mind that storytelling, audience persuasion and transformation are the three key processes. The aforementioned processes are crucial for allowing public speaking to reach its full potential as the most important form of communication. However, it is important to know how to use these processes, so that each of our public speaking acts would really encourage the audience to make changes.
Every public speaking act should be based on a story. The story is the first form of communication that was developed by humankind. We have used stories to share and exchange our experiences, feelings, and our ways of understanding the world. What emerged from stories later were myths, which were used to develop entire ideologies as bases of social arrangements. We have always been programmed for story-based communication. This is something we use even today. For us, storytelling is the most natural way of receiving and conveying information, developing feelings and empathy, and forming attitudes, that is, developing influences that we have on each other.
Persuasion is the very technique that is used in public speaking. Persuasion is the most effective way to articulate ideas, visions, suggestions, and work results with the aim of providing understanding and support, in order to inspire and motivate others to act a certain way. When we use the persuasion technique in public speaking, we have a unique opportunity to transform the audience not only into supporters, but also advocates of our ideas, visions, or suggestions in a short period of time, and thus encourage changes we want to see in our business community or society. So, let us look at the three key steps in preparing for a public speaking act in order to understand how to manage its power in the most effective way.
First of all, profile your audience
In order to encourage our audience to act a certain way, we must know who we are speaking to first. If you have no idea who you are speaking to, there is no way of knowing if the things that you are saying and the way you are communicating are relevant for your audience or if this is the best way of influencing your audience. Therefore, you should try to create the best possible analysis of your audience’s profile and find the things you have in common with your audience, that is, common ground. In preparation for your public speaking act, make sure to explore what the audience’s current take is on the topic of your presentation, you as the speaker and the organisation that you are representing. Furthermore, think about the audience’s experiences so far and what its needs are in relation to the topic, in order to answer the questions that each member of the audience may ask themselves: “What’s in it for me? Why am I listening to this presentation? Can I trust this person/organisation?” These are all reasonable questions.
But what is it that people want to hear? The answer is quite simple! Most often they want to hear about the things that mean something to them, understand the purpose of what is being said, experience and find their role in it and belong to a community that understands them and that shares their beliefs, which makes this organisation trustworthy. Harry Emerson Fosdick, one of the greatest preachers of the last century, once said: “There is nothing that people are so interested in as themselves, their own problems, and the way to solve them. That fact is basic. It is the primary starting point of all successful public speaking….” Whether it is a benefit or interest that can be achieved if the audience listens to you, or a clear purpose or a broader picture, usability, development perspective or any content of your presentation, you will best detect it by profiling your audience.
Second of all, identify the change that you want to encourage in your audience
After profiling your audience, in the next step you must focus on detecting the transformation that your audience must go through in order for the desired change to happen. Is it a change of a certain belief, a change in attitude and / or a change of some pattern of behaviour?
The persuasion process starts with the very insight into the change that must be encouraged in the audience. That is why it is primarily important to detect which way of thinking and behaving you are moving away from and which way of thinking and behaving you want to move towards. In relation to these insights, choose the arguments that you want to use and which rhetorical figures you want to employ to strengthen their relevance, highlight their interesting points and increase their memorability. Share your vision with your audience, as well as the reason you believe in it, and the benefits that the change that you want to encourage in your audience will bring about.
The identification of the change that you want to encourage your audience to make is the very key to success of your public speaking acts.
Third of all, tell the story that your audience wants to belong to
If that story does not have anything to do with your audience, the members of the audience will not listen to what you have to say. What makes a certain story a good and interesting one is the fact that anyone can relate to it. Create a story that each member of the audience can relate to and wants to be a part of. Let the audience find its purpose in your story and see how it can benefit from it. Then, make the audience the hero of your stories by assigning a certain role to it and informing it about the power that it holds. Answer the audience’s questions of what they should feel, think and how they should act in order to use this power and help in the realisation of the indicated change.
I am convinced that these three steps will help you prepare for your future public speaking acts and that the next time you take words into your own hands, you will encourage the audience to make changes. But, before you do that, follow the words of Mahatma Gandhi and “be the change you wish to see in the world.”