How good is your public speaking?

How good is your public speaking?

Do you feel confident when you’re giving a talk or in an oral exam?

Do your oral presentations really grab the attention of your classmates and teachers, or do you detect signs of boredom?

Or worse, when you look them in the eye, do you get that awful feeling that they don’t understand what on earth you are talking about?

The first thing to do is to think about the way other people communicate.

What do you appreciate most in a talk?

Clarity, speed, their creativity, or their voice and facial expressions, their ability at telling a good story, or the fact that you, the listener, feel involved?

And what turns you off or gets on your nerves?

People speaking too loudly or too quietly or moving around too much while speaking?

People who don’t make eye contact or who always lose track of what they’re saying? Or people who mumble instead of speaking clearly … I’m sorry? People who mumble and don’t speak clearly … Or listening to someone talking about something funny or pleasant but who look and sound as if the family pet has just been run over?

When you have thought about all these positive and negative aspects, try to analyze your own communication skills and judge yourself by the same criteria.

If you are not yet aware of how good or bad you at communicating, you should start trying to observe yourself more closely.

With a video camera, tablet or smart phone record an oral presentation on a subject of your choice. Then watch yourself in action: in this way you will get a good idea of how well or badly you perform, and be able to start identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

Not so good, eh?