- There are many similarities and a few differences
between public speaking and regular conversation.
When I think about my presentations
as if they are conversations,
it gives me much more confidence,
and I think it can help you gain confidence as well.
When I first started teaching public speaking
many years ago, I used a really popular book
called the Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas.
The book author compares and contrasts
presentations with everyday conversations
that you have had thousands of times.
And I've shared these same ideas with corporate clients.
And I always see people instantly relax about it.
They realize that they can use what they already know
about communication and build on those skills
when you're making your presentations.
So I'll share the exact points from Lucas's book,
and I'll give my own examples
and tell me in the comments sections
that if by the end of the video,
you already believe you have
some important communication skills
that you didn't realize you had before.
Similarities first, both public speaking
and conversation have organized and logical thoughts.
When you're having a conversation with a friend,
you will usually talk about a topic for a while,
and then at some point in the conversation,
you transition to a different topic.
I was out to breakfast and coffee
with a friend the other day,
and for a few minutes, we followed this pattern.
We talked about some of his writing projects
that he's been working on,
and then we talked about his new job.
A few minutes later,
we talked about some of my writing projects.
We did jump around a little bit
because it was a conversation, but for the most part,
there were clear and organized chunks in that conversation.
And public speaking is the same way.
We have main points,
we talk about point one and after a few minutes,
we transitioned to point two and so forth.
So both public speaking and conversation
are organized to various degrees
around certain topics or points.
Second, for both conversation and public speaking,
we tailor our message to our audience.
We customize what we say
depending upon who we're talking to.
If I'm talking to my friend at a coffee shop,
I will adjust my message so that it connects
with his interest to some degree.
If I'm not talking to my mother on the phone,
I might even talk about some of the same ideas,
but I would express them slightly differently,
so they connect more easily with her interests.
Most of the time,
we don't even realize that we're doing this,
we're having a conversation and we just naturally adjust
and adapt to the other person.
And we do the same thing in public speaking,
or at least we should.
I teach communication skills and leadership skills
to college students,
but I also teach them to corporate clients.
And depending upon who I'm talking to in a presentation,
I will adjust my message to their interests,
their different ages,
where they are and the different places
in their professional lives
and the different pressures they have.
And with a little bit of thought,
I can dial in what I'm saying more specifically,
so that it speaks to their situation.
So whether it's a conversation or a presentation,
we tailor our message to our listeners.
Third, we tell stories for a maximum impact.
When I was out to breakfast with my friend the other day,
we both told numerous stories about
what's been going on in our lives.
We don't just spit out facts and bullet points,
we talk conversationally and in a narrative way,
and you'll notice that good public speakers
do the same thing, they are storytellers.
In fact, I'm doing it right now.
I'm telling you about some experiences I had over breakfast.
That's a story, it's true in public speaking situation.
We might polish up our stories a little bit
and make sure they get to the point,
but the fundamentals are the same.
We tell stories from maximum impact.
Fourth, we adapt to listeners' feedback.
If I'm in a conversation with my son or with my wife
and they have a confused look on their face, I adapt,
I try to explain it in a different way.
I use an example, I demonstrate what I mean.
Good public speakers do this too.
When your listeners are nodding along and smiling,
this feedback tells you that you're on track,
but if they look confused in their faces,
or if they're asking each other questions,
that's feedback that I would adjust to,
I might ask them if they have a question
or I might see that look on their face
and try a different explanation
to see if it makes more sense to them.
And the point of looking at these four clear similarities
between conversation and public speaking
is to hopefully build your confidence,
that public speaking is not an entirely new skill for you.
You have communication skills that you've been doing
your whole life in conversations that you can build on.
Now, let's talk about some of the differences.
This will help you make further improvements
on your public speaking.
And we'll talk about the three differences
that Stephen Lucas talks about in his book.
The main theme that I see in these three differences
can be summed up with the word polish.
First, public speaking is more highly structured.
I mentioned earlier that both conversation
and presentations are organized and logical,
but when you're preparing for a public speaking message,
we typically are more deliberate about our structure.
For example, most presentations have
an introduction, body and conclusion.
And within each of those parts,
we usually make sure we hit specific points.
You often hear public speakers
use signposts like first, second, third,
so your audience can keep track.
Now we don't do that in a conversation
because we're there mainly
to build connections and relationship.
In a presentation, there's a lot more information
and content that we need to pack in
so that every sentence adds value
and it can be overwhelming.
So it's even more important
to stay organized as the speaker.
So we're more highly structured in presentations
for the benefit of our listeners.
The second difference is that public speaking
typically requires more formal language.
For giving a speech that's designed
to inform our listeners for example,
then we're likely to have specific terminology
and concepts that we're trying to convey.
In a conversation, we might use
lots of slang or informal expressions,
in presentation, we might be speaking
to a professional audience
and we would probably polish up our language a little bit
to make sure it fits that situation.
In most cases, we work this out naturally,
as we prepare our content and practice several times.
We tend to find the right words as we prepare
and look for ways to make our message stick.
And the third difference is that public speaking
requires a different method of delivery.
Public speaking usually involves standing up
in front of a room, I might dress a little nicer,
I might speak a little louder
so my voice projects to the back of the room,
I stand up a little straighter.
I'm always a little more conscious of filler words,
like, um, you know.
It seems that standing up in front of people
is the primary ingredient that makes people more nervous.
That's one of the reasons why I practice
presentations at home with this approach to delivery,
almost like it's a dress rehearsal.
At home, I wear professional clothes,
I stand up as I practice, I project my voice,
I pretend that I'm talking to a group.
And when I finally show up on the day,
I just give that presentation one more time.
And that practice really reduces my anxiety,
and makes me feel more confident.
Now you can tell me in the comment section below,
if you already feel better
about your public speaking potential after watching this,
you have lots of communication skills
that you've developed in thousands
of your previous conversations.
You can use these skills in your public speaking
and build on this foundation
just by adding a little bit more polish.
Thanks for sticking around to the end,
God bless, I will see you next time.