A speaker stands at the front of a room of colleagues, doesn’t make eye contact with audience members and no one understands what they are saying. The main points are lost, even if they are important, no one feels they learned enough. This idea demonstrates the importance of public speaking and why it shouldn’t be brushed off.
Standing in front of a group of people and speaking sounds like a pretty simple task, yet in 2014, public speaking was found to be the top fear in America. Public speaking can bring on a lot of anxiety for people and the situations can feel intense, but regardless, it is extremely important and very useful in personal and professional atmospheres. It can be a useful skill to educate, persuade or entertain. and there are strategies for moving past the anxiety it brings. Speaking in public is a tool that demonstrates confidence, knowledge and the interest of others.
The importance of public speaking comes down to being able to express thoughts and keep an audience engaged with words and at times visuals. When watching or listening to a TED Talk, people wouldn’t feel as impacted or informed if someone wasn’t speaking to them with a sense of confidence and knowledge.
There can be different motives behind giving a speech, and the audience and situation have a lot to do with it. Three forms of speeches include informative, persuasive and entertaining. An informative speech can teach the audience about a topic and educate a larger number of people. It also allows for the speaker to share their knowledge or expertise. There are also persuasive speeches, which are a way to convince others of an idea or action. Persuasive speeches could leave a lasting impact on the audience and allow them to self-reflect. Lastly, there are the kinds of speeches meant to entertain. A performance or speech at a ceremony could fall into the entertaining category. It could lift a crowd up and be heartfelt as well. If done properly, each of these speeches could impact others and no matter the purpose of a speech, an audience wants to understand and feel the need to listen.
Public speaking is a largely feared action that most people have to do. This means there needs to be ways to make it a little easier. It's good to note that if it's such a popular fear, then at least a couple of people in the audience are likely as scared to do it as the person speaking to them. When giving a speech there are some tools to use in order to feel more prepared. A few include being organized and planning ahead as much as possible, as well as breathing exercises to calm down. Public speaking classes are also good training for future job experience.
Public speaking can be a terrifying concept, but its importance outweighs that. It is a huge aspect of being a good leader and being heard in general. If someone can speak in a clear and confident manner then it is more likely that people will show interest in their words. People can learn more from each other if everyone is able to share their thoughts and knowledge clearly.
Kyra Dapore is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Kyra know by emailing her at kd364521@ohio.edu.
