On Public Speaking

Yesterday, I attended a memorial service of a significant leader of our time. That person was dear to millions and had impacted the lives of tens of millions with his lifelong legacy of service. The gathering had attracted people from all over his institution and their families. And as with any gathering of this sort, there were speeches to commemorate his life. I believe there were 5 speakers, but only two of them made a mark, with the rest, one couldn’t wait for them to be done with their prepared speeches, and here’s why.

When we are addressing a crowd, often we forget what the purpose of that opportunity is. It’s not to impress people with your use of language. It’s not to score points. It’s to communicate an idea and a feeling. Once you start speaking, the crowd cares less about how you’re dressed or the words you use. They care more about how sincerely you speak your truth. In the example I just gave from yesterday, this task should’ve been easy. There was so much love and shared memories to speak about yet most people focused on making their words flowery and as a result, they ended up losing the sincerity they were intended to deliver.

A simple rule of thumb I have figured for public speaking is first to distill your ideas down to a few points. Naturally, the fewer the minutes, the fewer points you should add to your list. Then like any good experience, ease into your speech by introducing to the audience why you’re addressing them today. And then once you’ve made your points ease out of it — I still struggle with the last part. To make all of this impactful, try and be as honest as you can with your emotions. Feel your emotions and communicate them through your words. No need to overplay or downplay them. Just be honest! Simple. The crowd is there to listen to you, you don’t need to impress them. Nothing connects with people like the truth.

This is just a simple hack I have learned about public speaking from the opportunities I have had now and then to address a crowd. The above will make you fearless. You will worry less about people’s perceptions or how big the crowd is, who is in the crowd, etc. It wouldn’t matter if you are speaking to one person or one thousand.

In any case, the world can do with more truth and fewer performances, the performances can be saved for theater or films.