Yup. Another thing I often tell novice speakers is to decide what they're going to do with their hands, because they're going to do something with them no matter what. (Clasping them behind one's back is safe and non-distracting, but some hand-gesture patterns are actually very useful for reinforcing the flow of narrative and steering audience response and worth learning.)
(1) ties into the adage "Say it strong, even if you're wrong." Speaking quietly only compounds the problem.
Yeah, I did toastmasters for about a year after I stopped doing speech therapy after my stroke, to give me some kind of structure for making up the gaps between what speech therapy treats (basically, going from anomic aphasia to baseline) and my actual desired performance target. (I stopped doing it when I got good enough that I could confidently start doing community theatre again.)
Results vary enormously, depending on which group you join, but the basic structure of "talk in public, get feedback, talk some more" works pretty well. The quality of the feedback is variable, natch. Still, if you're looking for a structured environment to practice public speaking in, I recommend it.
Yes, I have. It worked well for me.
How well it works depends on the club you join, and on the quality of feedback you receive. You would also be asked to give feedback, of course; learning how to give quality feedback is a very important toastmaster skill. (Concentrate on how it is said, more than what is said; make the criticism constructive; give praise where it is due, and it's virtually always due in at least one or two places; bear in mind the aim of the speech, and the experience of the speaker; encourage further speeches).
Not convinced about (1) -- if you are not sure, better to not say it than to say it loudly. But the general advice on speaking clearly and loudly definitely applies.
(2) applies equally to fiction and script writing. From Adaptation: "I'll tell you a secret. The last act makes a film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you've got a hit."
(3) applies equally to written missives and is the most useful and most ignored advice, just look at this site.
(4) -- your writeup of it left me cold, try using some of your own advice.
It's nice to see that, except for (4), your post follows its own advice.
The most important part of (1) is:
don't apologize for talking. Don't start with disclaimers
In parallel, if you make a mistake during speaking, don't spend any time apologizing during the speech.
The first man on the Moon was Buzz Aldrin. Oops. That's a stupid mistake, I'm so sorry - I haven't prepared as well as I'd like. Actually, the first man on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.
is strictly worse (in a speech) than:
The first man on the Moon was Buzz Aldrin. Oops. Neil Armstrong.
If I may add something to (2) (and (3), too) I'd say to be concise and not wander too far: keep the focus and don't waste time. Moreover I think that a contribution, let it be a comment or a main argument, is much more interesting if it's different from what it has been already said before. I often hear people asking questions or offering arguments that have shown up before, without providing any new insight. Basically you could say "Listen before you speak".
Thanks for writing this! Re: 2, I don't think I've ever really thought about how I'm going to end something I say when I say it, and that might be why I occasionally end up trailing off quietly at the end of y'know...
Which reminds me of another tip: avoid repeating "y'know" and filler tics like those over & over. (David Cross, i'm looking at you.)
That's one reason I suggest just trying to make sure your honest feelings come through. In the example I used:
One friend of mine was explaining a counterintuitive study in a fairly matter of fact way, but it was a lot more enjoyable and memorable to hear about if she shared her surprise at how it turned out. A lot of the time, it's simplest to just make sure you're letting your honest reactions to what you're saying come across.
Her even affect was actually camouflaging the content. People had to work harder to notice that the result was surprising because she was communicating that fact exclusively through language and not through intonation.
TL;DR, I offered and promised in the Post Request Thread a guide to the four highest value tips I know for doing public speaking. Here they are, with explanations below:
“I have only one word of advice to give you”“Give already”“That word is fortissimo… it’s Italian for loud. When in doubt, shout, that’s what I’m telling you.”“I should shout? Everyone will hear for sure how bad I am.”“But, my dear brother, if you sing loud and clear, it will be easier on the audience. You’re making it doubly hard on them. Hard to listen to and hard to hear.”
X is the main guy; he wants to do:Y is the bad guy; he wants to do:they meet at Z and all L breaks loose.If they don’t resolve Q, then R starts and if they do it’s L squared.
Ever notice how you always X when you'd really like to Y? So did I! I tried Z and it turned out to work, but I wasn't sure why! I poked around in the literature and found A,B, and C, which caused me to tweak my solution to Z' and now I Y all the time, and you can too!
Frustration: [Ever notice how you always X when you'd really like to Y?] Shared identity, all of us looking at the frustration together: [So did I!] I tried Z and it turned out to work, but pleased but perplexed: [I wasn't sure why!] I poked around in the literature and surprise, but increasing feeling of catharsis: [found A,B, and C, which caused me to tweak my solution to Z'] and triumph: [now I Y all the time], return of fellow feeling and pleasure at sharing something cool: [and you can too!]
But there's more you can add. One friend of mine was explaining a counterintuitive study in a fairly matter of fact way, but it was a lot more enjoyable and memorable to hear about if she shared her surprise at how it turned out. A lot of the time, it's simplest to just make sure you're letting your honest reactions to what you're saying come across.
But, if you're not sure what those are, or want to explore other options, you can try dividing what you're saying into beats. (Beats is a phrase used in theatre for subdivisions within scenes. In one conversation or story, the dominant emotional tone can change, and that transition is the start of a new beat). So, try dividing up your notes or your outline into sections and just experiment with the dominant tone for the section. Here's a reworking of the emotional beats in my teaching outline:
Sadness, regret: [Ever notice how you always X when you'd really like to Y?] Shame shared as vulnerability: [So did I!] I tried Z and it turned out to work, but tentative, a little uncertain: [I wasn't sure why!] I poked around in the literature and feeling of tinkering and assembly: [found A,B, and C, which caused me to tweak my solution to Z'] and peace, tranquility: [now I Y all the time], warmth, joy: [and you can too!]
Try looking at this list of some possible emotional tones, and see what it's like when you using them as you talk through your outline. Try reading wrong tones to a friend, to notice why they're wrong or to catch yourself if you were unnecessarily restricting your options. Sometimes tone can change a number of times in one passage (as in this marked up example), just pay attention to what prompts the shift. You can try picking a speech or a sentence that already exists, and reading it deliberately with different tones each time to get some practise and comfort using them.
So, if you work on these tips, people will be more comfortable listening to what you say (1), you'll open and close strongly (2), with a narrative arc that keeps you on track and makes your points memorable (3), and enough emotional variation to keep your audience engaged with you and your content (4). Huzzah!