The Key To Confidence

To learn to speak well in public is a valuable skill. There are a number of exercises one can practice to become an excellent public speaker.

The prospective public speaker should memorize and recite the beginnings, climaxes and endings of great orations until they become thoroughly familiar. He will be encouraged to note how certain sentences, phrases and words may be used many times, being combined a little differently in each speech. Demosthenes as well as other famous Greek orators followed the same practice. Demosthenes had a book containing fifty or more stock perorations, climaxes, beginnings, endings, anecdotes, illustrations and form paragraphs which he used repeatedly throughout even his greatest orations, though often with suitable variations.

The same general plan is admirably adapted to the modern speaker. A familiarity with the principles of public speaking should not be left to clergymen, lawyers, statesmen, professors, lecturers and politicians only, since every one may be sure that someone it will be greatly to his advantage to be able to speak distinctly, to the purpose, gracefully, and with genuine fire.

Those engaged in different trades, professions and departments of commerce have organizations for the protection and promotion of their respective vocations, and practically these associations have become debating societies, reaching conclusions and forming rules which cannot be ignored by those whose business interests are involved.

The doctor is often summoned to testify in court, perhaps he is associated with the faculty of some medical college, where he is called upon to lecture. The business man is frequently placed upon educational committees; the farmer called upon at agricultural meetings; the employee to explain business affairs to his employer; in fact, there is no position in life that cannot be benefited and advanced by a knowledge of public speaking.

An excellent exercise is that of paraphrasing, translating written thought into one's own words as rapidly as possible. This can be applied to popular poems and public speeches. It can be done orally and with as much vigor and variety of voice utterance as the subject would naturally suggest.

Paraphrasing has stood the test of time and its regular practice will do more to increase mental activity than any other exercise. It is an aid to clear expression, improves the phraseology and increases the vocabulary, and fluency in speaking can be acquired in no better way.

To paraphrase an idea is to express the same meaning in different words. It was Lincoln's favorite method.

While reading aloud, for every adjective, noun and adverb that occurs, substitute a synonym. Read aloud a sentence, close the eyes and write the sentence as remembered. When the mind fails in recollection do not have recourse to the book, but substitute an equivalent for the word or phrase forgotten, taking care to make sense of the passage as a whole; the effort of the brain to recall the last word, and in the event of a failure to do so the substitution of an equivalent constitutes the exercise.

Acquire the habit of listening critically to the best speakers, noting the words particularly when the climax is reached and the speaker's emotions are deeply stirred; afterward try to reproduce the speech in your own words.

Using the above simple methods, the ability to speak well in public will become second nature. No skill is more valuable.

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