Studying in college is both challenging and rewarding. On the one hand, you constantly feel overwhelmed with tons of assignments, urgent tasks, lectures, and workshops and can barely schedule some free time for yourself. Still, on the other hand, you have a chance to acquire new knowledge, learn and polish the skills that may come in handy in your blogging career. We expect that after reading our article you’ll start viewing your homework, speech writing in particular, as an opportunity for self-improvement.
Blogger students often complain of their hectic college life, but few realize that their alma maters can provide them with tools and techniques necessary for their personal and professional development. When writing essays, conducting research, and undertaking group projects, student develop and polish their problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills. At college, students also learn to intelligently and freely express their thoughts both orally and in writing. Participation in class discussions and conferences help young learners become more confident and eloquent public speakers capable of engaging their audience and keeping their attention. All those skills, as you see, are indispensable for a successful blogger you strive to become. But it’s not only academic writing that may helps an ambitious student blogger hone the skills and improve your abilities. Intrigued? Then go on reading.
The Power of Speech
Students are often asked to create and deliver speeches in front of their class, and for good reason. As we’ve noted, this helps learners develop eloquence, power to influence people, and ability to maintain composure in stressful situations. Speech writing can help you share the most important ideas and intimate thoughts (if you feel like doing so, of course). As soon as you learn to win over your audience you’ll be able to rule the world. Exactly what an effective blogger needs!
If you were assigned such a responsible task as speech writing, you may either hire professional speech writers or give your creativity a shot and craft an effective speech by yourself. Should the latter be the case, you may want to know what common mistakes students make when delivering their speech and how to avoid them in your speech.
#1 Forgetting About Audience
When writing your speech, you should always think about those people you intend to reach. It’s crucial that your message be tailored to address the needs of your listeners. The biggest mistake you can make, as a public speaker, is give generic, abstract presentations instead of focusing on the things and ideas that may truly resonate with your audience. Not to end up being frustrated after delivering an unsuccessful speech, be sure to ask yourself who your audience is and how they can benefit from your message. It’s also a good idea to try to predict their reaction to your message. So, thing about how you want your listeners to react to what you’ve said when drafting your speech. In other words, the better you know your audience, the better the chance that you’ll succeed as a public speaker.
#2 Failure to Maintain Eye Contact
Another mistake many speakers make is fail to maintain a meaningful eye contact with those people they address. It may be your internal anxiety, tension, or lack of experience that make you avoid looking your listeners in the eye when delivering your speech. Still, your audience may take your wandering gaze for reluctance to reach out to them or, even worse, arrogance, insincerity, and shiftiness. Therefore, you need to visually connect to the people you’re talking to. Make sure to make pauses to give your listeners some time to think over what has been said and evaluate their reaction. Try to maintain sustained eye contact with as many people as possible. Show them you truly care.
#3 Being Lackadaisical
If there is one thing that may alienate your audience even more than the absence of eye contact is your failure to exhibit your enthusiasm and interest in the process of delivering your speech. Dull facial expression, monotone voice, and lack of expressive gesticulation are the most disliked features in speakers. Be lively when talking to people. Smile, move naturally, nod, shrug your shoulders, clap, and don’t be afraid to be funny when delivering your speech. Getting listeners to laugh or at least smile is a considerable step towards winning over them. Thus, you’ll be able to connect with your listeners and capture their attention.
#4 Reading From Slides
Slides can be very helpful tools wherewith you can back up or reinforce your argument or point of view. Still, the common mistake speakers make is using them as summary of their main points. We strongly recommend that you refrain from giving your listeners the same information verbally and visually. Let your slides present so graphs, images, or pictures that illustrate your arguments rather than echo them.
#5 Not Inspiring
A good speech is the one that can appeals to both your head and heart. Unfortunately, lots of students tend to forget about that when crafting their speeches. Don’t make the same mistake. Make sure to spare enough room for pathos. Presenting facts and persuading your audience that you’re right shouldn’t be your only goal. Inspire emotions in your listeners! Make them laugh, frown, or cry. Elicit their compassion and sympathy. If you manage to balance facts with feelings, your message will be more impactful, and your listeners will remember more of your speech.
We sincerely hope your tips will help you not only come up with an effective speech but also become one of the world’s top student bloggers.
Original post: Mistakes Bloggers Should Avoid When Delivering a Speech
* This article was originally published here