Shooting From the Hip
There is a style of public speaking that absolutely terrifies a lot of people. But when you see a public speaker speak extemporaneously, it is one of the most relaxed and easy to digest forms of public presentation it is. Now, to drop the fifty cent word, to speak extemporaneously means to speak without notes. In other words, pure extemporaneous speaking is done entirely without preparation and is done completely "from the hip" so to speak.
There are variations, however, on pure extemporaneous speaking. But if you can adapt to a more extemporaneous style, your presentation will benefit tremendously. Because people speaking directly from their minds to their audiences do not need notes, a podium or any helps at all, the level of eye contact and audience interaction is improved tremendously. Freed from being tied to a podium and an outline, you can wander free around the stage and even into the audience and speak to them almost face to face. That kind of physical motion will grab an audience's attention and keep them fascinated with what you are doing for as long as the talk goes on.
But don't be deceived by thinking that a extemporaneous speech is rambling and has no structure whatsoever. One reason that many very seasoned public speakers go to it is they are capable of capturing and holding the outline of their talk in their minds and speaking from that outline without the aid of notes. This kind of ability does not just come naturally. To be able to be relaxed enough in front of a crowd to not only speak spontaneously but also to do so while following an outline carried in the mind takes experience and the self confidence that comes with practice.
Giving an extemporaneous talk is equivalent to improv in the theater world. But that doesn't mean that a speaker who appears to be speaking without preparation is speaking without preparation. Often it means that what you are seeing is the result of extensive preparation. Many times extemporaneous speaking means that speaker carefully wrote and prepared that talk to have the appearance of spontaneity. Then he or she became so familiar with that outline that it could be delivered completely without prompting.
This is more than just memorization. Memorization implies that the talk must be given word for word as it was written and in exact order. A memorized speech would come unraveled if the speaker lost his or her place because of an interruption. But an extemporaneous speaker can be interrupted, take questions and even scramble that presentation because that level of familiarity with the talk is so complete that he or she literally lives and breaths what is being presented.
So, is it worth the extra work to learn to speak by "shooting from the hip"? It absolutely is. For one this, to be able to speak extemporaneously is the pinnacle of public speaking skills. When you see such a speaker on television or in a public setting, it may seem that he or she is making it up on the spot. What you are really witnessing is the Oscar level of skill and ability on display in a public speaking. Anyone who strives for the best can set extemporaneous speaking as a goal.
But more importantly, being able to speak to a group in this manner is such a higher quality of presentation that you as a speaker will not only have more fun, you will see a higher level of response from your audience. If you are teaching, they will learn better. If you are trying to sell, greater sales. If you are speaking to amuse, more laughs. So for no other reason than to see such improved outcome from the work you put in to public speaking, learn to speak extemporaneously. The rewards are tremendous.
PPPPP
Word Count 648
|
Becoming Larger Than Life To say that there is no ego in a person who does public speaking regularly or ...
read more
Create a Problem and Then Solve It How well your presentation goes the next time you step up to a ...
read more
Deer in the Headlights People who make their living researching what frightens people the most have made a pretty amazing ...
read more
Don't Fear the Pause If you listen to experienced speakers, it's easy to see some real differences in how they ...
read more
Effectively Using PowerPoint The software application PowerPoint has been a revolution in public speaking particularly in the business world. PowerPoint ...
read more
Give Them a Bit of You There is a good reason that public speaking is a superior method of presenting ...
read more
How to Write a Speech You cannot excel at public speaking without a good speech. If you are asked to ...
read more
If you Like Them, They Will Like You When you see experienced public speakers, sometimes it seems they can cast ...
read more
Illustrate, Illustrate Illustrate When a speaker loses an audience, too often it is a mystery to him. But for the ...
read more
It's all in the Voice Maybe one of the most common occurrences that happens in a public speaking situation is ...
read more
Maintaining Focus in Public Speaking A public speaking situation can be intimidating for even the most seasoned of public speaking ...
read more
Make Them Laugh In the delightful Broadway musical "Singing in the Rain", there is a song called "Make em Laugh" ...
read more
Making a Living as a Public Speaker The wonderful dearly departed comic Chris Farley had a character that was a ...
read more
Marketing by not Marketing Many times local civic organizations look for experts from various businesses to come and give a ...
read more
Public Speaking Means Never Saying "I'm Sorry" In the romantic movie, "Love Story", a phrase about love was introduced that ...
read more
Public Speaking Quirks We all have our little vocal style that makes us unique. How often have you heard someone ...
read more
Put Some Snap Into It. The difference between a public speaking presentation that bores you to tears and one that ...
read more
Reading to an Audience Public speaking is counterintuitive. That is to say what your intuition tells you is a good ...
read more
Shooting From the Hip There is a style of public speaking that absolutely terrifies a lot of people. But when ...
read more
Speak With More Than Your Voice There is a bit of a misperception about the phrase "public speaking". The misperception ...
read more
Tell Them Something They Don't Know When an author is trying to come up with a topic for his next ...
read more
The Greatest Public Speaking Secret of them All Any guide to success in an endeavor will tell you that there ...
read more
What's Your Problem? How you approach that moment when you stand up to give a speech depends a lot on ...
read more
When Things Don't Go as Planned One of the greatest fears we face when speak in front of a crowd ...
read more
Where to Look When You Speak When you are giving a presentation or speech, your body language and how you ...
read more
|
|
|
Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Shooting From the Hip. In practical advice websites,
like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made.
Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|