Fear of speaking has been rated one of the top fears together with death and snakes in most polls.
All of us would have made more than one speech in our working lives. Be it a work presentation, a toast, an acceptance speech or even officiating at an event as a master of ceremony.
Did you feel the anxiety in the run up to deliver the speech or presen- tation? Did you feel petrified when you were in front of the audience?
You are not alone. The fear of public speaking is real and common. Ernest Chen, an accomplished trainer and speaker on the art of public speaking, recognises an inherent need to help such speakers overcome their inadequacies in verbal communication.
Drawing from his experience of conducting hundreds of courses on public speaking regionally, he has written a very useful guide entitled “Earnestly Speaking” for anyone who wants to master the art of public speaking.
The book, first published in 2003, has sold thousands and a Mandarin version had just been published as well.
It is packed with loads of information. Chen leaves no stones unturned, reviewing topics from getting rid of stage fright and audience analysis to non-verbal communications and styles of presentation.
Some speakers can inject humour in their speeches with great aplomb. Others shun it for fear of not being able to deliver a strong punch line or make the audience laugh. The author has a chapter devoted to it – detailing how to use, create and develop humour.
An interesting chapter is success in using rhetorical techniques. Chen touches on the effects of figures of speech, idioms and clichés. He points out how speech writers have employed rhetorical devices such as figures of speech to convey their message and move their listen- ers.
An example highlighted is anaphora, or repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences ‒ “We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” said Winston Churchill.
Another example is antimetabole, or repetition of the same words in subsequent clauses with their grammatical order reversed ‒ “You can take the man out of the rough neighbourhood but you can’t take the rough neighbourhood out of the man,” said Thierry Henry on Zidane in 2006 after the World Cup.
A third example is tricolon, or a set of three descriptive words to describe something ‒ “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth,” said Abraham Lincoln.
In his zest to cover all bases, there are instances where Chen repeats the information in different chapters. Some fine tuning would be useful should the book go into a third reprint.
Overall, it is a gem of a book for all novice and experienced speakers.
Ernest will conduct a Power Presentation and Speaking course on April 13 and 14 at Waterloo Centre, Singapore. Interested partici- pants may call: +65-6327-7151 or e-mail: webmaster@trainershub.com
