Collecting your thoughts before you speak

Public speaking - thinking before speaking
Being involved in public speaking and toastmastering has made me more self-aware about the processes that go on before I utter a single syllable in a group setting. You become more aware of how your mind reacts to the words and utterances of people around you as you participate in table-topics or when you are delivering a formal speech to a toastmasters audience.

Before I joined toastmasters, I thought public speaking was about dressing up nicely, rehearsing your presentation well and having slick powerpoint slides. These are important. Dressing has a visual impact on your audience and you should dress appropriately to the setting in which you speak. Rehearsing or practicising your speech is definitely a good thing to do and having effective powerpoint slides is also useful.

The real battle for mastery in public speaking is your thoughts or to structure WHAT you want to say into the HOW. This is the part where your brain has to work in over-drive because unless you are reading to an audience that is sleeping, you need to interact with them as a speech a means of communication, a way for your message to reach the audience and for them to receive that message and either be informed, be persuaded to do something or to change their views on something.

Thinking before speaking - your mental template
To think before you speak is easy. Our minds are filled with many random thoughts flickering around. The challenging bit is to structure your thoughts condusive to your speech.

In a formal speech scenario, that means a lot of preparation of writing out your speech, what are your main points, and how you intend to get those points across using the content, the words, the examples, illustrations and stories. It also involves your gestures and body language to communicate the message effectively to your audience.

In a table-topics or unstructured speaking scenario, that means to work with some mental templates on how you can respond to a topic or question. For instance, if the topic was about your views on something, you can respond by saying you feel positive, negative or are neutral about it and why. If it was about a development, you could comment on what had happened before, what was the current situation and what would be the future steps.

Adding on to what other people are saying is also a way to make use of the content already generated by the speakers and to develop interesting ways to look at things, to give additional information or even to ask questions to clarify or reframe the issue.

Being conscious of it all
My experience in toastmasters has been that being in speaking situations where all these skills are being put to the test makes you more aware of what goes on in your mind. It can go blank, it can wander of, it can be stressed in reacting to the situation. But through the delivering of 30 over speeches and countless table-topics, it has enabled me to be more aware of how my mind reacts to these situations and I could make the mistakes in the relative safety of familiar club members as I develop ways to respond with poise and control.

If you wish to be a better speaker and a more effective communicator, the ability to collect your thoughts before you speak is critical for you to succeed.

Speak well, live well.