With great honor I present Hammed, who coaches leadership, career & inspirational speaking. Eloquently delivering expert points about speaking to live audiences. From fundraising to changing a nation, Hammed is beyond brilliant. In his own words on Public Speaking and a link to “Philosophy of Self Mastery” Hammed Kayode Alabi!
Basic Ingredients for Effective Public Speaking
On many occasions, you might have been asked to deliver a speech, prepared or impromptu or you have been asked to give a two minute talk about an issue, to talk to boards meetings, preside over meetings, defend a project, pitch an idea or give informal speeches ar rare events.
The, it becomes a problem, you are scared and it seems to you that the audience are Lion trying to eat you up.
You feel like the ground should swallow you, you begin to shiver, your voice trembles and everything looks like an illusion. [It is!]
I guess if you have felt like this before, or you are still feeling this way, you are in the right place and I will be taking you through the things you need to know to become an effective speaker.
Here are some of the facts I share with people:
- You are not unique in your fear of speaking to public. I want yo to know that all great public speakers fear before they speak.
- A certain amount of stage fright is useful
- Stage fright persists through few sentences of talk
- The chief cause of your fear of public speaking is simply that you are unaccustomed to speaking in public. So the best way is to get a chance to speak in public as soon as possible.
I recall speaking in my early years, I have problem with tense and pronunciation. I kept developing myself. Watching Videos and listening to other speakers, such as: Steve jobs, Chimamanda Adichie, Barack Obama, Les Brown. Look at their videos, listen to their speeches.
One thing I learned about these speakers in their uniqueness. We all have our own uniqueness.
If you keep looking to be perfect, you may never be a good public speaker.
You have to be true to yourself and work every day towards perfecting your act.
Another thing is to own your space and speak your truth!
Public speaking is an art and it’s a conversation between two people. “So, just converse and enjoy it.”
I recall while I was defending my project at the university, I had the best presentation. Everyone were reading from their notes or paper; I read off hand. I knew it was a conversation. My project lies around sports injuries and Career prospect. So I shared a story of a female basketball player, who happened to be my neighbour and that was how I stood out. She was prospective national basketball player but couldn’t continue due to a knee injury.
The hall became silent and I took control!
Always remember that you have the mic, learn to speak your truth. You should always understand that what you have and what you know is what is currently needed.
So Talk! Keep Talking!
Another instance, was where I was asked to pitch about my organization in just one minute, using statistics, sharing my experience relating to that project.
My speech:
“9 out of 10 find it difficult to discover their purpose in our community.
I see secondary school students drop out from school and live less meaningful lives.
How great would it be if these students, rather than dropping out could connect the classroom with the practical world?
How great would it be that these students could create products using disruptive technology right from the classroom? It would be great to see children and I develop relevant skills in the classroom and create initiatives.
This is what we are doing at Kayfactor Leadership and Career Academy.
Helping secondary school student to connect their classroom with the practical world by equipping them with life skills. I am Hammed Kayode Alabi. Thank you!”
I had the best pitch and I could experience applause; I was delighted!
Lesson here: “Keep it short and Simple.”
Be unique! Others started with introduction. I introduced myself last.
Well, that involves taking a risk and also mastering your act.
To end this, I would like to share some tips that work for me:
- Prepare beforehand and prepare in a proper way. Often I speak to myself talking about different issues or specific topics I will be presenting.
- Never try to memorize a talk word for word
- Arrange your ideas beforehand. You may write your thoughts on a paper. This may come in form of bullets or nuggets.
- Rehearse your talk with your friends. I could recall speaking to a friend before making my University Project defend.
- Smile before making your presentation, it gives you an easy ride and makes the audience convenient.
- Know your audience. When you are speaking to different groups, you may have a use of different examples. You may also have to control your voice. There are times you go high and times you go low.
When you talk to a special group, use a strong voice; e.g. Secondary School Students.
Are you also talking to adults or children? Are you talking to people in your community or outside your community? Are you talking to people from diverse background and international community? The way you talk to this different set of people differs. Again, know your audience!
7. Speak to the pain point of the people. What they can feel and experience.
8. Predetermined your mind to success ( Lose yourself in your subject)
9. Keep yourself off negative stimuli that may upset you.
10. Be confident.
Know that public speaking involves a lot of practice.
You may have to speak and speak before you arrive at your own method and uniqueness of speaking.
You may have to record yourself and look out for corrections. You may also request for feedback from colleagues.
Always remain Confident!
Speak your truth and sometime add your story to the speech. Understand the subject matter. Know when to stop and sometime all you need is to keep it short and simple. Ultimately, do not feel bad for your talk or speech. There is always room for improvement.
Hammed has created mind training modules to help people live a meaningful and successful life. He is a specialist in reorientation and liberation of the mind, and found of Kayfactorinspires, an inspirational blog helping people rekindle their lost voice. Hammed started teaching a the age of 15, wanting to see a world where young people connect the classroom with the practical world. He was selected, to lead over 400 young African Leaders that participated in the First African Youth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit in Accra, Ghana. Adding more venture, he volunteers with Graciella Foundation in Nigeria, “For the Girl Child.” Educating and Sensitizing on Rape, Vision, Leadership and Character Building. Hammed can be reached for consultations at: LinkedIn, or HammedEmail.
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