10 Essential Characteristics of a Good Speaker
Educational speakers are very relevant in every professional event that is conducted, especially now during webinars. What they are doing may seem to be simple, as they just speak in front of you, but it isn’t as easy as it appears to be. Of course, everyone can be a speaker. But being just a speaker is solely different from being an educational speaker whose purpose is to give information without boring the audience, relate the topic or issues to your experiences, and entertain your audience. There are a lot of considerations to look at to consider yourself or a person qualified to be an educational speaker.
Let’s start off with:
1. Experience
- To be a good educational speaker, you need to have the credentials which most likely should be related to the topic that will be tackled at the event. You need to at least have the degree that may have a connection or relation to the topic. Or maybe a job experience to further support your credentials. Experience is very important as this will be the basis of the speech that you will share with your audience.
2. Has Good Communication Skills
- To be able to fully convey your message, your intention, and your speech, you need to practice and have good communication skills. Your diction, tone of voice, and speed of talking should sync with each other to make your speech heartfelt rather than it appearing as memorized.
3. Careful in His/Her Choice of Words
- A good speaker should also be considerate of his/her audience. The speaker should always consider the question “What are they gonna feel or how will the audience respond to what I am saying?”. It is important to consider their feelings as we want to encourage, not hurt the feelings of the audience.
4. Can Entertain the Audience
- A good speaker should also maintain the vibe of the speech. If he was able to catch their attention from the start, he should be able to maintain it throughout. He should find ways not to bore them.
5. Is Not Full of Himself
- When the speaker is talking, he should not just brag about his achievements. Being proud is different from being boastful. The audience didn’t come to the event to just listen to the speaker’s achievements but rather, to listen to the speaker’s tips on how to be as successful as he is.
6. Presents a Speech that is not too Lengthy nor Short
- The speech should also tackle enough information that will provide the audience with the sufficient information they need. The speech should not be too long because it will bore the audience once again. It should not be too short as well because if that is so, they can just opt to search for the answers or tips on Google.
7. Passionate
- The speaker should be passionate about what he is doing. That way, the audience will really believe what he is saying. A burning passion that can be felt by the audience can encourage them as well to work hard like how you did and said.
8. Empathetic
- A good speaker should also be empathetic. As mentioned above, experience is important. When the speaker is empathetic from his own experiences, he can be able to relate the topic from his own experience as well as to how he sees society right now.
9. Inspirational, Motivational and Encouraging
- Apart from humor or presenting formally, the speaker should also make himself and his speech an inspirational, motivational, and encouraging one. His goal is to inspire people from his experience, motivate them to strive better, and encourage them to not give up.
10. Good Listener
- Lastly, he should be a good listener. If the audience wants to ask some follow-up questions in regards to what he said, he should listen to them and let them ask the questions they have in their mind. They lent their ears to you when you spoke earlier so it’s time for you to lend your ears to them in their turn.
A good listener isn’t somehow measured with the various awards that he acquired. It’s more about the experience, the attitude, and the traits that will reflect on his speech, on the way he talks and communicates with his audience.
