Evaluation of oratory abilities
It is important to ascertain the presentation abilities of a person before trying to upgrade public speaking skills. This will give a fair idea on the strengths and weaknesses in the said area. This can be challenging, at the same time discomfiting. But one has to remember even the best known speakers in the world would have gone through several sessions with trainers and experts. One of the simplest methods is to record one of the meetings or presentations and listen to it objectively and ascertain the following:
1> Tone of voice, whether it is good to listen and commanding
2> Is the voice modulated or does it sound monotonous
3> Is the voice coherent and loud
4> Does it sound frighteningly loud
5> Does the volume drop suddenly to depict insecurity
This recording will also help determine the idiosyncrasies in your voice. One of the common idiosyncrasies could be to constantly repeat “the thing is” or “and so on and so forth”. These words/ phrases are known as fillers and are quite vexing to the audience. If you become conscious of the idiosyncrasies in your style of speech then you can take steps to correct them. A tape helps analyze if the voice gives away any emotions/ feelings of the speaker.
A video recording would be even better to critically examine your speaking abilities. This will give you an opportunity to check your appearance, gestures, facial expressions etc and once the mistakes are noticed you can take steps to correct them at the next opportunity.
