"Finding Your Public Speaking Style " by Eugene K

     One of the most daunting aspects of participating in Model United Nations is public speaking. Most delegates are filled with anxiety and fear when it comes to speaking in front of their peers, nonetheless absolute strangers. As the president of our school’s Model United Nations (MUN) club and a participant of MUN for six years now, I would like to believe that I am somewhat good at public speaking and for this reason, I would like to extend to you some tips on public speaking that may help to ease your anxiety when speaking in front of others.
     To begin, let us divide the topic of “Public Speaking” into two aspects: Sight and Sound. We’ll begin with sight. Now when it comes to “sight” during public speaking, it is absolutely imperative that you maintain eye contact with your audience throughout the duration of your presentation. By maintaining eye contact with your audience, you are able to display confidence to your audience as well as retain their attention. However, most speakers find it to be very uncomfortable and stressful when they have to look directly into the eyes of their audience. If you are one of the people that feel this way, I would recommend for you to look at the foreheads of your audience instead. This allows for you to avoid the awkward eye contact that most people dread while simultaneously making it seem like you are looking directly into the eyes of your audience members. Another tip to consider would be preparing brief notes rather than an entire dissertation. This is a common tip amongst public speakers and it is because when you have an

entire speech instead of notes, the speaker often finds that they are looking at their paper quite frequently. Furthermore, some speakers lose track of what they said last so they’ll end up spending time looking for what they need to say next. This creates awkward silence and can also be very distracting for your audience while they wait for you to compose yourself. In order to avoid this, please prepare brief bullet points instead and simply link your points together in an impromptu manner. This can make your speech seem much more fluid and you won’t have to constantly look down at your paper. So far, I have talked about the importance of maintaining eye contact with your audience as well as the type of materials you should bring up with you and these are all relatively common tips that are shared. Yet, most people don’t seem to know about the importance of body motions when giving a speech. For example, make sure you utilize your hands when delivering a speech/presentation by either keeping your palms up (gestures to your audience that “you are welcoming them”), palms down (indicates that “you are in control”), or keeping your hands together. Pacing around the room could also demonstrate that you are in control of the room and prevents you from improper body stances (example: slanting), but excessive pacing can also be seen as a distraction.
     Following the sight aspect of public speaking, one must equally consider the sound aspect of giving a speech. One of the most important details would be your speaking volume. Depending on the size of the room, one must gauge how loudly they must speak in order to insure that their entire audience can hear the points that they are delivering. This particular tip requires some extensive practice, but it is important that one isn’t too loud, it can scare the audience and portray a demanding character, or too quiet, it leads to your audience straining to hear you and risks the possibility of your audience not hearing what you are saying. Following

volume, one must also consider the pace and tone of their speech. Talking too fast during a speech may lead to stuttering or confusion among the audience as they struggle to keep up with the ideas you are delivering. However, talking too slow may result in a loss of time and can cause a loss of interest. This is when tone comes in! By shifting your tone throughout your speech (Example: lowering your tone when making a point), it ensures that your audience is constantly captivated and doesn’t lose focus.
     Throughout life, you will often find yourselves in situations where you have to address an audience. These situations could arise in college during one of your classes or maybe even at work. Regardless of where it happens and how many people you are addressing, these tips can assist you in delivering an effective speech/presentation. By delivering a fantastic speech or presentation, it leaves you open to the possibility of earning a good grade, gaining the respect of your peers, motivating change, and a multitude of other benefits! All in all, hopefully the tips above aid you in developing your own public speaking persona!