Public speaking is a highly important and useful skill that carries multiple advantages for personal life and professional career. Public speaking skills are required for specialists of various kinds. In this regard, mastering public speaking is going to serve as great enforcement for anyone. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate different situations where public speaking skills play an important role to show the reasons why public speaking is considered an effective skill.
First of all, the knowledge of theoretical and practical sides of public speaking provides one with multiple benefits such as understanding the ways people think and process the information, communicating thoughtfully and with higher efficiency, using the critical thinking, knowing how to organise and prepare presentations, researching the unfamiliar audiences and using appropriate communication strategies (Coopman, Lull 2014, p. 12). It is a well-known fact that most people experience certain difficulties in adjusting to a new society. For example, in a situation when a person starts working at a new place, they would feel the need to fit into the group of new co-workers, find a common language and establish friendly atmosphere at the workplace.
Public speaking skills provide a person with an ability to evaluate the audience, analyse their needs, learn their potentials, and successfully build contact with them. Proper application of public speaking knowledge will allow the new member of a group to move through the stage of getting to know the colleagues and feel comfortable talking with new people in unfamiliar situations (Coopman & Lull 2014, p. 12). In this case, public speaking skills will allow avoiding the discomfort at the workplace, which may lead to disruption of the work process and create problems for the whole company.
The most obvious situation where public speaking skills are always very useful is an actual performance in front of a group of people such as a public address, presentation of a new project at work, or a motivational speech. In such situations, the speaker can represent a group of fellows or the ideas important for many people. Due to this, a successful performance and efficient delivery of information are highly valuable and important (Keith & Lundberg 2013, p. 4). When one person is chosen to speak on behalf of many, it creates a certain pressure and responsibility for the speaker. In the case of the successful performance of one, the whole group will benefit. The good public speaker has to be able to present the information, keep the audience interested in the delivered ideas, and defend the point of view in case of criticism or counter argumentation.
The skills of public speaking provide one with courage, confidence, and the ability to fluently express themselves. One more situation that demonstrates the importance of public speaking skills is a casual conversation with a stranger. People are social creatures, interpersonal relationships of different kinds are highly important for us. Starting and maintaining friendships, being close to family members, having romantic relationships makes our lives easier and fuller. A skillful speaker will be able to represent themselves in the best and most appropriate way. This can be quite a challenging occupation. Performing in front of just one person is another variation of public speaking (Goldwasser 2006, p. 42). Successful personal representation in any situation, will it be a first date or a job interview, is extremely meaningful for anyone. This is why the development of public speaking skills is considered highly beneficial.
To conclude, almost every day, people face situations where speaking in front of an audience is required. The size of the audience may vary from one to hundreds or thousands of people, but the importance of professional and efficient delivery of information is always high. Knowledge of theoretical and practical sides of public speaking will enable the speaker to feel confident and comfortable and to present themselves and the necessary information in the best ways.
References
Coopman, S. & Lull, J. 2014, Public Speaking: The Evolving Art. Cengage Learning United States, Boston.
Goldwasser, I. 2006, Interactive Communication: A Guide to Effective Communication. Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.
Keith, W. & Lundberg, C. 2013, Public Speaking: Choice and Responsibility. Cengage Learning United States, Boston.