The Quick & Easy Way to Effective Public Speaking – Part 1

The following contains excerpts from the book, The Quick & Easy Way to Effective Public Speaking (Dale Carnegie).

At our music school in Midland, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships.  When discussing the subject of relationships, the concurrent subject of Leadership comes to the fore.  One of the highest principles of successful relationships and leadership is that of Communication.

This book is outstanding.  I thought it would be a bore and half-relevant, but I found it to have many ideas that relate to the art of musical performance, things that are rarely taught about communicating with an audience, but have specific application for any of the performing arts.  Along with these correlations, he gives many practical methods to make one’s self more comfortable and successful in communication skills, which he asserts are essential to all levels of leadership, from daily home-life to the corporate business office.

We believe that one of the great benefits to studying music at our music school in Midland, Texas is learning how to communicate effectively, and the following material directly correlates to what we hope our students learn.

Following is an outline of what the book covered:

Fundamentals to Effective Speaking

Chapter I – Acquiring the Basic Skills

  1. Take heart from the experience of others
  2. Keep you goal before you
  3. Predetermine your mind to success
  4. Seize every opportunity to practice

“When George Bernard Shaw was asked how he learned to speak so compellingly in public, he replied: ‘I did it the same way I learned to skate- by doggedly making a fool of myself until I got used to it.’”

At our music school in Midland, Texas we encourage students to see ‘failure’ as an opportunity for growth.  If a lesson can be learned that helps for the future, then it was a positive experience.

Chapter II – Developing Confidence

  1. Get the facts about fear of speaking in public
    1. You are not unique in your fear of speaking in public
    2. A certain amount of stage fright is useful
    3. Many public speakers have assure me that they never completely lose all stage fright
    4. The chief cause of your fear of public speaking is simply that you are unaccustomed to speak in public
  2. Prepare in the proper way

“If you want to develop confidence, why not do the one thing that will give you security as a speaker?  ‘Perfect love,’ wrote the Apostle John, ‘casteth out fear.’  So does perfect preparation.  Daniel Webster said he would as soon thing of appearing before an audience half-clothed as half-prepared.”

The more prepared the student is, the more secure they feel in their public performance.   At our music school in Midland, Texas it is our goal to prepare the student as thoroughly as possible, so they have a sense security in their training they can lean on.

  1. Never Memorize a Talk Word for Word
  2. Assemble and arrange your ideas beforehand

“Dr. Charles Reynold Brown said some years ago in a memorable series of lectures at Yale University: ‘Brood over your topic until it becomes mellow and expansive…then put all these ideas down in writing, just a few words, enough to fix the idea…put them down on scraps of paper- you will find it easier to arrange and organize these loose bits when you come to set your material in order.”

  1. Rehearse your talk with your friends
  1. Predetermine Your Mind to Success
    1. Lose yourself in your subject
    2. Keep your attention off negative stimuli that may upset you
    3. Give yourself a pep talk
  2. Act Confident

“The most famous psychologist that America has produced, Professor William James, wrote as follows: ‘Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulation the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.  Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there…So, to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all of our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.”

Learning to do things when we feel uncomfortable is a life-lesson many people never learn.  At our music school in Midland, Texas we help students push past their fear to accomplish great things in spite of what they are feeling internally.

Chapter III – Speaking Effectively the Quick and Easy Way

  1. Speak about something you have earned the right to talk about through experience or study

“Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.”

    1. Tell us what life has taught you
    2. Look for topics in your background
  2. Be sure you are excited about your subject
  3. Be eager to share your talk with your listeners

“The effective speaker earnestly desires his listeners to feel what he feels, to agree with his point of view, to do what he thinks is right for them to do, and to enjoy and relive his experience with him.  He is audience-centered and not self-centered.”

Ultimately, musical performance and creativity is about serving your community by giving them something of beauty and inspiration that makes their lives better.  At our music school in Midland, Texas we help students learn and develop towards this value.

As we help our students grow in their capacity to perform with confidence in their individual lessons with their teachers, they then learn confidence to play for their peers and family.  This next step gives them the ability to share their music with larger groups, and ultimately an audience filling a room full of people they may not know.  This incremental progress, that starts with their one-on-one experience of a teacher/student relationship, provides the jumping off point for performing with confidence at a larger scale.