Opinion | How to be a champion speaker

By Philip Yeung, university teacher

PKY480@gmail.com

Last week, China Daily set global youthful speakers on fire with its catchy slogan: "Let the world hear you". It hosted its three different public speaking contests at the national and international level in Wuxi, Jiangsu. I was there for the finals as a member of the judging panel. Here are my key takeaways.

Far and away, the Belt and Road Youth segment was the most memorable. This is public speaking at its finest. All six finalists were sublime. None was pretentious or preachy. They spoke from the heart, with freedom and flair. I rate them a cut above electioneering politicians. They were authenticity itself.

After a day and a half of immersion in an ocean of speeches, I managed to distill the essence of eloquence. The three judging criteria sum it up nicely: content, language and delivery (or non-verbal communication.)

First, content. Yes, rhetorical devices are indispensable. But compelling content often separates the goats* from the sheep. Content, unsurprisingly, comes from reading and thinking. After you strip away oratorical flourishes, judges look for signs of intelligence, that the speaker has thought through the issues addressed. Public speaking isn't just about style; it is anchored by substance. One contestant was so engrossed in diving into evolutionary science that she almost forgot that she was in a speech contest. She carried the audience with her using eye-opening insights. She is head and shoulders above those who glibly recited their memorized texts. With sexy ideas, she bonded emotionally and intellectually with the audience. She did not try to impress. She was there to express, with nothing canned or cliched about her content. Intelligence in a speaker is an endearing quality. There were no stilted words.

Speaking of words, the ability to dance with words is a bona fide speaking skill. At home in English, confident speakers are not afraid to coin new words such as "Chinaship" and "worldship", words you will never find in a dictionary.

Not just ideas, the power of words often comes from reading. An avid reader dares to use words experimentally. Daniel Pink, Al Gore's speechwriter, identifies three qualities of a good speech: brevity, levity, and repetition. Chinese speakers are often guilty of clutter or "verbal diarrhea", with lengthy sentences tumbling out at a breathless pace. They don't allow pauses to lend words meaning and emphasis.

Brevity sells. That's why advertising slogans are often short and sweet, as in "Less is more." or "Just do it". When it comes to humor, don't do it unless you are confident in delivering it. Humor works even in the mouth of mob boss Al Capone, who said that "Kind words and a gun works much better than kind words alone.". One contestant lamented that she just came back from Canada with a souvenir: an elbow scar from falling off a bike.

As for repetition, Hillary Clinton is best remembered for this little self-introduction: "I was born in a middle-class family in middle America in the middle of the last century." To this list, I would add "definition", as in "Happiness is an inside job." Or when Chekov said that "Medicine is my lawful wife. Literature is my mistress."

True eloquence requires high-level thinking. It is rare to hear speakers in competitions make philosophical statements. The ability to conceptualize and philosophize pegs a speaker at the next level.

Public speaking is theatre. Good speakers have a sense of theatre. Most nervous speakers rush headlong into a speech before they are psychologically ready. Recently, a Peking opera singer, beautiful and elegant at 60, came to our campus. Peking opera may seem distant from the art of public speaking. But this gracious lady showed me otherwise. She would stand there, transfixed before the audience, summoning up her presence. With total concentration, every facial muscle and finger conveyed intensity. Her stage persona was totally riveting. We were her captives. Similarly, a leader in Ecuador, short with a face only a mother could love, were not biologically equipped to be a commanding speaker. And yet, he was the picture of confidence. He stood there and waited for the audience to calm down. Only when he had their undivided attention did he utter his first word. He was spellbinding.

Now a word about gestures: They should be organic, not mechanical.

What about stage fright? Try box breathing. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds and exhale for 4 seconds. This is abdominal, not chesty breathing. When we are nervous our breathing is shallow. Deep breathing loosens you up.

And don't forget eye contact. Most student speakers forgot to visually engage their audience. Focusing on connecting with your audience is a good way to lose your nerves.

Chinese speakers tend to just vocalize words, without regard to rhythm, a key part of effective speaking. Rhythm in speech is just as pleasing as rhythm in music. Lack of rhythm is jarring and marks you as amateurish.

Then came a magic moment. A young girl from South Africa, a tribal princess spoke with such freedom as if she had liberated her language. Then I discovered why. Every morning her mother would wake her up and put her in a happy mood with tribal dancing. I suspect her freedom with words comes from the freedom of her body dancing. Freedom was bred in her bone. No one can ignore her.

Surprise is another weapon in the speaker's arsenal. Surprise comes in different forms. It can come as poetry, when everyone else is speaking prose. A poetic quote gives your speech a delightful freshness unseen in others.

Another tried-and-true technique is storytelling. Human beings are born to love stories. When nothing else works, try telling a story.

Don't underestimate the power of the opening hook. Instead of starting a speech with the usual "Ladies and Gentlemen", one speaker decided to be different. She quoted a pithy sentence like: "Life is not black and white", followed by her salutation. This too is "surprise".

I must mention another speaker. He is a Chinese young man from Indonesia, a gifted speaker. Relaxed, confident and natural, he came within a whisker of winning the global championship. Where he faltered was in his closing. He did not end it with a bang and paid the price. Next year, he will be back to claim his crown.

Public speaking has the hidden power to transform lives. The award ceremony features a young man who was labeled a failed school dropout. But by shining in a public speaking contest, he has reinvented himself as an enthusiastic English teacher and found meaning in life. Such is the magic of the spoken word.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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