This Public Speaking Improvement Tip Will Make You a Better Leader

by Terry Wall

Writing is a skill that’s usually overlooked when talking about skills important to giving speeches and presentations. It just doesn’t get much attention in relation to “good platform skills.” But writing is a skill that enables speakers to improve other platform skills.

I believe that short speeches, those ten to fifteen minutes long, should be written out word for word. And if your speech is longer, you need to maximize the power of your opening and close, by writing them out word for word. It really is important.

Writing helps clarify your thought, and often the point you start out with in your head changes as you start to write it out.

So, as a leader, whenever you’re going to have an important discussion, you should write out in narrative form what you want to say.

Whether it’s a performance review with a direct report who’s a poor performer, discussing a major problem with a key customer, asking your boss for a raise-if it’s really important, you should write out at least a paragraph or two about what it is you want to say.

Then edit, edit, edit, refining it until it says exactly what you want to communicate.

Here’s a rule that applies to Writing: The more important the conversation is, the more important writing is to the success of that conversation.

Here are some examples of when you should spend time writing:

1. Asking for a raise or promotion
2. Job interview
3. Performance Review/Appraisal

In these situations, success depends on what you say and how you say it. Therefore, you need to spend a lot of time practicing–which is hard to do if you haven’t written what you want to say word-for-word.

Also, your job is always to connect emotionally with the audience, even if it’s an audience of one person. Writing in a conversational tone helps you “talk” in a conversational tone. This is just as important as maintaining eye contact, which is another “platform skill” that help you connect emotionally.

Writing is just one of many skills important to public speaking. But remember, those skills also apply to the day-to-day conversations you have with others, especially those important conversations or meetings where you have little room for error, and you want your message to resonate and motivate.

What are you doing to improve your public speaking skills, in formal speech giving situations, and in less formal settings? What could you achieve if you improved these skills?

About the author

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