HOW TO BE A GOOD SPEAKER

Guiding the Audience Through Your Talk
One of the first considerations for an effective speaker, said session organizer Rosemary Chang, who also gave the first talk, is understanding your audience. It is the audience that determines the language and the technical jargon that can be used appropriately. A technical briefing in industry differs significantly from a technical talk at a conference and certainly from a talk to a high school class, or even to a mixed audience containing members of all these groups.
To become a better speaker, Chang suggested to a lot of talks and thinking about what it is you like in different speakers? Presentations? Attention to such obvious-sounding matters as voice, eye contact, and feedback from the audience can make a crucial difference, she said, and honest after-the-fact assessments from others are invaluable. All these considerations are especially important for women, Chang pointed out: A woman who gives a talk in a tentative manner risks being interpreted as weak. It is good to be nervous before a talk, Chang said. However, the point is to avoid panic, which is accomplished both through careful preparation of the content of the talk and through practice. She had made things hard on herself in the AWM session by opting to make her presentation without using slides. Her point was that every talk is an opportunity for a speaker to improve her speaking ability; her objective with this talk, she explained, was to practice speaking without slides or notes. If she had been giving a technical talk, she certainly would have used slides, which she considers indispensable.
 
While leaving the preparation of effective slides to the third speaker in the session, Gerald Farin of Arizona State University, Chang pointed out the value of slides in helping to guide a listener through a talk. While a written paper is not necessarily linear, she said, since a reader can move around in the text at will, the listener at a talk does not have the luxury of returning to a previously made point. Slides can also serve as the speaker takes notes, and they can be useful in pacing the talk.
You are the Star!
SIAM president Margaret Wright likes to choose a motif or theme for her technical talks. For her talk at the AWM minisymposium, titled having a Technical Presentation at a Technical Conference? She settled on the idea that speaking is like acting, with soul, method, and technique coming into play in both, and with the speaker taking the parts of author, director, star, and understudy. Content, the most important element is defined by the speaker, Wright said. The subject of the talk might be a new theorem, or it might be a new proof of an existing theorem. The speaker could be describing new algorithms or surveying a field. In each case, Wright pointed out, the content will dictate the structure of the talk.
Like Chang and Farin, Wright emphasized the importance of knowing the audience: as director, you have to build a model of the audience? The (high-stress) talk given to a group of leading experts in a field differs from a talk to an audience of PhDs in the speaker’s area, which in turn differs from a talk to an audience composed of PhDs in mathematics. The speaker could also be addressing a general audience of scientists, a group of high school students, or high-level executives. Regardless of its level, an audience can be supportive, tough, competitive, skeptical, and easily bored?
Pede" Bicara di Depan Umum
Bagi sebagian orang, bicara di depan umum bisa jadi momok yang menakutkan. Menjadi semacam fobia tersendiri. Namun, bagi segelintir orang lainnya, bicara di depan umum justru menjadi sumber mata pencaharian. Apa rahasia bisa sukses bicara dengan lancar di depan umum?
“Untuk bicara di depan umum diperlukan persiapan, tapi hati-hati juga, ada orang yang bisa jadi takut untuk bicara karena terlalu banyak persiapan. Menurut saya, boleh mempersiapkan diri ketika akan bicara di muka umum, tapi yang terutama harus nyaman dengan diri sendiri dulu. Ragu untuk tampil adalah musuh nomor 1,” tips dari Alexander Sriwijono, psikolog sekaligus salah seorang penulis buku Talk-inc Points di acara talkshow yang digelar di Kinokuniya, Plaza Senayan, Kamis (28/05). Kadang, ragu menghampiri karena kita berpikir bahwa orang yang akan kita ajak bicara, atau para hadirin ini, lebih tua dan lebih tahu ketimbang kita. Usahakan untuk berpikir lebih positif.
Becky Tumewu dan Erwin Parengkuan mengatakan bahwa bicara merupakan hal yang alamiah yang dimiliki manusia. Maka, seharusnya manusia tak perlu takut untuk berbicara. Menanggapi pernyataan bahwa untuk bicara di depan umum itu adalah bakat yang diberikan Tuhan, Erwin Parengkuan menjawab bahwa bicara bukanlah bakat, tetapi yang membedakan adalah materi yang akan disampaikan. Agar sukses, seseorang harus bisa dan mau berlatih berkomunikasi dengan memerhatikan dan lebih peka, pelajari seberapa sering orang salah menangkap isi pembicaraan Anda, dan bagaimana Anda menyampaikannya kala itu, juga perhatikan respons dan bahasa tubuh orang yang diajak bicara. Berbicara itu seperti menari tango, dibutuhkan respons timbal-balik.
Alexander Sriwijono menambahkan, “Komunikasi itu dipakai di mana saja. Menurut saya, bicara di depan umum bukan perkara talenta, tapi masalahnya adalah bagaimana menyampaikan sesuatu dengan benar. Zaman sekarang banyak orang yang mengganti kata ‘tolong’ dengan ‘dong’, misalnya. Itu kan tidak sopan. Nah, perlu untuk belajar berkata-kata dengan baik, dan mempelajari respons dari orang lain.”
Dalam bukunya, ketiga penulis, Alexander Sriwijono, Becky Tumewu, dan Erwin Parengkuan menekankan terhadap 3 poin yang penting dan harus ada ketika seseorang ingin sukses bicara di depan umum. Sebanyak tiga poin yang disampaikan adalah; Kekuatan Mental, Ketepatan Kata, dan Totalitas Bahasa Tubuh. “Ketika kita sudah merasa takut untuk bicara di depan umum, ketiga pilar tersebut pasti jadi hancur. Ketika seseorang bisa mengalahkan rasa takut, keadaan akan lebih lancar. Diperlukan ketiganya untuk bisa menyelaraskan dan menyeimbangkan suasana,” terang Becky Tumewu.
Ketika ditanyakan perihal public speaking para calon pemimpin negara ini, Alexander Sriwijono mengatakan, “Menurut saya, public speaking itu menyangkut timeless memory. Saya sudah memiliki 2 anak. Saya mau, apa pun yang saya sampaikan di muka umum tercatat di media selama 15-20 tahun ke depan. Saya tak mau, ketika anak saya membaca apa yang saya katakan di masa itu, mereka malu. Saya harus bisa live up dengan apa yang saya katakan. Jadi, menurut saya, ketika menyangkut pemimpin yang layak adalah orang yang bisa mempertanggungjawabkan perkataannya di masa mendatang.”