SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Journal by The Mighty Buzzard
Something I've been thinking about a bit lately is the ability to communicate your message well. I'm not the best at it but it's not difficult to spot those who really are. Their number sure as fuck doesn't include Jordan Peterson. Or most any intellectual, especially with an academia background, for that matter.
You know who the best are? Really good standup comedians. They have to be. If you need to explain a joke, it's no longer funny. If you're consistently not funny, you have to get a dreaded day job.
If you want to take up public speaking in any sort of persuasive capacity, you could do a lot worse than to learn from them.
Reply to: It's Simple, Really
Post Comment
Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a policeman's tie.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:28PM
I just talk to myself. Then I'm (almost) always understood.
More seriously, one of the things I've learned over the years is that when a person can't effectively explain something to another person, that's usually because they don't understand it themselves.
Granted, that's less about public speaking, than it is about communicating effectively. At the same time, it's worthwhile to note that the most effective public speakers are generally those who either have their schtick down (like a good stand-up comedian or a demagogue) or have a good understanding of the topic at hand and specific goals as to what information they want to convey.
Those are two different kinds of speakers (and public speaking), with significantly different goals. A comedian or demagogue wants to engage you emotionally and push your buttons (whether for laughs or for outrage), while someone with the goal of elucidation and/or enlightenment wants to engage intellectually.
Both are difficult. One requires an intuitive understanding of human responses, while the other requires specific knowledge and a clear goal WRT communicating that knowledge.
When I was consulting, I used to teach a seminar on technical writing for my peers and the most important pieces were to "know your audience" and "express yourself as clearly and directly as possible." The same holds true for public speaking, IMHO.