I am a lawyer but want to go to a place, enroll in a curriculum, whether in the United States or Great Britain that will drastically improve my public speaking skills. To be able to speak off the cuff. To influence the masses. I have considered to try to work for British Parliament and watch the debate as much as possible since we Americans have truly turned our back on good oratory.
Other - Politics & Government - 3 Answers
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1 :
http://www.toastmasters.org/
2 :
You can try the UK .. Oxford or Cambridge have some very good public speaking courses. Also believe it or not there is some excellent public speaking in the top schools of India -- they are the Indian equivalent of Oxford and are run by British experts. Listen to Sashi Tharoor -- a former top guy at the UN and now famous commentator. He is even more eloquent than British leaders (and has a posh British accent as do most rich Indians in India) and he is a product of the Indian school system. Just youtube him and you'll see what I mean. Good Luck.
3 :
Having a lot of experience with public speaking I can offer a few thoughts. First 90% of the difference between a good public speaker and a poor public speaker is their comfort level in front of an audience. For a few people it comes naturally for the rest experience is the best teacher. Acting classes, a community theatre group, and toastmasters are all great training grounds. If you get a part in a little theatre produced play will give you that kind of experience. Second- just like the law, a good speaker, especially an extemporaneous one, depends on knowledge of the subject matter at hand. For example if I were to ask you to speak on the subject of studying torts you could probably give me 15 minutes without even sweating it. However, if I asked you to speak about trends in 19th century women's fashion I would be willing to bet that you would be tongue tied beyond all measure. Third, study the great speeches and great speakers. (agree with him or not) Obama is a great public speaker, however when you analyze his speaking style, one can easily see connections to a speech style highly reminiscent of Martin Luther King. The cadence, timing and word choice, repetition of key words or phrases etc. Fourth, there are certain tricks of the trade in terms of construction, speech patterns, how one stands, what one wears, hand gestures etc. You can pick up a book on these techniques fairly easily. Getting back to toastmasters, there are clubs all over the world probably one close to where you live. Finally, since you are a lwyer, you may wish to reconnect with your alma mater to see if they have alumini extension classes. Moving to the UK or Washington, DC to witness parliment/congress is a great romantic idea, but these other steps are a bit less radical to start.
