THE ART OF SPEAKING -II

 The Art of Speaking-- II

They often [at least many] believe that some bewildering statistics is enough. But, people look for much more in terms of analysis and correctives.  Why so much is expected from a speaker? Often the organizers of an event try to make it appear that they have mustered the best of brains on the subject. There is no genuine assessment to ascertain the efficacy of speakers. But, the speaker’s profile or the official status is projected as a measure of value. For instance, the names carry all tags of Chairmanship, Managing Directorship, Vice-Chancellorship, Chief Executive, Professor-ship with half a dozen or more titles of academic acumen and so on. We forget for a moment that the top brass always get things done and that to expect them to help our requirement of enlightening the audience, is a folly in conception. Of late, the members of teaching community serving as Professors in Universities and Colleges have also come under the banner of blabber. Armed with the thought of their being highly qualified, they liberally blabber shamelessly [not unashamedly- for a change.]. Too often the person is conscious of his or her status than of the duties at the podium. One of the reasons of how they get away with it is our own formal vote of thanks where we interpret ideas unsaid and the speaker believes that people understood the speech better than self. But, many in the audience prefer to think of something else while still physically “attending” the session. Obviously the speaker fails to “hold” the audience. One of the steps of alienating self from the audience is to unnecessarily recall the visit to America on invitation [from the Son-in-law of course]. How in a month’s stay we assess so much about the people of that country is a matter for a genuine probe, while all through our life we are unable to decipher our own people. I remember a politician’s joy [his name is held back] when after visiting USA, he told the Indian press astonishingly that even small kids in US speak English. 

Some of our utterances may betray our status. Speakers are keen to register their visit to the West than registering their credentials at those places of visit. Always the people in the audience look for newer ways of analyzing an issue instead of mundane definitions and mind-boggling data. In any National data, numbers are really high even at 1% level of the population. In a casual reference, the magnitude of the problem can be highlighted. The speaker should devote time to analyze a problem and call for a louder thinking. If there are some worked out solutions, they could be shared with the audience. Let us look at how the speakers invite doom. We can also consider how one can do justice to the invitation for being a speaker on an occasion.

Inviting doom or the wrath of the listeners:

The art of earning the wrath of the audience looks to be an in-born talent among many. With in minutes of beginning a speech, the members in the audience think of the night meal some 11 hours away from now. There is a remarkable ability for many speakers who make you think of the day’s future. Often they have no clear idea of what they intend sharing with the audience. For instance, if the topic allotted is Culture, some speakers dwell at length on Cinema of the contemporary version in the name of culture. Their culture does not permit them beyond the realms of films. Some start saying on the excellent sculptures in temples and recall to our youngsters the rich culture vividly available in temples. Another person would try to narrate how people in Europe are highly cultured in waiting for their turn at toilets and restaurants and try to draw inferences as to how we lag in these peripherals like dress, food, talking in whispers and in general upkeep of our towns and cities  

To continue                                             Prof . K.Raman