11 Reasons to Learn Public Speaking in English

Your boss's assistant walks into your office without knocking, as usual, wearing the same fixed smile. "The boss wants you in the conference room. You're to say a few words about us and the company to the people who are taking us over. Hurry up!" Your whole world shrinks, and so does your stomach. Your ears ring and fear tightens around your head like a vice. "Breathe, don't forget to breathe," you tell yourself, though you can't even hear your own words. The door opens again. "Oh, and they're all British and American, so it'll be in English. Good luck!" she adds cheerfully, and leaves.

The only English words that come to mind at that moment are definitely not printable. You can't work out how you can stand frozen to the spot while your legs are shaking. If someone offered to do it for you, you would pay them anything.

Does this sound familiar?

Here are three comforting facts. Nerves before speaking in public are completely normal. You can learn to control them. And in this article you'll see why it is worth becoming a confident communicator in English.

Speaking freely in front of a large group doesn't require a special talent. What you need is practice, specifically practice speaking in English. Public speaking, even in a foreign language, shouldn't crush or frustrate you. It should be a chance to stand firmly on your feet, look your audience in the eye and get your point across smoothly.

Why does public speaking matter?

You speak in public at work, in shops and at home, and the quality of how you communicate shapes both your personal and your professional success. Communication is how you inform people, persuade them and move them to act. Is English the language you work in? That's fine. The principles of good communication are universal. You just need to add the ability to build your sentences with ease.

Why learn public speaking in English?

Master this skill in English and even more doors open for you, whether you want to get involved in politics or charity work, build a career in sales, or win the trust of new international business partners.

Professional benefits of public speaking

Whether you're on the phone with a client, asking your boss for a raise or giving a presentation, you are speaking in public. Learn to communicate and present in English, and the number of people you can potentially reach grows thirtyfold.

1. Grow your professional network

We all "sell" every day: when we present to a client, sit a job interview or talk to a friend about weekend plans. Public speaking training is practice in "selling" your ideas to different groups of people.

“ Public speaking is directly linked to the ability to present, to sell and to persuade. “

2. Discover new career opportunities

Does someone with your expertise need to lead a presentation at an important meeting with an English-speaking client? Situations like this are opportunities, and they keep appearing. The ability to speak to people is highly valued at work. It helps you become a better leader and present your point of view effectively. A study of university graduates by the sociologist Andrew Zekeri found that oral communication skills were the most useful in the business world, and a 2017 iCIMS survey showed that a third of employers name oral communication as one of the skills they value most in a candidate.

Being able to speak in public also signals creativity, critical thinking, leadership, composure and professionalism. According to the American association NACE, the attributes employers look for in candidates include communication skills (73.2%) and leadership skills (67.8%).

3. Build leadership skills

A leader's effectiveness depends on their willingness to interact with others and on their communication skills (Hackman and Johnson, 2013). Public speaking is a must for every good leader. Master it and you learn how to persuade people, which is one of the core parts of leadership.

4. Sharpen your critical thinking

Preparing a talk takes careful thought, from analysing your audience to choosing your final sentence. Winston Churchill is often credited with the advice that a speaker should exhaust the subject, not the listeners. If your message has to reach a wider, international audience, you'll need to prepare it in English, which means not only knowing the language but also allowing for cultural differences.

5. Help bring about change

A person speaking will always be more persuasive than an email or a message sent online. When you address an audience of a hundred people, the change you start can be powerful. The more people you can reach, the more change you can create.

Personal benefits of public speaking

Now let's look at what you gain personally, both from learning to speak in public and from doing it well.

6. Become more confident

Overcoming the fear and uncertainty that come with public speaking is empowering, and even more so when you have to speak in English. Moving from "I can't do this" to "I can, and I will" is simply a matter of practice. As you train, you'll notice your confidence growing as you move from small groups to a large conference audience.

7. Become the life and soul of the party

Better public speaking makes you a better storyteller, because you get used to talking in front of an audience. Do you spend time with an international group of friends who all speak English? This is a great way to break through your fear of speaking it.

8. Take your personal growth further

Preparing a talk makes you step back and think critically about how to get your ideas across. Mastering this in English builds your confidence and your sense of self-worth. You get better with every talk you give.

9. Communicate better through empathy

As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in The Little Prince, language is the source of misunderstandings. Language skills are not always the barrier. Far more often the problem is not knowing how communication works and not understanding the other person's concerns. When you communicate in English, cultural differences add another layer, because they affect how we communicate both with and without words.

10. Learn to persuade

Whenever people work together, differences of opinion can lead to misunderstandings. Persuasion is a very useful skill when you are part of a group, especially an international one. Treat public speaking practice as a chance to become more persuasive and more assertive. Professional speakers such as Brian Tracy and Les Brown specialise in helping business leaders become more productive by developing exactly this skill.

11. Stop fearing impromptu speeches

As the leadership expert John C. Maxwell puts it, becoming someone who truly connects with people is a process. Start changing your personal and professional life now, and you'll be surprised how quickly you see positive results.

Do you now feel that public speaking is a skill you really should learn? If so, I'm glad you found me. You don't have to spend years learning by trial and error. I'll help you get through the process faster, and you'll feel the results of our work together very soon.

Bibliography

• •Lenny Laskowski, Public Speaking Improves Every Area of Your Life. LJL Seminars, 2001.
• •John C. Maxwell, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. Thomas Nelson, 2010.
• •Michael Z. Hackman, Craig E. Johnson, Leadership: A Communication Perspective. Waveland, 2013.
• •iCIMS; Brian Tracy; Les Brown.