The Importance of Public Speaking in Career Advancement

At one point in your career, you may have to speak publicly, whether that’s in front of a small team or a large conference. For some, public speaking comes naturally, and they have no trouble with it. Others struggle with public speaking and find it challenging to be in front of people. Overcoming this reserve about public speaking can be difficult, but we’ve compiled tips for these problems for career success.

What Is Public Speaking?

Public speaking is a presentation or speech that is either rehearsed or spontaneous, and it has different formats for different audiences. When you speak to different audiences, you don’t want to use the same public speaking form for each one. Understanding these types of public speaking will increase your effectiveness as a speaker.

Some public speaking forms are informative speaking and persuasive speaking. Informative speaking gives your audience information: fact-based research, explanatory speeches, and demonstrative speeches to show how to do something are informative. Descriptive speaking, describing people, places, or things, is another type of informative speaking. In contrast to informative speaking, persuasive speaking is about persuading your audience to believe your ideas and take action.

Career Benefits of Public Speaking

Public speaking offers numerous benefits when it comes to career growth. As a public speaker, you can gain attention from various audiences, which leads to influencing and motivating people. Read on to learn more about the career benefits of public speaking.

Building a personal brand

Personal branding is about showing you are an authoritative figure in your industry. When you develop a unique personal brand, you influence others, become known for your skills and knowledge, and increase your career opportunities.

Networking and connecting

When you speak publicly, you meet other professionals in your industry. Public speaking helps advance your career because speaking builds your visibility. Speaking at conferences or large events in your industry shows your knowledge and skills to other influencers.

Strengthening your critical thinking skills

Public speaking sharpens your critical thinking skills because creating and delivering speeches requires research and analysis. When you write your speeches, you need to think about the speech topic and the research necessary for it. Analyzing your research is essential. To shape this information into a coherent speech, you will need to look at your information critically to remove redundant or false information.

Developing your leadership skills

When you engage in public speaking, you gain confidence. Confidence helps you feel empowered and take on new challenges. Taking on these new challenges will help your reputation as a leader in your industry. You will also become known for your ideas as a thought leader. A thought leader is someone people approach for ideas and advice about problems. Being a good public speaker will draw people toward you for advice.

The Basics of Effective Public Speaking

Getting started in public speaking may seem challenging, especially for people who aren’t accustomed to being in front of people. Being effective at public speaking takes preparation and practice. Finding a relevant topic, thinking of your purpose and vision, focusing on how you speak, and using the correct visuals help you with public speaking. Be respectful of your audience. Practice — the most crucial element — is essential to making yourself comfortable speaking before others.

Your audience

Knowing your audience is the first step to successful public speaking. You don’t want to use obscure technical jargon, but you don’t want to talk down to your audience. Be aware of your audience’s education level, interest in the topic, and passion for the subject. Always be respectful of your audience, never condescending or bigoted. Being a public speaker is being a learner as much as being a teacher.

Your purpose and vision

Without passion for your subject, you are not going to engage your audience. Have a vision of what you want to achieve with your public speaking. You need to make your audience feel excited—that listening to your speech and your ideas is worth their time. You are there to inspire and move people to action, and you can achieve this with your enthusiasm.

Vocal clarity and variety

Speak with clarity and without any hesitation. Engage your audience by varying your voice. Hook them from the start with an elevated voice, slowing down as you go along at a steady pace, and with an empathetic tone. Vary your pace and tone depending on your topic and audience response.

Visuals

The visuals and graphics you choose during your speeches help you convey your message. Use visuals relevant to your speeches to narrate your talk. When using visuals to engage your audience, stay professional; don’t use stereotypical portrayals of people; and implement diverse visuals.

Practice, practice, practice…

Practice—there’s that word again—is the foundation of public speaking. Skills are like muscles: if you do not exercise them, they lose their abilities. You can practice by reading books or articles aloud to help with tone variation. Secondly, read and speak in front of a mirror to build your speech delivery. Record your voice and listen to how you deliver your speech. Listen to audiobooks or free services such as LibriVox to find examples of how others use intonation and speech. Follow along with your voice to the recordings.

Challenges to Public Speaking

The biggest hurdle to public speaking is stage fright. Being afraid to speak in front of people can be anxiety-provoking. First, being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of as a public speaker. Some tips for overcoming stage fright are to be prepared with your topic, shift your perspective, use positive self-talk, and practice self-care. When you are prepared with your topic, you will speak as a topic authority. Shift your perspective to your audience, who likely knows less on the topic than you. Remember, you are the authority who is teaching from your knowledge and strength. During your speech, take care of yourself with positive self-talk and physical self-care. Self-care helps you mentally and physically take on the challenge of public speaking for your career.

Whether your work role in the medical profession is new to the field or mid-journey, public speaking is crucial to your career. At ChenMed, helping you develop your public speaking skills for your career is essential. To learn more about open roles to use your speaking skills, check out our talent community.

Are you looking for a medical career that continually challenges you? Head over to ChenMed Careers and discover an opportunity where you can embrace a growth mindset. Make sure to subscribe to the ChenMed Talent Community for our monthly Talent Talk newsletter.

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