The world is your audience! Are you ready to rock the stage?

Conferences, weddings, assignments, meetings. There are plentiful occasions in which you would have to face an audience. Could you do that?

Speaking in public. It’s a tough job! But somebody has to do it. You too, I’m afraid. If you aren’t that excited about it, at least think that you are not alone: public speaking is the number one phobia among people, even before fear of death and fear of spiders! Can you believe it? Well, maybe yes. Public speaking anxiety is so common and feared that it has even a scientific name: glossophobia. 

Pericle’s Funeral Oration

The word comes from ancient Greece, the right place where you should have lived around 2000 years ago to be one of the best orators ever. Indeed, Greece is the country of origin of Rhetoric, the art of persuasion through effective speaking. Although the Sophists invented it, Aristotle is generally credited with the development of this fascinating art. For example, he listed Five Canons that constitute a useful tool to give powerful speeches. The Five Canons are:

–inventio (invention): maybe the hardest step, it concern building the framework of your speech. What to say and how to say it. Challenging, isn’t it?

–dispostio (arrangement): the organization of the speech to maximise persuasion.

–elocutio (style): choosing the most effective language in order to get the attention of the audience.

–memoria (memory): in ancient Greece orators had to memorize their speeches because using notes was seen as a sign of weak-mind. Nowadays is not that bad but it makes the difference!

–actio (delivery): it regards the visual impact on the audience through non-verbal communication and therefore body language, hand gesture and tone of voice.

Well, I’m sure you find everything really useful but a bit boring. Lucky for you, there’s a funny and playful way to improve your communication skills: the Public Speaking Society at the University of Stirling!

PSS’s committee is waiting for you!

A group of undergraduates guys, who really know how to do it, will convince you thanks to their as much unconventional as effective techniques. Every week they set up captivating games that work as exercises to train your speaking skills: improvisational speeches, warm up games, simulate conferences and much more! Every activity is set up precisely to let you understand what are your weakest points and how to enhance them. You will improve consistently without even realizing it! Furthermore, you will get to know with people who want to be better speakers like you, so you can help each other and, why not, become good friends!

This is the spirit at the Public Speaking Society: efficient method, positive energy, and a lot of fun! Indeed, there are several event off campus, for example this year they organized the Cocktail Party social, an exciting house party in collaboration with the Business society. The best way to connect communication and entertainment! You can’t miss this big opportunity: visit the society’s Facebook page or take a look at the Stirling Student’s Union webpage, or simply join them! Meetings take place every Monday and the staff is always keen to welcome new people.

There are plenty of good videos that can help you online, but could you really overcome your fear of audience by speaking with the screen of your computer? I don’t think so.

So, let’s do it! Become a confident speaker with the Public Speaking Society! As regards the spiders, we will find something else 🙂 .