PUBLIC SPEAKING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11254, 5 July 1922, Page 2

PUBLIC SPEAKING

AH ART TO BE ACQUIRED INAUGURAL ADDRESS AT THE Y.M.C.A. “AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY.’ 5 The inaugural lecture of .a series of sixteen addresses on public speaking, and commencing a course arranged by the Wellington branch, of the United Y.M.C.A. schools, was delivered at the Y.M.C.A.. last evening by Mr 0. C. M.A.. LL.M. There was a large .and interested 1 audience. The course •embarked upon offers a complete public speaking tuition, and includes special reviews by leading public men.

In his opening remarks Mr Mazengarib stressed the almost inestimable advantages arising from ability to express oneself as clearly and as effectively in public as in private conversation. Public speaking, lie said, was not a natural gift, but an art that could be acquired, developed and! mastered by anyone who (gave it the time and attention. It was the indispensable assistant of those who would forge ahead in the keen competition of business, and the faithful friend of those who would attain positions of power and social influence. Oratory was only part of the art of public speaking. There were everyday occasions in which one was called upon to make a speech at a dinner, a wedding, a lodge, and so on. He urged his audience to set aside the question of £ s. d. and to consider the value of public speaking as a means of developing mental power. It was impossible to reach a high standard of culture without studying the art of expression. Self-expression in some form was the only means of developing mental power, and was the test and coping stone of knowledge. There was nothing that so quickly and effectively revealed the best in a man as the effort of speaking before an audience. Public speaking’was, after all, nothing but enlarged conversation. The first and greatest difficulty was to overcome self-consciousness. This was .merely a matter of getting U6ed to a sea of faces. Tho remedy was to make the situation lees unusual. It was possible to do this by accustoming oneself to facing an audience, without delivering one speech—by going up to the front in any assembly and every now and then turning to the crowd; by imagining ouesolf delivering a lecture to an audience; or by delivering practice speeches before a group of sympathetic hearers. The next essential was to be natural. He instanced the speaking of Sir Robert Stout and Sir John Salmond. On the other liand one should be guarded against being inconsequential. A speech often needed •‘pep, 55 vim, and “ginger.” A good required to Ibe enthusiastic and to drive home his argument© with appropriate gestures. “Learn a few tricks of speech and stylo and adopt thorn os your own,” Mr Mazengorb -counselled. “Do not model your style on one speaker. If you copy one man you will be merely a second edition and probably a misprint. If you adopt anything from a speaker, copy his good x>oints and not his bad ones. Go as often as you can to hear good speakers. Observe their opening and how they get their ‘hits.’ If you think you see a tip, do not incorporate it into your own style unless and until you are sure you can work it naturally.” In conclusion, Mr Mazengarb urged the members to enter with enthusiasm into the course, which covered the whole of the art systematically, and to seize the opportunity afforded eacli week of putting into practice what they heard or learnt from, their books, their instructors, or their* critics.