PUBLIC SPEAKING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1427, 9 September 1918, Page 10 (Supplement)

PUBLIC SPEAKING.

MR. L. M. ISITT'S ADVICE. An address oh "The Difficulties of Public Speaking" was delivered to the' Workers' Educational Association on Saturday evening by Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P, The lecturer said that he did not wish to pose as an expert, but from his experience he would say that 75 per cent, of his hearers could become fairlyefficient public speakers. It was merely a matter of training themselves. The mechanics of the art included voice, breathing and gesture. The right use of the voice was bound up inseparably with the breathing apparatus, and the would-be speaker must learn to breath correctly. Freedom of gesture, which came naturally, was much better than the studied variety. Jn advocating the study of style, Mr Isitt told his audience that the more carefully they studied the greatest writers and speakers, the simpler would their stylo become, and the shorter and mere virile the words they used. The lion in the path of so many would-be speakers was nervousness, but he could not think of any good effective speaker who had no nervousness about his system, and the nervous man would "get there" if ho persisted. If they must memorise, it should be only the beginning and the end of the Speech; they should have a "go on their own'-' in the middle. They should talk iu a familiar simple style, atid not perorate. On the motion of Mr E. J. Howard, seconded by the Rev. T. Foe, Mr Isitt was accorded a vote of thanks.