I enjoy listening to people doing public speaking. Well delivered public speaking is a joy to listen to. The way someone articulates what they have to / want to say. The intonation of their voice to provide different emphasis. The message itself. Done well, public speaking can move you, inspire you, motivate you.
I don’t think we give people enough opportunity to do public speaking. I enjoy public speaking, and pay a lot of attention to how I deliver a talk. But, public speaking can be learned. It can be practised, and you can get really good at it. For me, comedians are the best at public speaking. I’m a big fan of Michael McIntyre (a UK comedian), and have seen him perform live 4 times – each time commanding a room of nearly 15,000 people. Comedians don’t just get up and deliver. They rehearse and practise meticulously. Everything matters.
I also think music artists are brilliant at public performances. This year, my kids were super fortunate to see Bruno Mars live (an American R&B singer), and a bhangra artist called Diljit Dosanjh. They loved both performances immensely. Bruno Mars cos they know his songs, and Diljit Dosanjh cos he’s a Sikh man and completing a world tour. Music artists obsess over every detail of their performance. Nothing happens they haven’t practised and know very very well.
I pay a lot of attention when I’m listening to someone deliver a talk. What are they saying? Why does it make sense? I’ve heard a lot of talks and it’s quite common to hear many similar notes / talking points / analogies. These days I’m more interested about how those similar talking points are used to help the speaker land their message. For many, I know when they hear familiar talking points, they will pass judgement and say “I didn’t hear anything new”.
The thing is, it’s not always about something new. It’s more about the story / narrative / message that someone wants to share. If you want good thinking, many books can provide that. But a public talk can provide emotion more viscerally – although, arguably a well-written book can do this too.
Recently, I went to a local TEDx event. I was there to mainly support my nephew who was delivering a talk on “the intersections of creativity”, where he spoke about how his identity and acceptance of his identity has shown up in different artwork over the years. I also got to listen to several other speakers, and I enjoyed them all. But what I realised I enjoyed is that it’s important for people to share their stories. And here I was listening to 9 speakers bearing their work, thinking and passions for others to hear and listen to. There is a lot of vulnerability that comes with public speaking, and regardless of how it’s delivered, we should always be mindful that it matters for the speaker.
My nephew told his story, and it filled me with such pride. First, here’s my nephew taking to a public stage to talk about what matters to him. A beautiful mix of his heritage, family, culture, and personal identity, and how his art has been and continues to be informed by who he is. He is his art, his art is him. It was a brave thing to do, and he told his story so very well. He owned his story. It was and is his to tell. I love that so much.
And I saw many other speakers on the day do the same. Talking about why men’s mental health matters, and how we have to create safety in men sharing how they are. About the importance of representation and if there isn’t representation to own your right to be that person and represent those who can’t and don’t know how to do that on their own. About the impact of a supportive community on how you deal with grief, and through community and the support of others we learn how to deal with our grief. About the gut, and how we don’t eat nearly enough fibre rich food to help us maintain a healthy gut, and therefore a healthy body. About cyber security risks against children and how children are at constant real threat from people with very dark and harmful intentions against children online.
Important messages that are so very different to TikTok, Instagram Reels, podcasts and other forms of social media content. But just listening to people talk in an environment where what they say, and how it’s delivered can bring out such rich and fresh thinking.
