Public Speaking Q&A with Akash Karia (ranked Top 10 Speakers in Asia Pacific). Get more great tools and tips on www.CommunicationSkillsTips.com public speaking, champion, skills, presentation, tips, techniques, methods, speech, writing, tools, toastmasters, contest, Q&A

1. QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
WITH A
PUBLIC SPEAKING
CHAMPION
Hi, my name is Akash and I’m a presentation skills coach
and author of “Public Speaking Secrets of the
Champions”. I was recently on a TV show in Malaysia
where I did a 40 minute segment on “Mastering the Art
of Public Speaking”. In this short eBook, you will find the
answers to the some of the questions I
was asked on the show.
Akash Karia
http://www.CommunicationSkillsTips.com

2. What are the qualities of a great speaker?
To be a great speaker, you have to be:
 Audience-Focused: forget about you. The purpose of your speech,
presentation, workshop - whatever your delivery method - is to
engage your audience. It’s not about how you look, how you sound or
how you dress - it’s about them. It’s about engaging your audience.
It’s about connecting with your audience. Everything you do in a
speech or presentation has to be focused on your audience. So, when
you’re designing your presentation, ask yourself, “What information
does my audience need to know? How can I make this information
more relevant for them? How can I help them achieve their goals?”
Approach everything in your presentation from an audience-centered
perspective.
 Passionate: If you’re not passionate about your topic, how do you
expect your audience to be? If you’re not excited about your
presentation, how do you expect your audience to be? If you’re
speaking on a topic, make sure it’s something you’re interested in.
Why? Because here’s what happens if you speak on a topic you’re not
interested in: your facial expressions and your body language will give
off signals that you’re not interested in your topic. Your audience
members will unconsciously pick up these signals and because you’re
not interested, they won’t be interested.
Now, there’s an upside to this. If you’re passionate, excited, interested
in a topic, it will show through in your presentation - and if you’re
interested, you won’t need to fake a smile or rehearse any gestures
because it will all come naturally. There’s a saying that, “If you want
to sell, you first have to be sold”. You first have to be sold on the
benefits of your message and your ideas before you can sell them to

3. your audience.
 Expert - be an expert on the topic you are speaking on. As speakers,
our main job is to share our expertise. Be so knowledgeable about
your topic that if you’re called to speak on your topic right now, you
can quickly come up with some points which would be of value to
your audience. If you’re an expert on the topic you are presenting on,
you will feel confident on stage because you are very familiar with the
material you will be presenting. And this confidence will reflect in
your body language and your delivery.
So, if you want to be a powerfully persuasive speaker, be an APE: an
audience-centered, passionate expert.
How do you measure the success of a
presentation?
There are two important questions you can ask to measure the success of
your speech.
First question: did you achieve the objective of your presentation?
The goal of a speech is to take audience members from Point A to Point
B. It’s to move them in some sort of way - maybe to move them emotionally
and to inspire them; or to move them intellectually and give them more
knowledge and more tools on a topic. So, if a speaker manages to meet his
objective of moving his audience from Point A to Point B, then it’s a
successful speech. Or,as you put it, it’s a commendable speech.
Second question: Will your audience remember your message 3
days after you presentation?

4. Did you know that most presentations are forgotten within a couple
of hours? A successful speaker, however, leaves a lasting impact on his
audience. As speakers, we want to make sure that our impact lasts beyond
the day of the presentation.
For example, let’s say you’re giving a sales presentation. Your
objective is to convince Mr. and Mrs. Jones to buy a car or insurance - or
whatever the product - from your company. Now, no matter how good your
presentation, it’s unlikely that Mr. and Mrs. Jones will enthusiastically
hand over their credit card to you at the end of your presentation. They’re
going to need a couple of days to think about it. What you want is for your
presentation to be remembered at the time when they are making a
decision - when they are thinking about whether or not to buy from you,
you want your message, your presentation, to be remembered and influence
their decision to “YES! We’re going to buy from you.”
Same thing applies to interviews. You want the recruiter to remember
you so that when they’re making the decision about who to hire, you pop
into their minds.
So to summarize, the two most important questions any presenter
should ask at the end of a presentation - the questions which determine
whether a presentation was effective or not - are:
(1) Did I move my audience emotionally or intellectually from Point A to
Point B? Did I achieve my objective? and
(2) Will they remember my message 3 days after I speak?

5. What are the advantages of being able to
speak powerfully and confidently in public?
If you possess great speaking skills you possess an edge over most people.
You’ll:
 Do More in your career - you’ll be more visible in the company so
you’ll get new opportunities; you’ll get promoted up the career ladder
faster and quicker than those you lack speaking skills because the
truth is, people associate good speaking skills with good leadership
skills.
 Have better self Esteem - you’ll feel better about yourself. You’ll feel
more confident, not just when speaking in public, but also when
you’re in social situations. The confidence you gain from good public
speaking skills carries over into other aspects of your personal life
 Lead Effectively - One of the objectives of a great leader is to clearly
articulate a vision for the team. If you possess good speaking skills,
it’s easier to articulate that vision and inspire and motivate people
towards that vision.
Once you master the art of public speaking, you will see new doors
opening up for you. If you lack speaking skills…well, I don’t even want to
think about that!

6. How will you encourage the use of
vocabulary in public speaking? How different
is the use than in writing?
Writing and speaking are very different. When we write we tend to use
vocabulary that we don’t normally use when we speak - we use longer
words and longer sentences.
One of the mistakes most speakers make is that they give speeches which
sound more like written documents than speeches. The best way to
overcome this is to speak conversationally. Use words which you
normally use when speaking with friends. Don’t use any words you don’t
use in everyday conversations. Make sure that what you’re saying on stage
feels natural to you.
Speaking conversationally is the best way I know of to connect with
your audience. Audience members don’t want to be preached down to. They
don’t want someone they can connect with on a personal level.
How can a speaker finish off his wide range
of topics, within a stipulated time frame?
What is the most important thing to
remember here?
Here’s the process I suggest you follow:
 Start with a Core Message - what’s the single most important
point you want to make? The reason we have a core message is that it
keeps our speech tightly focused. Next, brainstorm all possible points
that help you clarify the core message. How many points should you

7. make? General rule of thumb is to use 10 minutes for every major
point you make, which means that if you’ve been given 40 minutes to
speak, you might only make 4 points.
 Rehearse Your Presentation - rehearse in front of a live audience
- your friends and family members - to make sure you’re able to
present within the time frame
 Plan to finish early. If you get 45 minutes to speak, plan to finish
speaking within 40 minutes. The audience will never complain if you
finish a couple of minutes earlier than plan.
Is public speaking an in-born talent or can it
be trained?
Public speaking is not about talent, it’s about techniques. It’s about the
tools that you have. It’s about the training you’ve received. And I know
because I’ve lived that process.
Barack Obama is considered one of the best
speakers in recent times that the world today
has had the privilege to witness. What makes
him such a superb speaker?
There are several public speaking lessons we can learn from Obama:
 High You-to-I ratio - The most important word in the English
language is the word “you”. Obama uses a lot of “you-focused”
language. He talks directly to his audience members and addresses

8. their needs and concerns rather than talking about himself.
 Conversational language - yes, his sentences are more eloquent
and more structured than in a conversation, but the language is still
conversational.
 Use of catch phrases - “Yes We Can”. Obama uses memorable
catchy phrases which he repeats several times throughout the speech
to make sure his audience remembers his message.
 Use of Stories - Obama is a masterful storyteller. Stories are
engaging. Stories connect with people. Use stories in your
presentations.