I don’t know about being a good writer, but I can say that I am a very confident speaker. Writing is static while speech is much more fluid. They have many things in common but I think they differ enough that improving one will not help to appreciably improve the other.
I have no trouble speaking to crowds or to other people and they seem to enjoy it as well. In high school I used to love to get up in front of the class and wing it for a presentation. I’ve found that the only way to get better at rhetoric is by practicing. Converse and debate with as many people as you can, you’ll find yourself getting better in no time.
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Originally Posted by Swisivo
When I say "speaking", I'm talking about being able to tell a story in an interesting, vivid way. I'm talking about the ability to clearly and concisely explain things on the fly. Also, I'm talking about being able to defuse an argument, convince people, and to command affinity and respect.
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Some tips from personal experience:
If you want to tell an interesting story, practice it over and over again. Have it committed to memory; people who tell interesting stories have often told the same one hundreds of times. Another tip is to lie. The truth is often boring and tedious. If you really want to make people laugh or keep them riveted you have to lie.
If you want to be able to clearly and concisely explain yourself, then there’s only one solution. Know what you’re talking about. Understand the subject at hand as best as you can and at the very least better than the person who you’re conversing with.
If you want to convince people, well then you might want to bring along a gun next time you have a debate. When someone has already made up their mind about something it usually takes years to change it. On the other hand, convincing people of something they don’t already have an opinion on is easy. All you have to do is sound smart.
Things such as gaining respect, commanding affinity and defusing an argument have little to do with the speaking part of communication in my mind. They have to do with how you present yourself physically(body language), what sort of qualifications you have, and what position of authority you have in the group.