What Are Essential Oratory Skills? (And How To Improve Them)

Updated 30 September 2022

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Oratory skills play an important role in enhancing the personal and professional success of individuals. You can develop public-speaking skills and practice them regularly. Having excellent public-speaking skills can help professionals to perform better in the workplace. In this article, we learn how to develop oratory skills and explore different ways to become an excellent orator.

What are oratory skills?

Oratory skills are the fluency and speaking skills of an individual. Great orators possess several skill sets which allow them to deliver extraordinary speeches in public. Anyone with excellent speaking skills can become an excellent public speaker.

Here are some essential skills to be a great orator:

Confidence

Having confidence while speaking can make the audience feel you have command and understanding of what you are saying. Confident orators are often more likeable and believable among their audiences. Confidence allows a speaker to deliver relevant content and be clear and concise while speaking. Prepare a basic outline of your entire speech and use your creativity around those outlines before speaking in public.

Passion

Having a passion for what you are speaking can help you give speeches in a convincing and genuine way. Passion increases the authenticity of the content, which leads to the credibility of the speaker among the audience. Speaking in a low voice is usually ideal. With passion, orators can convey their message even while speaking in a very low tone.

Storytelling

Storytelling helps orators to convey their message in a much more efficient way, as the audience is more likely to remember an interesting story. Orators with good storytelling skills keep their audience entertained by allowing them to form an image in their mind, which helps them to memorise the content. Involving storytelling in speeches can show your humane side and increase the interest of the audience.

Eye contact

Making eye contact with the audience while giving a speech can make your personality look more confident and your content more believable. When orators make eye contact with their audience, it can make them more authoritative and believable. Making eye contact with one person at a time can help to engage the focus of the audience in the same direction. Looking someone directly in the eye can make them look back at you and create a sense of connection.

Importance of orating skills

Speaking skills can be an important factor when advancing your career or getting a promotion. With the help of excellent public speaking skills, you can showcase your other skills and abilities. Speaking in front of others with confidence can help in getting noticed and advancing in your career. Orators who can speak fluently in public or in front of any size of the audience often get a chance to lead meetings and presentations.

Here are some more benefits of speaking skills:

increase self-confidence of the individual
improve research skills
enhance the ability to advocate for the right reasons and the causes

Tips for developing skills of a good orator

Here are some important tips and advice you can consider for developing skills to become an excellent orator:

1. Read and write great speeches

Preparing and reading a well-organised piece of writing can help you develop public speaking skills. Pick any relevant topic and write a five-minute speech on it. Divide your speech into several parts, such as introduction, body and the final conclusion. Introduction includes an overview of the topic you are providing to the audience before heading to the specific details. The conclusion includes final thoughts related to the introduction part of the speech and the body contains the main part of the content.

You can also use the following methods while reading or writing speeches:

structuring sentences to develop an engaging approach
using specific words to create vivid imagery and impact
emphasising certain points with confidence
pausing after certain words or statements for dramatic effect

2. Build confidence

Practice in front of the mirror to ensure you are aware of what you want to say and how you want to say it and prepare accordingly. This can help you grow your confidence. Audiences can decide within a brief time whether the orators are confident enough with their content. You can increase your confidence while speaking with the help of the following steps:

practice short speeches at first, then slowly build your confidence before going for long speeches
select a location where you are more familiar with the people as it can be helpful in making your speeches less stressful
select a topic you are comfortable with and gather as much information as you can
keep all the things together and organise them well before speaking

3. Practice public speaking

Practising public speaking can help you gain the confidence to speak in front of an audience and deliver a more effective speech. It increases your presentation skills and makes you more familiar with the content that you are going to deliver. You can use the following steps for practising speaking skills:

prepare a checklist of the aspects you need to work on
practice your speech with someone you know, like a friend, or you can practice with your coach
practice giving a speech in front of a group and get insights and feedback where you need to make improvements

Use of an orator's skills in the workplace

Here is how you can apply your orating skills according to different situations in the workplace. From conversing with your teammates to pitching potential clients, these skills can help you perform better in many ways. Here are some common uses of excellent public speaking skills:

Team meetings

Professionals who lead team meetings often have excellent public speaking skills. They are able to effectively communicate with their team and lead the staff meeting. If you are a professional working in the management team, then your job may require taking the lead during a meeting. This can be an excellent way to show your leadership and public speaking skills in the workplace.

Official presentations

Many job roles may require giving staff presentations to introduce a new product or project, pitch to a new client or bring changes in the organisation. With the help of good orator skills, you can easily convey information to other professionals at the office. You can utilise both your verbal and non-verbal communication skills while giving presentations.

Sales pitches

The day-to-day duties of many professionals involve making sales pitches for a variety of groups. Effective communication and speaking skills help them to deliver their pitch and demonstrate the company's proposal in a positive way. With the help of good public speaking skills, you can make your pitch more engaging to the clients. This can help the business generate better sales.

Business conferences

Business conferences can be an excellent opportunity to advance in your industry and improve your career prospects. Effective speaking skills can help you give an informative speech, leaving a positive impression on the audience. You can also effectively communicate with different individuals from the industry and expand your business network.

Training

Some job roles involve teaching and training their juniors or teammates. A good public speaker can convey both technical and non-technical concepts in an efficient way. For example, instructors and educators use their speaking skills to provide relevant information to their students.

Ways to improve orating skills in the workplace

Here are some of the helpful tips you can follow to improve orating skills in the workplace:

Plan and practice your speech at least once on the day of your speech.
Get a good sleep on the night before your meeting or presentation, as a long and good sleep can enhance your performance by keeping your mind fresh and rejuvenated.
Motivate yourself by saying positive things to keep your confidence and motivation up.
Keep only positive thoughts on your mind and have confidence in yourself to perform well.
Calm yourself and collect your mind together so that you can put all of your focus on the speech delivery.
Dress well and according to the venue as the audience in front of you.
Communicate with the audience as your friends.
End your speech on a strong and positive note.