Pericles was an introverted young man, quiet and avoided public appearances and speeches. He later became a great Athens statesman, orator and general, so much so that his era of rule was named after him, the Age of Pericles. This might be hard to believe that a shy person would be a renowned orator who contributed to Greek history. His enemies used this against him by saying that his speeches were written by a woman; an insult in that period in Athens.
Pericles was a great philosopher, and that is why he starts off my article; specifically because of his thoughts on oration. He said, “One who forms judgement on any point but cannot explain it clearly, might as well never have thought at all on the subject.” The first time I read this I remembered how during a debate or argument my voice cracks and my thoughts get mixed up like my brain was dropped into a blender. Maybe it would be better if I just kept quiet if I can’t translate my ideas into clear points. Why should I speak up if nobody understands or connects with what I’m saying?
I was in a meeting of youthful environmentalist discussing about protection of the Arctic sea ice. A treaty called MAPS, which seeks to protect the Arctic from rising atmospheric-temperature and human exploitation. After sharing ideas and towards the end of the discussion one person pointed out how it will be hard to convince people in Kenya that protection of the Arctic was a priority in their lives. Why would a fisherman in Lake Victoria care about a lump of ice floating in the sea on the other side of the world?
So it is important to get the wording right to convince people and their leaders that Kenya should be a signatory to the treaty. It doesn’t matter if we are a group of highly educated environmentalist or if the ice melting will accelerate global warming and action should be swift, if we can’t express that information efficiently our ideas are useless.
Dissemination of information doesn’t only happen from a professional to informal setting it happens in a lot of professional situations one common one being job interviews. Here most people usually invest in optics like companies do on public relations. Forgetting to work on their presentation of ideas as some companies do forget to invest more on the actual product they are offering. If you can’t translate what is on you CV to words that grasp the attention of the interviewer, that piece of paper isn’t worth much. And if the interviewer asks you a question and you understand but have trouble sharing your thoughts, you will end up looking confused.
In his early years Pericles lack of interaction with people helped him engage in deep reading . He indulged himself in reading philosophy and other disciplines. I am assuming this is where he learned a thing or two about speech which he used later in life. There is a lot of literature on public speaking that one can read to learn how to improve how they speak to others.
It is also important to know that most of the best speakers in the world get nervous before an important speech. Kanye West, a famous musician reduces his nervousness by imagining everyone is naked in the audience, this may not work for most so it would be crucial for you to know what works for you. Tone, facial expressions and pauses are important when speaking, Michelle Obama found out that she came off as harsh in her speeches early in the campaigns and had to change facial expressions and tone.
I always admired Barack Obama’s speeches and I thought it was natural for him. I was relieved when I learned that yes he was a brilliant thinker but still had to practise his speeches. It might be helpful to practice in front of a mirror before an interview or before addressing a forum. Practice when to pause, understand your key points and get your tone and facial expressions right. The best opportunities to learn is by getting on that stage, speaking up in that forum or just sharing a point in your church youth group. Learn from what has worked for others, get to know what works for you then speak your mind.
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