Chapter 5

Sharpening Your Oral Communication Skills

Almost all of us find that speaking before a large audience is not something that comes naturally. On many occasions when I have taught oral presentation modules to EMBA students, MBA students, and executives, I have asked these audiences to identify the top five human fears, and speaking before a group always makes the list. I, too, can remember the first public presentation I had to make and how much anxiety I felt. However, I learned to tackle oral presentations using a systematic approach. This strategy helped me to become more comfortable speaking before a group.

Recently a colleague came up to me after I had spoken to our department. He said, “You are just a natural when it comes to public ...

Get Communication Strategies for Today's Managerial Leader now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.