In today’s world, communication skills have become a very important part of students’ life. It helps them communicate effectively during their academic years and if they have good oratory skills, it becomes a plus point for them later in their career in a competitive world where thousand others have the same degree.

During school, college and university life, there are many moments and opportunities which allow students to nourish and improve their communication skills. And if availed effectively, they turn out to be very useful. One example is debating clubs or societies that exist in many schools and colleges. These clubs provide students with a chance to hone their verbal skills, and test them in front of a large audience. When participating in debates, one has to put all his/her efforts into making a speech as effective as it can be, touching as many hearts as possible and impressing the jury enough to award a prize.

One form of public-speaking is oration, which is particularly widespread in Pakistan, unlike other countries. This is a very interesting genre of debate in which you are given a topic and a few minutes to prepare yourself to have your say. And unless there are certain things encompassed into your little speech, you can’t win the audience’s hearts or a trophy.

Here are a few things that an oratory speech must have:

Uninterrupted smoothness

Try not to stop while delivering the speech. Even if you forget the point you are making, simply carry on with the flow and switch to the other point smoothly, not letting the audience know that you were stuck because you forgot something or got confused.

Your rhetoric

The dictionary meaning for the word rhetoric is ‘using language effectively to please and persuade’. And that’s indeed how language is used in an oration. It is utilised to excite the audience and also to convince them about the topic you are speaking on. And for this, you need to know how exactly people feel about the topic, observe their facial expressions then add the right phrases, words and sometimes, verses accordingly.

You are successful in your rhetoric when you see your audience giving you an enthusiastic response. Remember, ordinary or commonly-used words do not do the trick. You have to research to find the correct vocabulary that not only contains the meaning of what you want to say, but also adds a certain beauty to your delivery.

Time management

Finally, never lose track of the seconds while making a speech. You ought to have rehearsed an oration time and again before, and when it’s the time to make the speech, you must be able to accurately correlate your speech and the time allotted. Speakers often lose track of the time and speak too much or not enough in the mandatory time which affects how they are judged by the jury. You should always have some back-up points to be inserted into the speech in case you fall short of the content. Or be ready to skip a few unnecessary points if you see that you’re falling short of the time. — S.L.