What to consider?

Even though we all know that image talks better than a thousand words, good public speaking skills could help you express your knowledge, experience more fluently, engaging, convincing, and leave a stronger impact on the audience.

Before you meet your audience, you should, first of all define the purpose of your speech. Do you want to convince the audience to choose your product or service? Or maybe you want to engage your audience in open debate. How long your talk should be? 15-minute TED talk? Or a 2-hour open lecture in the several hundred-seat auditorium? or a serious negotiation with your future boss? All of these and many other examples could be used to communicate important messages about green transition.

Similarly significant is your target audience. Together with speech purpose, they determine all the following points – what materials you should prepare, what language you will use, how you should behave, just to name a few.

Good preparation for your speech should be done in advance and very thoroughly. Nothing gives you more confidence than knowing your subject.

During your presentation, you should also consider your body language and voice techniques. One of the preparation steps could be filming yourself while giving the speech and afterwards reviewing it. Did you move a lot? Did you tend to “speak with your hands”? Do you make eye contact with your audience easily? However, more importantly than your movements or not movements, do you look confident? Is your pronunciation clear? Does your talk sound convincing?

However, if it is hard for you to evaluate the video critically, ask a colleague to help you. This exercise could be very beneficial for both of you.

So far, we discussed the more theoretical side of public speaking. However, examples could be very telling as well. These examples are selected from various fields when public speaking made an impact on innovations, their development and implementation as well as public perception.

Let’s begin with the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. It was released in 2006. The movie followed Al Gore’s lectures on climate change. There, he discussed the causes and consequences of climate change. According to the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University research on this movie’s impact on society, conducted in 2007, concluded that “Sixty-six percent of viewers who claimed to have seen An Inconvenient Truth said the film had “changed their mind” about global warming and eighty-nine per cent said watching the movie made them more aware of the problem. More importantly, three out of four (74%) viewers said they changed some of their habits as a result of seeing the film.”

The next example is partly from business and partly from academia. Blue Economy project aims to instigate a paradigm-shifting approach to sustainability. Pauli Gunter, a visionary entrepreneur and environmentalist, presents various innovative strategies, outlined in his acclaimed talks, demonstrate how sustainable business models can simultaneously promote economic growth, preserve marine ecosystems, and address pressing environmental challenges. His compelling public speaking engagements illuminate the potential of harnessing the oceans’ vast resources to drive green transition initiatives worldwide.

The last example arrives from India. Vandana Shiva, a scientist and activist, in 1991 she started the project Navdanya, in Hindu it means “Nine Seeds,” or “New Gift”. Through her life work and inspiring speeches, Vandana seeks to inspire local farmers to preserve local species and varieties of crops. The project Navdanya formed over 40 seed banks in India.

These examples show how people, through their work and talk, have inspired change. All of them did and still continue to influence societies, businesses, and the public sector. They all pushed for a more sustainable future. What examples do you know?