Start Perfecting Your Public Speaking Acumen in High School
Summary:
The art of public speaking is a valuable skill for any politician. Students can start their journey by taking online law, politics, and leadership courses in high school.
Key Points: Practice the five C’s to perfect your public speaking skills:
- Connection
- Context
- Construct
- Catchphrase
- Complexity
President Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope.”
Winston Churchill’s “Our Finest Hour.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy.”
John F. Kennedy’s “Address During the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Throughout history, great political leaders have had one thing in common: they give compelling, memorable, relevant speeches that connect them with their audience. It's among the cruxes of a successful campaign. And while the language, passion, purpose, and platforms of speeches change, the details of what makes an effective political speech has more or less remained the same throughout time.
But what makes for a good speech? And what relevant college prep courses for teens are available? First, let’s touch on the five C’s.
The five C’s of successful political speeches
Focusing on these five tips will help you craft your own speeches to successfully present to your target audience:
- Connection: The ability to connect with the audience is likely the most crucial factor to a successful speech. Speak to what the audience needs or wants to hear and how it affects you.
- Context: Crafting your speech with your audience in mind — what they desire, hope, feel, need — and working these feelings into your speech provides context into their personal lives. This includes addressing current relative socio-cultural events.
- Construct: Speeches looking to solicit opinion require building a contrasting case, i.e., this is the present, but this could be the better future; here are your problems, and here’s how we’ll fix it. This common problem-solution model gives a good frame of reference for the assurances made.
- Catchphrase: Central messages can get lost in lengthy speeches, making it difficult for the audience to identify the key takeaways. It also leaves ideas up for interpretation. Memorable catch phrases can add longevity and memorability to a message.
- Complexity: Knowing your audience well can help you regulate the complexity of your speech to levels comfortable to them. Speaking about matters that aren’t relative to what the audience experiences in daily life will only lead to dissociation.
Successful political leaders spend years practicing their public-speaking craft. But if you’re a high school student with political aspirations, high school enrichment programs in leadership, law, and government are a masterful way to get started.
Politics, law, and leadership pre-college courses for high school students
Shaped by political policy, laws, and government regulations, the U.S. legal system adapts to realities on the ground and the choices made by politicians. Offered by Georgetown University, U.S. Politics and Government: To Form a More Perfect Union examines what Americans care about most and the questions that challenge our culture. Hear from politics and government experts from Georgetown, as well as former Chiefs of Staff for the Senate and the Speaker of the House, respectively.
Also from Georgetown, Becoming a Leader: Motivate, Inspire, and Persuade helps you identify various leadership styles (including your own), explore the circumstances that call for each, practice effective leadership tools, and uncover ways to motivate others using your unique strengths. Learn to navigate challenges and hear from renowned leaders in the fields of politics, finance, research, medicine, and more.
Northwestern University offers an exciting law course, Law: From Interview to Argument. Here’s your chance to act as a lawyer to support a hypothetical client from the initial interview, through the court process and the oral argument. Discover the essential legal reasoning and communication skills needed to think and persuade like an attorney. Immerse yourself in everything from client communication to courtroom presentations, and learn to effectively write in various areas of the law.
For high school students with political aspirations, working to improve your public speaking skills and studying law, leadership, and politics while in high school is a great place to start.
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