Why is Public Speaking such an important skill?

Question

I have been told that becoming a good public speaker is one of the most important skills one should obtain. Why is that? I get my thought across on paper, but still, I hear that speaking directly with others is a better way to get my points across. Is this true?

Answer 1

Hello there! So, my name is Julian, and I teach both writing and speaking. As a writer, I am a PhD scholar, a professional editor, and I also enjoy writing poetry, song, creative fiction, and so on. I am saying all of this because I want to communicate that I love and admire writing as an art form and a beautiful form of communication.

But the truth is, writing is quite specialized. If you think about it, writing didn't exist until about 5,500 years ago. Even then, it was only in the last CENTURY that the majority of the world became literate. So until very very recently, speaking and listening was the only form of linguistic communication available to most people.

Now we are literate, and we emphasize literacy in schools. This is traditional because literacy is a mark of the educated class and a premier skill of education. But this is changing, because nowadays, multimedia digital technologies are making it possible to communicate with individuals, groups, and audiences all around the world in speech and video.

As a professional these days, in most fields, your most important skill is not going to be your reading and writing, but rather your speaking and listening. Whether you're working in a corporate office or university or working from home, unless you are really a specialized editor or writer, most of your work these days will be effective oral communication with others. This might involve making videos to share online, or it might involve giving a presentation or participating in team meetings at work, or it might involve tutoring students on Wyzant. In any case, the world is moving increasingly away from the purely written word and toward multimedia communication. Effectiveness in multimedia communication involves a number of skills, but certainly one of the big ones is public speaking and its related masteries.

Answer 2

10% of human communication is verbal - using words.

This is what we use when writing, which puts us at an immediate disadvantage in getting our message understood.

90% of communication is non-verbal. Non-verbal communication comes from body language, how we say words, facial expressions, etc. Mastering these skills allows us to better communicate ideas and insure understanding from others.

Public speaking skills give an individual a Competitive Edge as well as improved confidence and critical thinking skills.