Quora Answer: How Do I become a Powerful Public Speaker?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “I want to become a powerful public speaker.  I have zero experience now.  Where do I start?” 

The very first thing you need to do is examine your motivations.  There must be a reason why you want to become a “powerful public speaker”.  Everything we do starts with our intentions.  If we are not clear with our intentions, we will not succeed.  When we do not know where we are, we will never be able to get where we imagine we want to go. 

People become public speakers as a consequence of conviction or belief in a cause.  What is the issue you feel so strongly about that you want to be a spokesman for that cause?  Conviction must be married to credibility.  What is your credibility to speak on that subject?  If you do not have that credibility, no one will listen.  We earn our voice. 

The third thing to do is actually join a programme or organisation that affords you an opportunity to master the art of rhetoric.  The most well-known such organisation is Toastmasters.  Toastmasters is also a platform where you work to gain credibility as a speaker, which addresses the first two points.