When we think of public speakers, we consider them to be the men and women who have the confidence and charisma to address a crowd. What many of us do not know is that on a daily basis a lot of these influential people, such as music performers to politicians, have to practice getting over their communication apprehension. Though the audience doesn’t consider the speaker’s inner emotions and rather focuses on the content being presented, the speaker feels the opposite. They are experiencing the adrenaline flowing through their body or the clamminess beginning to take form on their hands and when this happens, we let our fear get the best of us and begin to show it through our body language or in our voice. That being said, The Real King’s Speech provides a great example of an influential leader who, unfortunately, has poor public speaking skills, which can be recognized through a thorough analysis of the speech.
As the speech begins, the audience can see the nervousness of the speaker, especially as he consistently has to look down at his note card to see what he has written. It would have been more effective for the speaker to recite every few sentences from memory and look forward into the crowd to show confidence in his words. Furthermore, the pace at which he is speaking sounds very robotic as he takes a pause between what seems every word. This doesn’t allow for a quality flow of the speech to take place and the audience could find it very easy to lose attention. We can see this at around a 1 minute and 7 seconds when the speaker takes a very long pause. In my opinion, I almost see this as George making a pause for emphasis or if he is consciously trying to enunciate the word “pavilion”. If he had chosen a few words here and there in the speech to really emphasize the point he was trying to make, it would have had a more effective impact in getting the point across. The tone of the speakers voice throughout the speech is very monotone and does not change when hitting certain emphasis points. For example, at around 1 minute and 35 seconds, George is making a point to recognize an achievement, one would think that his voice would sound more upbeat and excited when describing the “…enterprise and enthusiasm…” of the people. Instead, he continues with the same tone making it seem as if there is nothing to be excited about. The speaker needs to make sure that the action words they decide to stress in their speech are emphasized to hammer home their point. Lastly, it seemed as if George was using the podium as a barrier to cover the notes he had made for himself. If he had practiced and paced around the stage, he may have been able to clear some of his butterflies away and give a great speech.
In conclusion, it was obvious to point out the public speaking mistakes that the speaker had. From the tone and rhythm of his words to the poor pronunciation of his words, George had a problem with his communication apprehension. Fortunately, he was able to practice getting over his fears and by the end of his term he was able to give more confident speeches to his audience. This goes to show that no matter who you are, you will always have a little bit of stage fright that can be conquered.
