Let us consider the following question: Is there a correlation between how wise, knowledgeable and intelligent you are, and how well you speak?
Often, when I asked my participants attending my workshop on what are the requirements needed to be a great speaker or trainer, knowledge as a factor would often emerge. In other words, many people believe if you want to be a great speaker, if you want to earn the right to stand on stage and give a speech or lecture to an audience, you will need to be a subject matter expert on the topic you are speaking about.
To a large extent, they are right. As Scott Berkun mentioned in his book Confessions of a Public Speaker, "All good public speaking is based on good private thinking." The acquisition of greater knowledge and wisdom can potentially improve private thinking, earning the speaker the right to stand on stage and address the audience on topics he is knowledgeable in.
Hence, to a good extent, this relationship implicitly implies that one has to acquire knowledge first before speaking about this knowledge as a speaker.
However, here is the good news! The inverse relationship can also be true: It is possible that you can speak about a topic (the knowledge) first, and learn about it at the same time or thereafter!
How can this be done?
According to Edgar Dale, a prominent American educationist who developed the Cone of Learning (see the following diagram), the best way to learn is by doing the real thing, or by simulating the real experience. If we do so, 90% of what we learned potentially gets retained after two weeks.
However, in the event that an opportunity to do the real thing or simulate the real experience isn't available, the next best way to learn is via doing a presentation, giving a talk or through active participation in a discussion. Via these methods of active learning involvement, about 70% of information we learned gets potentially retained after two weeks. And if you realize, these modes of active learning involvement all pertain to public speaking! In other words, public speaking helps you learn better!
This is the reason why universities and schools are so active in encouraging their students to speak up in class these days. Vocalization of ideas, initiating debates and discussions and giving presentations in the classroom are often encouraged in these modern institutes, departing from traditional learning methods such as rote learning and the memorization of facts.
In contrast, according to Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning, only 10% of information gets retained via reading after two weeks!
I'm not trying to imply that reading is bad. Rather, we learn better by what we speak about, especially in situations where an immediate opportunity to "learn by doing" is absent. Hence, whenever we learn something new from our books, start speaking about it to somebody, as soon as possible. For example, if you read about a new method of managing your finances, then tell a friend about what you have just read at the best available opportunity. Teach somebody about the new knowledge you acquired, or enter into a discussion about the topic.
If you often discuss about Korean dramas or the latest Hollywood blockbusters with your friends, these are the information that gets retained. If you discuss about relevant and insightful knowledge that has significance to your personal and career goals, then these vital information gets retained. You will remember better what you speak about, so if you speak about topics of value, you remember better the topics of value.
In conclusion, according to Edgar Dale, we tend to learn better by what we "do", followed by what we "say", and we retain lesser information when we "hear", "observed" or "read" about these information. When absent the chance to do the real thing or simulate the real experience, we can use public speaking as a learning tool to enhance our knowledge retention rate by about 7 times, just by speaking about it. Be a valuable lifelong learner, learn public speaking.
Often, when I asked my participants attending my workshop on what are the requirements needed to be a great speaker or trainer, knowledge as a factor would often emerge. In other words, many people believe if you want to be a great speaker, if you want to earn the right to stand on stage and give a speech or lecture to an audience, you will need to be a subject matter expert on the topic you are speaking about.
To a large extent, they are right. As Scott Berkun mentioned in his book Confessions of a Public Speaker, "All good public speaking is based on good private thinking." The acquisition of greater knowledge and wisdom can potentially improve private thinking, earning the speaker the right to stand on stage and address the audience on topics he is knowledgeable in.
Hence, to a good extent, this relationship implicitly implies that one has to acquire knowledge first before speaking about this knowledge as a speaker.
However, here is the good news! The inverse relationship can also be true: It is possible that you can speak about a topic (the knowledge) first, and learn about it at the same time or thereafter!
How can this be done?
According to Edgar Dale, a prominent American educationist who developed the Cone of Learning (see the following diagram), the best way to learn is by doing the real thing, or by simulating the real experience. If we do so, 90% of what we learned potentially gets retained after two weeks.
However, in the event that an opportunity to do the real thing or simulate the real experience isn't available, the next best way to learn is via doing a presentation, giving a talk or through active participation in a discussion. Via these methods of active learning involvement, about 70% of information we learned gets potentially retained after two weeks. And if you realize, these modes of active learning involvement all pertain to public speaking! In other words, public speaking helps you learn better!
This is the reason why universities and schools are so active in encouraging their students to speak up in class these days. Vocalization of ideas, initiating debates and discussions and giving presentations in the classroom are often encouraged in these modern institutes, departing from traditional learning methods such as rote learning and the memorization of facts.
In contrast, according to Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning, only 10% of information gets retained via reading after two weeks!
I'm not trying to imply that reading is bad. Rather, we learn better by what we speak about, especially in situations where an immediate opportunity to "learn by doing" is absent. Hence, whenever we learn something new from our books, start speaking about it to somebody, as soon as possible. For example, if you read about a new method of managing your finances, then tell a friend about what you have just read at the best available opportunity. Teach somebody about the new knowledge you acquired, or enter into a discussion about the topic.
If you often discuss about Korean dramas or the latest Hollywood blockbusters with your friends, these are the information that gets retained. If you discuss about relevant and insightful knowledge that has significance to your personal and career goals, then these vital information gets retained. You will remember better what you speak about, so if you speak about topics of value, you remember better the topics of value.
In conclusion, according to Edgar Dale, we tend to learn better by what we "do", followed by what we "say", and we retain lesser information when we "hear", "observed" or "read" about these information. When absent the chance to do the real thing or simulate the real experience, we can use public speaking as a learning tool to enhance our knowledge retention rate by about 7 times, just by speaking about it. Be a valuable lifelong learner, learn public speaking.
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