I was asked by /u/SedditDisposable a few days ago to try to explain how I self taught myself to be a better speaker, and speech writer. This post is solely devoted to answering that request, and attempting to recreate the process, so you may be able to try this as well. This will be broken up into several parts for convenience sake.

This is a tool that is intended to help you communicate better in future, whether it be a conversation, or a presentation. I also have self taught myself to write simple speeches that require ONLY prompts, and not verbatim transcripts. If this sounds like something that could help you, read on:

The What

Human speech is the main way in which we communicate, and convey ourselves to other people around us. However, just because it is universally our primary medium for communication, it doesn't mean we're necessarily any good at it. Some people stammer, some people speak too quiet, too slow, too fast. The ideal clarity and speed to speak can be found with most News readers and news anchors.

The How

To be able to speak with clarity, and pace, I did the following things to improve:

Speak to yourself

Speak to yourself at full volume. Listen to yourself, and think if someone heard that, how much of it was conveyed, how much was difficult, and how much made sense? The great thing about speaking or reading to yourself is that you are able to instantly critique your pace, pronunciation, volume, and clarity, and redo it on the spot.

Record yourself

So you just nailed the pace, and clarity, why do you have to record yourself now? The reason is because it's a different process that conveys different things to you. For example, you may learn that you actually mumble your words more than you think. You get to hear your voice as it actually is, and not how you hear it in your head. Listening to yourself may be excruciating, but it will teach you to stop "uhh"ing and "umm"ing. It also shows your nuances, so you may correct them accordingly. This will teach you how to speak with clarity, correct annunciation, and train you to remove thinking noises (uhh+Umm).

I do not recommend you practice a speech in front of other people, because in this day and age, a lot of people have lost critical judgement of communication, or they're just a tad ADD while they sit there watching you fumble over yourself. If you know your subject, you should be able to critique your own words.

Part 2 will come out whenever I write part 2.

EDIT: Part 2 available here