The 110 techniques of communication and public speaking | David JP Phillips

David JP Phillips is a public speaker, coach and renowned TEDx speaker.

In this talk, he explains that he dedicated time to analysing 5,000 public speakers from all over the world to understand “what makes a good speaker good, what makes a great speaker great, and what makes an outstanding speaker outstanding.”

From his studies, he created a list of 110 core skills that we can all learn to improve in public speaking.

“The more of them you fulfil, the greater you are”

One of the key takeaways in this talk is that these are skills, not talents.

There is often an argument that being able to stand in front of a group of people to speak or present is a talent.

But in this video, David is quick to highlight that skills can’t be learnt, practiced and developed.

And if you follow his 110 core skills, anyone can become a confident and established speaker.

Here are some of the tips he shares in the talk:

Stepping forward increases focus
Tilting your head to the side increases empathy
Changing the pace of what you’re saying increases focus on your words,
Lowering your body increases trust,
Lowering your voice creates anticipation and
Using pauses gets audiences attention.

He shares 5 of his most important skills that he focuses on when he is coaching:

Using open body language
Stepping forward into focus
Use functional gesturing
Slow your speaking pace down
Use pauses to add impact

I’ve followed a lot of these skills and techniques and worked hard on honing in on the ones I need to work on more.

Being aware of how you’re speaking, what you’re saying and what you do when you are speaking are essential to becoming a better speaker and/or presenter.

This video gives so many tiny lessons we can all learn from and improve our communication skills.

This is one of my Top 5 TED Talks to Improve Public Speaking.