The saying goes, ‘A talk is a voyage with purpose, and it must be charted’. Aditya Maheswaran proved this with a sensational performance at the World Championship of Public Speaking this year, enthralling an audience of thousands in Las Vegas, USA.
The 28-year-old management consultant from Mumbai went on to do India proud by becoming the first Indian representative to have not only made it to the competitive finals, but to have also clinched the prestigious first runner-up position. This makes Maheswaran the ‘World Number 2’ in public speaking, a title he holds after battling it out against 40,000 contestants from across the globe over six consecutive rounds of public speaking spanning six months.
An engineer, by education, with an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Maheswaran has been speaking to varied audiences for over 10 years now, right from his college days.
On being asked the quintessential question of why public speaking mattered to an engineering student, he explains, “Like many in that age, I was an ‘angry young man’. I had tonnes of ideas; however, I did not have a medium to express them. Some take to art, some take to music, but for me, it was the stage. Over time, public speaking lent coherence to my ideas. I found that I could be an instrument of influence, and even change perspectives with words. That became my drug. I’ve used every opportunity that came my way to get better at it.”
Having travelled around the world to speak, perhaps Maheswaran is among the lucky few to have found the secret ingredient to success as a speaker. He laughs and says, “The secret ingredient to creating impact, whether it is with your child at home or with an audience from the stage, is simply the ability to look at an argument from the other person’s point of view. It’s easier said than done. If you can master this ability to anticipate reaction, predict impact and think about what would bring out the most optimum reaction from your audience, impact becomes a byproduct every single time.”
The illusion of fear
While public speaking is often regarded as one of the biggest fears in the world, Maheswaran believes that the fear is an illusion. He opines, “People often feel an immense amount of pressure before a speech because they prepare with a premise that the audience expects some magic answer from them to all their problems. The truth is that the speaker is just as human as the audience, probably with a little more knowledge in his/her field. The main job of a public speaker is, therefore, to understand that the answer is not with him, but in the room, inherent in the audience. Your role, as a speaker, then becomes that of a catalyst, who taps that answer out of the audience. This premise is powerful, and takes away the illusionary pressure.”
Just like music means nothing if an audience is deaf, a speech is powerless if the audience is not receptive to it. So, how does one handle a hostile audience? Maheswaran says, “The first few minutes of a speech play a vital role, especially when you have a hostile audience. My friends in stand-up comedy would understand this. There is no point in getting to the meat of the speech if you haven’t got your audience ready to listen to it. Hence, you need to sell yourself to the audience first, and then your speech. In most cases, if the speaker is likeable, then the message becomes likeable too. One way to do this is to just go with the flow and not force-fit your message to a template. Shift your focus to making the audience happy, rather than on completing the slides in your presentation, or narrating all the lines you’ve learnt. Also, as a speaker, you must remember that as long as you show the audience you are in control, you are in control. Even if you’ve forgotten a point or two, continue with your speech. The audience doesn’t know the script that’s in your head!”
While public speaking is often defined as the ‘art of making speeches in public’, can it be ignored if one’s profession doesn’t demand it? “The principles of public speaking, for that matter any skill, is philosophy. They are applicable to much wider contexts, and in this case, to all forms of human interaction. For example, some speakers maintain eye contact with a large audience by dividing the audience into four quadrants, and looking at each quadrant from the stage.
However, the principle behind it is simply to give attention to who you’re speaking to. Speakers structure their speeches into a definite opening, a body with not more than three points and a conclusion. But the principle behind it is simply to ensure a structured and clear thought-process. As you can see, the principles of public speaking are applicable to all forms of communication — be it a presentation in the office, or a conversation over coffee. That’s why I teach people principles, not rules. It’s like teaching someone fishing, instead of giving a fish,” he elaborates.
So, what’s next on the road for the champion speaker? “I want to help people reach their optimum potential by instilling excellence in what they do. I’ve started doing that on my Facebook page (facebook.com/adityaspeaks). Also, my profession as a consultant makes me work with the top teams of organisations. Most organisations create strategies, implement systems and processes but forget that it is people who make these strategies work and bring these processes to life. My aspiration now is to help organisations tap their people power to create a more accountable and an engaged workforce,” he signs off.
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