Jill Foster

As soon as I walked into the classroom, the guest speaker Jill Foster warmly greeted me. Her bubbly personality helped wake me from my sleepy morning stage. Foster’s personality transferred over to a passionate speech about public speaking. She gave us very interesting tips on how to give public speeches.

Foster started out by telling us a story of a public speaking incident that greatly influence her life. She used to work in corporate sales at Borders bookstore. Foster, who had just returned from vacation, had an order for a customer that was not complete. When she met with the customer, the customer exploded by yelling and cursing at Foster. Foster remained calm while the customer raged. She came back the next day with the complete order. The customer, who had since calmed down, asked Foster what were the persuasive elements that were used in the conversation. To help Foster answer this question, she gave Foster four questions. The first question was what point of view did you represent? The second question was what was her point of view and did it have merit? The third question was what was at stake in the conversation and the last question was how did her emotions persuade/detour the outcome?

Foster still uses these questions to help train women on public speaking. The point of view that a person represents is focused around how clearly the point of view is interpreted by the audience. The clearer the point of view, the bigger the audience you will have because they will understand the message. The point of view must have merit so people will trust what the speaker is talking about. What is at stake in the conversation is also important. The speaker needs to understand what they are putting on the line when they are speaking. In Foster’s case, she was putting on the line losing a customer. Technology such as the Internet also incorporates into this question. Information that people put onto social sites such as Facebook or Twitter can affect the way a message is perceived causing the message to be at greater stake. Emotions also play an important factor into a public speech. If someone is angry giving a speech about something that is supposed to be positive, the audience may not see it as positive. Emotions greatly impact the way the speech is perceived so speakers want to be passionate about their topics. Foster said that “the sooner you show passion, it is your benefit.”

Foster also gave other great tips about speeches. She told us to find a greater commonality among the audience such as if most of the people in the audience were from one specific area, talk about something that relates to them. Foster also told us to be enriching and use visuals that are effective.

Jill Foster gave a really great speech on tips for public speaking. Her speech was filled with great energy, which made it hard to not pay attention. Foster’s four questions seem really useful for not only public speaking but also personal conversations. Overall Jill Foster did a really great job of giving us tips that will help every last one of us.

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