How do you make yourself understood? Sometimes I overhear a conversation where someone is clearly having difficulty understanding. After you get the message that, you have not been understood simply repeating, the message is not your best option. Reasons for not being understood can be varied. For instance, dropping the endings of words in English can cause a great deal of confusion. “Fine” and “find” are only different by one letter in the final position. Clearly articulating the end of words can increase your intelligibility.

When someone is not clearly understood, it is left to the listener to ask for clarification. In a one on one conversation, this is not difficult and asking, “What did you say” may be inconvenient, but most are willing. Nothing is lost. However, when speaking in front of a group, relying on the listener request for clarification will result in the loss of attention of your audience.

Today a student asked me why he had to take college preparatory classes when he wanted to become an auto mechanic. It was hard to explain to him how adults have decided that every child has to be college bound even if their strengths lie in another direction. This student knew that he needed hands on learning experiences, but there are none available that his family feels would be safe.

Sometimes our greatest challenge is to recognize our unique strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, when you are a child even if you do understand your own learning style, well meaning adults still direct your life. That can mean feeling powerless as you struggle to study academics that do not speak to your core needs or interest.

I recognize that blogging is a challenge for me, not because I don’t have ideas. No, it’s a challenge because writing for me requires some passion and time. However, I realize there is so much to say about working with people that struggle with communication. I am going to link my blogging to my twittering, so join me on Twitter to see what question I have posed and give me your ideas.

Another quality that is necessary for good public speak is intelligibility. Can the listener understand each word? This is were accent comes into play. I love a beautiful accents, but Americans unfortunately are not accustomed to strong accent variation. Therefore when making presentations to Americans it is important to be intelligible if you want to be effective.

Have you ever been to a conference and afterward felt motivated to conqueror new challenges? What is it that makes someone an effective speaker? Is it simply the words? I would love comments on what qualities people have admired in a good speaker.

Public speaking can be difficult for most of us. Speaking in front of strangers requires good verbal and nonverbal communication. I attended a lecture were the speaker spoke very quickly and mumbled, constantly looked down, and had a thick accent. Needless to say, he was difficult to understand which was too bad because he had interesting things to say. When speaking in public volume, tone, breath support and non-verbal language can distract from the verbal message being imparted.