How speaking well can change you as a person

We had a political debate in school where representatives from all of the parties in Sweden were invited to participate. It was one of the bigger events I ever attended during my gymnaisum studies, as we rarely gathered all of the students all at once.

One of the participants had terrible microphone technique, and it so happened to be the representative of the party that I sympathised with the most. But when she spoke, the whole room filled with grins and people keeping their hands over their ears.

The result was me walking away from there thinking I’d change my political views, just because of that one impression from the party. It was really a big thing for me as I was pretty convinced about my political standpoint entering the room and shaken when I left.

The thing is, we’re all pretty easy to convince of things as soon as we like someone. And equally so when we don’t like someone.

This, of course, can be used to your advantage. Making people like you isn’t that hard after all.

If you want to make sure that people think well of you, do think of the basics in rhetoric. Stand straight, smile and speak well. It makes such a big difference.