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DEVELOPING THE SPIRIT OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION


DEVELOPING THE SPIRIT OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Umar Farouk
Jurusan Administrasi Niaga, Politeknik Negeri Semarang
Jl. Prof.H.Sudarto, SH, Tembalang, Kotak Pos 6199/SMS Semarang 50061


ABSTRACT
Recently the news about radicalism, terrorism, social conflict et cetera have appeared in many printed and elcetronic media. In spite of the spirit to improve the quality of human communication in the global era, this fact makes most people worried of the future of international or intercultural communication.  Briefly this article discusses ethnocentrism, stereotype, world view, belief system, normative values, and attitude as the factors which can be the constraints in developing intercultural communication. Some historical overview relating to the issue of intercultural communication is also highlighted.

Keywords:  communication, culture, ethnocentrism, stereotype, world view, belief, normative values, attitude

INTRODUCTION
Interaction among human beings, as we understand, is completely complicated.  Very often people fail to communicate effectively both for the sake of their personal purposes and also for their business purposes. In daily life they often meet friends, neighbours, sellers in markets, parents and families, who surprisingly or unsuprisingly cannot perceive the delivered message correctly and proportionally so that it avoids misunderstanding. In business situation, the case seems to be similar.  Most businessmen are not successful to finish negotiations professionally, handle meetings effectively to achieve  right decisions in line with the proposed agenda, respond a telephone call in a good manner and catch the received message in the right way.
Regarding the above-mentioned fenomena of daily and business communication, it is urgent to learn communication more thoroughly and seriously. The reason is good communication skills can significantly support success in every field of life.  In personal or individual life, it is obvious that those who acquire better comunication skills will win a friendship compared to those with worse communication skills. In business environment managers with excellent communication skills will, of course, run their business successfully because as it is widely known, communication is the backbone of management.  Effective management and leadership depends on effective communication. 
It seems obvious that there are many factors which create communication barriers or constraints (many experts of communication use the term noises to represent the phenomena)  Keith Davis, Hani Handoko, and Judith Dwyer are the examples, to mention a few.
Below, are the discussions about the nature of communication, some communication noises, and factors influencing communication effectiveness, with the focus on the urgency of intercultural communication in the era of globalization.

COMMUNICATION DEFINED
Go back to the fundamental understanding of definitions of communication put forward by some experts, among others, Keith Davis, Hani Handoko, and Judith Dwyer, firstly it should  be declared and clarified that those definitions are basically similar and accommodate all communication components or phenomena of communication process.  Secondly, the different definitions only reflect the perspective of those experts in trying to give explanation about communication process resulting in giving different emphasis on certain communication issues in their respective definitions.
Keith Davis (1981: 458)states that communication is a process of transferring information  to get  understanding.  This definition looks simple and general without explicitely mentioning the role of communicators and communicants, the media used, the feedback appeared, and the disturbing noise. The focus of Davis’s definition is on the message. Hani Handoko (Zuhdi, 2011: 2) states that communication is a process of transferring information to get understanding involving non verbal language. Handoko’s definition looks a little bit different from Davis’s in that his definition clearly also gives attention on the role of non verbal language. The special attention on non verbal langugage surprisingly indicates the domination of non verbal language in a communication process as communication researchers show in their research findings.  It is widely known that more than 65% of communication effectiveness is influenced by non verbal language and only less than 35% is influenced by verbal language.  Handoko’s definition makes us more aware of the importance of non verbal languagein spite of our carelessness of functioning it.  Many people are still of the opinion that communication means verbal language.  Communication up to this extent is considered to be a real communication if non verbal languages are effectively manipulated.  Judith Dwyer (Zuhdi, 2011: 2-3) comes with a more substantial deffinition of communication, he says that communication can be considered as communication if there is a change of behaviour of the communicants receiving a message.  It is not enough, according to him, if in a communication process communicants understand both verbal and non verbal language of a communicator but he or she has no intention to obey or follow what is expected by the communicator. In other words, if there is a positive response or feedback not only verbally but more importantly by his or her action, then a communication can be regarded as a true communication.
It seems that Dwyer’s definition is very realistic in terms of its fundamental understanding in our communication life. For example, we give instruction to an employee in our  company, and he listen to us. He understands what we say because he speaks the same language but he only listens and not doing anything, of course, it makes us scarry or feel unhappy. What we expect is he does what we want him to do. This fact, arises a question: Why this happens? 

CULTURAL PERCEPTION
Keith Davis (Riyanto, Budi Utaminingtyas, and Tripriyo, 1996: 8-9) explains eight factor influencing perception, namely  self concept, experience, emotion, feeling, family, social values, hallo effect, and culture. These factors can make a communicator and a communicant have different interpretation to a delivered and received message, that can take a risk of misunderstanding. In this short article, only cultural factor is discussed with the purpose to discuss more thoroughly about the above-mentioned topic or title.
What is culture? Why shoud we understand other’s culture in communication?  Those are two questions that must be answered in this discussion. Let us begin the discussion with a funny story but gives a serious impact on communication.  It happened in 1962, when the US President, John F Kennedy visited Mexican President, Adolfo Lopez Meteos.  On the way, on a presidential car, to the Mexican presidential Palace, Kennedy looked at Meteos’s wristwatch, and  then  he said: “ What a wonderful wristwatch you have, Mr. President!”. He spoke sincerely and anthusiastically while smiling.  Listening to this admiration, spontaneously Meteos gave the wristwatch to Kennedy. He said: “This is yours Mr. President!” while releasing it from his hand.  Kennedy was extremely surprised and ashamed of what was happening. He never thought that Meteos would give his wristwatch because of his admiration. Meteos then said to him:” Our tradition teaches us to give everything which everyone likes or loves. So, this wristwach is yours, Mr. President!”. Kennedy unfortunately had to receive this unexpected gift although he felt inconvinient.  Some moments passed.  In spite of small and informal conversation in the car, Meteos said to Kennedy:” You are a lucky President, you have a pretty First Lady”. Hearing this admiration Kennedy spontaneously said: “Mr. President, please, take this wristwatch. I do not need it” (Mulyana and Rakhmat, 2010: v).
Let take another example, when we ride on an urban, a big and long bus used as public transport in Australia, we often see Australian teenagers kiss their girl friends demonstratively in front of people or in public area.  This is impolite and amoral according to Indonesians.  On the otherway round, Indonesians often begin a conversation in an urban by asking names, family, address, marital status, number of children, job and so on to Australians sitting in their side, which is considered to be impolite and nosy. It often creates misunderstanding. 
Once, a man from Indonesia went to Arab Saudi to practice pilgrimage.  When he landed from an airplane in Jeddah, an Arabian man, Syaikh, who was rensponsible for his accommodation during the pilgrimage, kissed his cheeks as the symbol of respect and honour. But, what happened, then? The Indonesian felt unhappy, scarry, and felt worried. He thought that the Arabian was a homo-sexual. He was culturally shocked.
For a Japanese pointing a hand to stomach symbolizes the intention of suicide but for Americans the willing of  suicide is expressed by pointing the forefinger to the forehead.  Whereas for people of New Guenia suicide is non verbally symbolized by putting fingers like the way someone puts a knife on his neck. Indonesians do the same way.
So, cultural differences become a serious noise in everyone’s communication. If there is no solution given, it can make intercultural communication unbeneficial or unproductive.  Therefore, it is very crucial to seek for the way how to solve these cultural constraints in communication.

WAYS TO CREATE INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
The word create semiotically has subtle different meaning from the word make. Create means developing something into exiistence which is originally new. Make, on the other hand, does not mean something new but it reflects the meaning of developing something which has been made before. Thus, it can be a repetition of a production process. To create something, we need what iscalled creativity. To be creative,  innovation in thinking process is needed. So, some serious and continuous efforts must be carried out.  It can be only successfully done supposed someone has a deep commitment to open global communication with all people of different cultural backgrounds to get mutual understanding. This is what is called intercultural communication. More obviously intercultural communication  can be defined as a form of communication that aims to share information across different cultures and social groups. It is used to describe the wide range of communication processes and problems that naturally appear within an organization or social context made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. Intercultural communication is sometimes used synonymously with cross-cultural communication, . In this sense it seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them.(Wikipedia, 9 March, 2015). To achieve all these, here are some recommended points or ways (Mulyana and Rakhmat, 2010: 26, 28) to think about:

a.   Be aware of ethnocentrism
It is a general tendency happening in all parts of the world, that people generally perceive what others do on the basis of their own cultural values. Some aspects of culture, which are fortunately the same or similar do not create any problems but some of it, whcih are unfortunately different can rise serious and even fatal problems among them. This phenomenon is called as ethnocentrism.  To develop a conducive and successful communication, ethnocentrism must be avoided.  People should develop a new philosophy in their intercultural communication, that all people in the world have the rights to express themselves in their own cultural expressions. Cultural prejudices have no rights to judge that people are right or wrong, polite or impolite, civilized or uncivilized because mutual communication among human beings will happen on  the condition that all people give symphaty and emphaty to others. They should try to understand why people are different and this is a mystery why God creates it very fantastically. Giving respect to others’ culture reflects an appreciation to God’s creation and mightyness.
It is not necessarily to repeat the dark history of Hitler in Germany and Nazi in Italy of which a nation kills another nation with hatred and arrogancy. No respect and understanding towards mankind. Intercultural communication relies on the spirit of humanism and egality of human beings apart from their races, religions, culture, ethnicity at cetera. The spirit of friendship and sincere relationship will make mutual intercultural communication possible. 
Ethnocentrism can take place in a multi racial country or among different countries, a region in a multi ethnic country and other areas in which people are culturally different. In Indonesia, for instance, there was a conllict between Madurese and Dayakese. In America, in the past time there was a war between Europeans and Indians.  Also Blacks and Whites in Social War. In smaller cultural groups of society often happens social conflicts such as what happened between Ahmadiyah and Sunni people in some cities in Indonesia and Pakistan. In India Sikh and other sects of religions often involve in a serious conflict.  Conflicts among Sunni and Syiah in Iran and Irak, as we know, almost happen along the year.
Ethnocentrism in some cases not only relates to belief in religions but also chauvinism. Groups of ethnics in some parts of the world, as noted in history, feel that their ethnicity has been created the most superior.  Jews feel the most superior in the world even up to today. They have been created as the most superior race.   It is their belief and they teach this belief through generations.  In the other parts of the world, Chinese feel that they have the greatest culture. There is no other cultures that can compete the greatness of Chinese culture. So, Chinese have the privilage to dominate other races or nations.  This belief is also culturally indoctrinated to all chinese generations.  The race of Aria in Germany, in the other side, is of the opinion that the race of Aria is the most honourable race that God ever created. Potential of racial conflicts can be very dangerous if people are not aware of the urgency to create intercultural communication to save the earth of the possible chaos and destruction. Ethnic cleansing, which ever happenned in the darkest part of the history of human beings, must be seriously avoided or prevented. 

b.Avoid stereotype
People of different cultural background very often beyond their awareness give negative appreciation to the behaviour of their counterparts.  Negative generalization is very frequently addressed to them.  For instance, Australians generally think that Chinese are greedy, aggressive, intolerant, and also economical and asocial.  The case is also what can be partly experienced in Indonesia from the point of view of Javanese. As to the Arabians living in Java, most Javanese thinks that they are economical, religious, and are proud of their ancestors. This description explains that stereotype is not the right thing to follow. This negative generalization  of ethnical characteristics is entirely bias. When we try to communicate personally to people of different ethnical background, it turns out that such generalization is not correct.  Therefore, it is factually false to communicate to people while having the stereotype in our mind.  Positive thinking is the best capital to begin interpersonal and intercultural communication.

c.  Understanding World View
Perhaps it is not simple to give definition about what is really meant by world view. Giving description and some concrete examples can make this discussion more efficient.   World view is related to those things like cultural orientation towards God, mankind, nature, universe, and some other philosophical issues concerning the concept of creation.  Briefly, world view can help us to know our position and our strata in universe.
World view is eternal and trancendent. It is the fundamental basis of culture. Moslems, of course, have a different world view compared to  Chatholics, Christians, and  Jews, to mention a few.
American Indians have the belief that human-beings are a part of universe. They cannot be seperated. They exist in partnership. They are naturally in unity. It is their world view. On the contrary, Euro-Americans have the belief that human beings are the centre of universe. They are superior. Universe is theirs. They are seperated to each other starting from their creation.  Nature and universe can be explored and exploite for the benefit of human beings.
Our understanding about world view can help us to communicate more wisely to different  people with different world views. 

d.  Understanding belief system, normative values, and attitude
Belief, such as religon often fail to create peace among its confessors or followers.  This happens not because of the teachings of the religion but because of their misinterpretation about the substance of the religious teachings.  In some parts  of the world many people treat their religion so exclusively that makes big communication gap with other followers of  different religions.  This makes interactions among them under high tension, prejudices, and in the end can create serious social conflicts.  In islamic world, different practices of ritual worships (like what is taught in fiqh /islamic legal jurisprudence) very frequently trigger social conlict. Less understanding towards others’ belief potentially can result in less intercultural communication. We also know that conflicts among different religion followers have occurred almost in all parts of the world. This is the worst fact and reality showing the lowest spirit of intercultural communication among human beings.  Allah has stated in the holy Qur’an that  He  created human  beings in different genders, namely males and females, different tribes and nations to interact to each other. He, then stated that the most honourable human beings in the face of Allah are those having the strongest belief in Allah.
To develop intercultural communication we shoud appreciate whatever the belief of others. Confessing a certain religion is everyone’s right. There is no prevelege for someone to force someone else to confess a certain religion.  Even Allah gives freedom for all human beings to follow and believe in His teachings or deny them. It is obvious that Allah wants us to live in a harmony. No discrimantion, no conflict, no war among human beings.  That is why the core of religious teachings of revelations given to all His messangers, is always about great moralism (akhlaqul karimah).  Having akhlaqul karimah as the most important quality of everyone’s personality, makes interactions among human beings in all over the world peaceful and more humanistic.  No hatred, no anger, no radicalism, and no war that make social conflicts.
The most spectacular example for the above description is in the golden era of the country;, named Madinah Al Munawwarah (the Glittering Madinah or Megapolic Madinah).  The leader of this prosperous and peaceful country was Muhammad, the last messanger of Allah.  The population of Madinah were mostly Christians and Jews.  Interestingly, the leader of this country was a moslem. Muhammad, was famous for his justice, intellectuality, humbility, and care to all his citizens and residents. Under his leadership all people in Madinah lived in prosperity and wealth. In Madinah confessors of religions and tribes lived in ideal harmony. They became brothers and tied in the spirit of humanism.  This is basically a real practice of cross cultural understanding and excellent public relations. Al Firdaus (2013:48-50) says that the outstanding of Muhammad relies on his outstanding personality (akhlaqul karimah).

Multicultural communication
In addition to the above ways to create intercultural understanding, DuPraw and Axner give the following tips written in their article entitled Guidelines for Multicultural Collaboration. (DuPraw and Axner:  http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html, 12 April 2015):
·           Learn from generalizations about other cultures, but do not use those generalizations to stereotype, "write off," or oversimplify your ideas about another person. The best use of a generalization is to add it to your storehouse of knowledge so that you better understand and appreciate other interesting, multi-faceted human beings.
·           Practice, practice, practice. That is the first rule, because it is in the doing that we actually get better at cross-cultural communication.
·           Do not assume that there is one right way (yours!) to communicate. Keep questioning your assumptions about the "right way" to communicate. For example, think about your body language; postures that indicate receptivity in one culture might indicate aggressiveness in another.
·           Do not assume that breakdowns in communication occur because other people are on the wrong track. Search for ways to make the communication work, rather than searching for who should receive the blame for the breakdown.
·           Listen actively and empathetically. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Especially when another person's perceptions or ideas are very different from your own, you might need to operate at the edge of your own comfort zone.
·           Respect others' choices about whether to engage in communication with you. Honor their opinions about what is going on.
·           Stop, suspend judgment, and try to look at the situation as an outsider.
·           Be prepared for a discussion of the past. Use this as an opportunity to develop an understanding from "the other's" point of view, rather than getting defensive or impatient. Acknowledge historical events that have taken place. Be open to learning more about them. Honest acknowledgment of the mistreatment and oppression that have taken place on the basis of cultural difference is vital for effective communication.
·           Awareness of current power imbalances -- and an openness to hearing each other's perceptions of those imbalances -- is also necessary for understanding each other and working together.
·           Remember that cultural norms may not apply to the behavior of any particular individual. We are all shaped by many, many factors -- our ethnic background, our family, our education, our personalities -- and are more complicated than any cultural norm could suggest. Check your interpretations if you are uncertain what is meant.

CONCLUSION
To create ideal and productive communication among human beings on the earth, every individual has to learn others’ cultures, tries to comprehend and understand them as an inherent part of  life existence. Mutual interaction will only happen if every individual has awareness that intercultural understanding is the best solution for global communication.  Diversities should not create irrational prejudices, ethnocentrism, chauvinism and so on which cause social conflicts.
God has created human beings differently in terms of their races, cultures, languages, beliefs, and so forth to make life more colourful, beautiful, and meaningful.  It is in the opposite side of natural law if human beings deny diversities and hope that human beings should be in uniformities. A picture with one colour on its canvas cannot be said as a real picture and surely cannot show its beauty. A beautiful picture willy and nilly must be made of different colours!

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Al-Firdaus, Iqra’, Kiat Public Relations Ala Nabi Muhammad saw, Penerbit Najah, Yogyakarta, 2013
Davis, Keith,  Human Behaviour at Work: Organizational Behavior, McGraw Hill Inc, United States of America, 1981
Mulyana, Deddy dan Rakhmat, Jalaluddin, Komunikasi Antarbudaya, Penerbit PT Remaja Rosdakarya, Bandung, 2010
Riyanto, Makmun;Budi Utaminingtyas, Ririn; and Tripriyo, V.S, Komunikasi Bisnis, Politeknik UNDIP Semarang, Semarang, 1996
Zuhdi, Umar Farouk, Komunikasi Bisnis: Pemahaman Secara Mudah, Penerbit Wahana Totalita, Yogyakarta, 2011
DuPraw, Marcelle E and Axner, Marya:  http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html, 12 April 2015

EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING


EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING

Umar Farouk
Jurusan Administrasi Bisnis, Politeknik Negeri Semarang Jl.Prof.H.Sudarto,SH.,Tembalang,Kotak Pos 6199/SMS Semarang 50061


ABSTRACT
Experts of Communication state that communication is the  backbone  of management. This indicates the strategic roles of communication. Management which is not supported by effective communication will fail to achieve its goals or targets. Effective communication and effective managment is like the two sides of a coin.They cannot be seperated. Effective public speaking as a part of effective communication give its significant contributions to effective communication  process in a business organizations. This article discusses several tips of effective public speaking to develop communication skills which are exremely needed to develop business organizations.

Key-words: effective  public speaking,  communication  skills, business organizations

INTRODUCTION
It is told that most people in the United States of America are worried towards three things, namely public speaking, snake, and death. Public speaking sits on the first rank and death the last.  Many Indonesians, on the other way round mostly, perhaps, say that death is the most frightening, and public speaking is the least.  Snake, the same with those of Americans, sits on the second rank. It is not important actually to compare between Indonesians and Americans in terms of the rank position of public speaking that makes them worried or frightened.  The intended message of this description is that public speaking is a factor which makes most people feel unconvinient.  Many people feel that waiting for a public speaking in front of people is like waiting for a death execution in front of snipers.  Therefore, many people like to avoid public speaking, if possible.  Unfortunately if you want to develop your professional career in your office, public speaking is something which you have to master to support your work or job.  Without public speaking skill you will find many difficulties in running your managerial activities or programs in your office because public speaking as a part of communication  skills is a backbone of management. It gives a big influence, for example, in the process of meeting, business presentation, press conference, and negotiation.
            In your office public speaking is needed when you take a part in a meeting. In the meeting you have to speak to put forward your ideas, suggestions, opinions, agreement, disagreement, et cetera.  It is also needed when you need to give business presentation to create cooperations with other organizations. During negotiation sessions with your business counterparts, for instance, the skill of public speaking takes a very important role. You may win the negotiation if you have a good mastery  in public speaking.  The art of inviting someone’s attention when speaking, influencing them to believe in what you are saying, persuading them to listen to what you are expecting, and in the end making them cooperate with you on the basis of benefit and profit which meet your business targets are surely the reflection of your public speaking skills. On the contrary, you will lose your negotiation if you do not have the above-mentioned skills.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
            Public speaking is important because it is a part of communication. There are several reasons underlying why communication is important for professionals in whatever fields they work (Hooper and Janis, 1982: 7-9). First,  in social and business activities, whether for personal purposes or organizational purposes, oral communication is a skill which is extremely crucial to acquire.  This is because, as a matter of  fact , oral communication skill like public speaking can give significant contribution to the effectiveness of implementing mangerial functions in business communication in an office. Employers and employees in a company have to be skillful in their oral communication to make them succsessful in their jobs.
For employers (managers and leaders) oral communication skill is needed when they realize the functions of planning, organizing, actuating,  and controlling as a part of managerial process. As the employers are responsible to achieve the vision, missions, and the goals of their companies, they must be able to manage their human capitals effectively by utilizing effective communication skills.  An effective leadership goes hand in hand with effective communication practices.
            On the basis of a research, the percentage of communication activity in human daily life can be described as Table 1 (Zuhdi,  2011: 68).


Table 1
NO
ACTIVITY
PERCENTAGE
1
Listening
50
2
Speaking
35
3
Reading
10
4
Writing
5


Table 1, shows the high frequency of listening and speaking activities in daily communication, both formal and informal, personal and organizational.  In business environment it may take in the forms of  meetings, interviews, business presentations, negotiations, seminars, speeches, and many others. These facts, give more evidences of the importance of effective communication skills.
Second,  communication’s key role in decision making. Because of the size and complexity of today’s management in a company and also the availability of modern office technologies, there is a tendency of centralizing decision making in the top management level. The trend coincides with the nature of business management system comprising interdependent functions, none of which can be manipulated without giving influences to others.  It follows that successful communication depends on the quality, quantity, and distribution of valid and reliable messages to the points that decision making can be done effectively. Since an organization is essencially a social environment¸it is a must that communication in  the organization proceeds harmoniuosly and efficiently.
Third,  communication’s ‘workhorse’ status.  Organizations have mundane works to do such producing, selling, marketing, cooperating, supervising and many others.  These works need the use of many kinds of messages and good strategies of exposition and persuasion.  Good communication prevents misunderstanding, saves time and money and also promotes the organization.  Poor communication defeats those objectives.
Fourth,  demands of the new media.  The use of sophisticated and modern office communication such as computers has increased a great deal of revolutionary advancement in office works but it cannot relieve human communicators of performing such data-related functions as selecting, evaluating, deciding, informing, and persuading.
Fifth, Rising costs.  Business communication can be done by electronic and printed media. Making an advertisement  for television channels and newspapers, for instance, can be very expensive.  Nowdays, commercial product promotions need a huge budget. Therefore, business communication has to be made cheaper by make it more effective.
Sixth, competitive and social pressures.  As we know, to win a business, we need to compete smartly with our business competitors. Smart business needs smart communication.  The success in marketing, selling, negotiating, persuading, influencing, cooperating and so forth is inevitably determined by an effective communication.
            Seventh,  competitive and social pressures.  At the time that business meets its public such as its customers, potential buyers, and the community at large, it is a great urgency to have a good mastery of communication skills including public speaking. In selling and marketing public communication skills take a significant role in succeeding to get more profits or less.

Tips For Effective Public Speaking
            Public Speaking as a part of oral communication skills takes a very important role to support managers or leaders in an organization to do relevant works in their leadership. Leaders or managers should have ability to give an interesting and effective speech in front of their employees and other people when necessary; to give a business presentation in front of their business partners, prospective cutomers, government beureaucrats, and so forth. Also make a press conference in front of journalists, whether for electronic or printed media. Because of the importance of public speaking, some tips of a good and effective public speaking is worth discussing. For those who have not learnt specifically about public speaking and have no experience of practising it, some following tips may give benefits to read.
            Gerald Green, DTM(2000: 11-44) puts forward some tips of an effective public speaking as follows:
1.  Be yourself.  It is extremely not recommended that when giving a public speaking you imitate someone’s public speaking style.  You should do your public speaking differently from others. You maintain your own public speakingstyle. Soekarno and John F Kennedy have different stytle when speaking.  Also with Mario Teguh and Bob Sadino. You have to develop your own personal brand if you want to be a professional public speaker. Be different, be the best, and be the first. By this way, you will be recognized and outstanding!
2.  Understand your audience. Speak for them not for you, yourself!  So, discuss topics of their interests not yours.  Before you write your materials for your public speaking, you should investigate or make a small research about their age, socio-economic, educational, religion, and  cultural background.  This will give you benefits to make them listen to you.
3.  Make yourself as the message.  It means that what you are talking to public is the reflection of your true personality.  In this case,  you will be appreciated as a credible speaker. What you are talking is not a lie. You are talking the truth. You become the representation of the delivered message. For example, a preacher or ustadzwho is giving a speech  about honesty and justice in  Jum’at prayer but the audiences  in the mosque know that in his daily life his character and behaviour are opposed to the message he is delivering, of course they will not believe in the message. They hear you speaking but they are not listening to you because they know you are telling lies.
4.   Do not feel uncomfortable of being nervous.  It is natural and happens to everyone who will speak in front of people.  Thus, do not concentrate on being nervous. It is suggested that you concentrate on the materials of your public speaking. Be focus on how you can make your audience involved in your public speaking. Make it more interactive and use you non verbal language effectively. You can inhale and exhale gently to lessen your nerveousness, sit comfortably, and pray to stimulate your self confidence.
5.  Overcome your shyness. Many feel shy because of their body size, hair style, beauty, and so on. It is surely ridiculous! You are on stage to speak not to take part in a fashion show or singing competition.  Therefore, it is irrational to be shy  because of those things. Once again, you are on the stage to speak.  Your audience wait for your speech!
6.    Do not feel uncomfortable because of your voice. People are not waiting for a singer.  At the moment, they are waiting for an effective speaker. There is no rule that a public speaker must have golden voice. What is important you have to speak fluentlly, clearly, and attractively. You should speak with good intonation, articulation, and acceptable speed.
7.  Do not feel uncomfortable because of your accent and dialect. Even your accent and dialect can become your personal brand.  Speak naturally. Do not manipulate your accent and dialect excessively.
8.  Use simple language in your public speaking.  It is not suggested to use too many technical terms to make your public speaking look scientific and complicated. Make difficult topics easy to understand for your audience by utilizing simple language.
9.  Do not feel uncomfortable because of your education. Although you never go to a university and get a diploma, it does not mean that your audience who have higher education than you,  know better about the topics you are talking about.  Basically, there is no one who really smart or brilliant.  You should believe that you are the right person to speak about the topic of which you have made a perfect preparation.
10. Do not be too sensitive towards the audience’s responses or feedbacks.  Positive and negative ressponses or feedbacks are the inputs which should be wisely managed to improve the effectiveness of your public speaking. Do not be too happy when you get positive feedbacks verbally or non verbally. On the contrary, do not be too sad and worried when you get negative feedbacks. The value of the feedbacks for your public speaking improvement will depend on how you behave propperly after receiving those feedbacks. In this way, you will always get benefits of the feedbacks.
11.  Be enthusiastic when giving public speaking. Your enthusiasm will make your audience motivated to listen to you. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
12.  Speak sincerely and honestly. This will create conducive atmosphere.  Your sincerity and honesty will be reflected in your tone, eye contact, facial expression, and your gesture. Generally, it happens beyond your awareness but your audience really feel and appreciate it.
13.  You have to feel worried if you have no adequate knowledge of the subject matter or topic of your public speaking.  Therefore, it is obligatory for you to read and listen as much information as possible for your public speaking preparation. Make sure that you are the best person to stand up in front of your audience to speak about the topic.
14. Practice, practice, and practice.  It is the only way that you have to follow to be successful in your public speaking.  No other alternatives.  You never become a good swimmer if you only learn the theories of swimming. To become a good swimmer you have to plunge yourself into the water.  In the same way, you will never become a professional or an effective public speaker if you only learn public speaking theories and never practising those theories on the stage.
15.  Enjoy your public speaking. If you do it, then you can speak in a relaxed way and you feel comfortable. This is  important because many feel forced to speak and cannot deliver the message attractively. No humour. No smile. No laugh. Consequently, there will be less interaction with audience and less mental involvement.  It makes your public speaking boring.

Six Principles Of Public Speaking
            There are some principles of public speaking which can help everyone to be successful in his/her public speaking (Riyanto, 1998: 3-7)  Here are those principles:
1.  Giving motivation.  It is quite important when starting a public speaking speakers give motivation to their audience to follow the public speaking by:
       a.  informing the importance of the discussed topic.
b. making use of the audience as the example when giving illustration or description      about the topic.
c.  delivering provocative questions to stimulate curiosty.
2.   Giving attention.  This can be done theoretically as follows:
a.  Telling funny stories, tragic stories,   daily strories or experience.
       b. Speaking   with  different tones.  Sometimes with higher tones, and sometimes with lower  tones depending on the message.
c. Making spontaneous actions like knocking a table when the situastion is going to be notconducive because of the noise made by the audience and you stop speakingwhen they disturb your public speaking with unexpected attitude.
d. Speaking interesting and expected topics.
3.  Utilizing instructional aids.  Public speaking such as in business presentation, negotiation, 
meeting and so on can be facilitated with the use of instructional aids. The use of:
a.    overhead projectors
b.    screens
c.    slides
d.   videos
e.    flip charts
f.     films
g.    et cetera
may give signicant contribution to the effectiveness of public speaking.
  4. Giving understanding.  This is possible if in a public speaking a speaker uses the following techniques:
       a.  Using simple words, phrases, sentences, and terms.
       b.  Using simple illustration or description.
c. Using nemo-technique like CRM for Customer Relationship Management, TQM for Total Quality Management, R & D for Research and Development.
 5. Giving repetition.  This is done by repeating delivered information to help your audience understand it better. To avoid boring repetition you can do it in some varied ways. Do not always repeat the same words. Instead of doing in that way, you can repeat the substance or gist of your message several times.
 6. Telling the audence about the benefits of listening to your public speaking  at the beginning.  Make sure that the chosen topic of your public speaking is of their need. Before writing your public speaking preparation you should investigate their educational background, age, cultural background, socio-economic  background, religion, gender and so forth.  It will help you to prepare the most appropriate strategy for you public speaking.
                     
To understand better about your audience some steps and procedures at Table 2, are recommended by Curtis, Floyd, and Winsor (2000: 263):



Table 2
NO
STEPS
PROCEDURES
1
Considering individuals
Analyzing audience individually and roles in organization.
2
Considering groups
Understanding group characteristics and understanding individuals’ behaviour in groups.
3
Considering communication atmosphere
Analyzing the environment of the place where the audience work.
4
Analyzing audience
a. Observing
b. Delivering questions
c. Conducting surveys about the audience
d. Taking into account basic needs of the audience
5
Making decisions
Determining decision making styles:
a. Optimum
b. Collective
c. Authoritative




CONCLUSION
            Effective public speaking is quite important for business purposes.  Business actiivities like meeting, negotiation, business presentation, and several others can be successfully done if public speaking skills are well acquired.  Some above-mentioned recommended tips, techniques or strategies of public speaking surely can facilitate business people to be more effective in their public speaking.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Curtis, Dan B, Floyd, James J, and Winsor, Jerry L, Komunikasi Bisnis dan Profesional (terj),  Penerbit PT Remaja Rosdakarya, Bandung, 2000
Green, DTM Gerald, The Magic of Public Speaking (Keajaiban Public Speaking), Elex Media Komputindo, Jakarta, 2000
Hooper, Jean and Janis, J Harold,  Writing and Communicating in Business, Cassell Australia Limited, Victoria, 1982
Riyanto, Makmun, Komunikasi Bisnis II, Politeknik NegeriSemarang, Semarang, 1998
Zuhdi, Umar Farouk, Komunikasi Bisnis: Pemahaman Secara Mudah, Penerbit Wahana Totalita, Yogyakarta, 2011