How Podcasts And Spaces Can Make You A Better Speaker

Podcasts and Twitter Spaces are two entirely different things but they have one thing in common - audio 🔉.

Podcasts are where you listen and can't participate (unless you create your own).

Twitter Spaces are live audio conversations where you can be a host, speaker or listener. In this essay, I'll emphasize on speaking.

How Can These Help You Speak Better?

If you're a regular listener of podcasts, especially of the same host, you're bound to use some of the vocabulary in your daily life.

I listen to podcasts when I go for a walk. During the pandemic the frequency was higher. I've picked up not just vocabulary, but questioning skills and speech pacing by listening to multiple episodes of 'The Tim Ferriss Show'.

Twitter Spaces is where I practice speaking. Any chance I get, I speak.

How is this different from talking to people?

You overcome your fear of articulating your thoughts to a larger forum
You can't gossip. You have to provide value (or at least make sense)
Personally, I focus on pace, pronunciation and content. The perfect trio of a good speaker.

The combination of these benefits in an endless loop have helped me compound my speaking skills.

Podcast > Spaces > Podcast > Spaces 🔁

How Do You Do The Same?

Step 1: Pick Podcasts In The Language And Topic Of Choice

You're only going to listen to the content that interests you.

If you pick podcasts that cover your interests, you're going to enjoy listening to podcasts. Personally, I listen to 'The Tim Ferriss Show' because of the variety of guests. The topics cover almost anything you can imagine.

Step 2: Pay Attention To The Host - Observe Phrases And Pacing

Good podcasts hosts manage to ask really good questions, use different phrases to convey the same thing and adjust their pace and tone to the situation.

This is a great skillset to have when presenting or talking to an audience.

Step 3: Practice! Unless You Already Record Podcasts, Do Spaces

Getting over your discomfort of speaking can only be done by speaking. Yes, there's no master hack here.

Participate in Twitter Spaces. If you make mistakes no one cares. Take notes if it helps.

“A speaker should approach his preparation not by what he wants to say, but by what he wants to learn.” ― Todd Stocker