Ellsworth

I spent well over 30 years being a public speaker (if one counts both childhood and adulthood experience).

Part of being a good public speaker is to learn/study/practice communication itself, as a meta topic/activity.
My father learned a lot from listening/observing men behind pulpits, my mother learned a lot in Toastmasters. And both learned from years of professional experience too.

I learned a lot from Microsoft, as that was where my co-instructor received their training.
But like several of my brothers, the foundation was laid in high school and college.
When I started public speaking I was very much mediocre at it, and by the end I got pretty good at it.

Being a good public speaker requires pulling together several skills, not the least of which is 'audience perspective,' and knowing the effectiveness of words.

So, this story leads to me eventually discovering a weakness in my 'public' speaking.
Here is the scenario:

1. When I'm off the clock, not getting paid for public speaking
2. I know the outcome is 100% not within my control
3. My 'care state' can be A or B (I might care about the outcome, or not)
4. It's a narrow topic involving a limited amount of very precise data and or a short opinion/analysis.
5. I'm talking to someone I don't know and won't likely meet again

If all or most of those five things are present, then I can fall into "Auctioneer" mode. Or what I imagine an 'emergency military debrief' would be like.
Or how some people getting paid by the job not the hour talk during a 90 second huddle before the next action phase.

One of my early paying jobs was working large festivals in Seattle: primarily Bumpershoot and Folklife.
Ultra fast communication while running past each other was the norm, the person with the most important issue did all the talking.

I don't mean to be offensive, but in that situation what the other person says/replies does not matter.
It's simply one kind of a (one way) data transfer, with reduced emphasis on social expectations.

It happened one time was when I was informing a corporation that they unknowingly faced a $500,000 liability.*
Absolutely unequivocal.
The person didn't like the topic, didn't much like me, but did implement some changes afterwards

Then there was the time I informed a company that they were unknowingly conducting unlicensed gambling.*
They had a great promo idea and ran with it before researching the law.

And it just happened again, when I felt I should caution a younger person working at a large organization about how older people might consider an issue (perceived organization action).*
It wasn't an important issue per say, but it had some potential to lead to a larger problem for the organization employing the person.

Why have I given that kind of 'free advice?' Because it has very rarely been offered to me.
Why am I likely going to stop giving that kind of 'free advice?' It is rarely well received.

So if you ever hear me talk like an auctioneer, it's most likely because what you say doesn't/won't matter,
Or it's momentary default to some non-union work habits, '90 seconds, now go!"
To put it in military terms, it's like J.R.R. Tolkien saying quickly "Here's your data, now RUN."

I believe anyone can improve their public speaking, and their daily speaking.
It does take some effort, but the reward is in increased effectiveness.
Studying those who are skilled can work well, and something like Toastmasters** can be a 'fast hack' to get the basics.
And sometimes it's the daily work that necessarily has the largest effect upon a person's voice.

* I am not an attorney, I have not played one on TV (that is a dated phrase!).
I started consciously learning about law around 5 years ago, just by picking a random topic and doing a lot of research.
Learning about law is no different than any other logic puzzle, or computer coding.
And I'll admit I'm not great at it. The technical writing is different, and I seldom look up case-law which is harder to follow imho.

Here's another insight on why people 'don't like' lawyers, they see things differently as they walk through their day, because they have specialized knowledge.
That creates wealth opportunities, like bitcoin or gold mining in real life.
If one acts to obtain the wealth from the discovered opportunity, then someone gets a demand letter and possibly sued.

Ordinarily, when I see such situations I research the law and write down the relevant State/Federal law, and then I simply tell the company/organization that might be affected -- giving them the legal citation (pun intended).

Around 75% of my non-professional, freely shared legal opinions have been correct.
And the times I've been wrong have led to a lot of additional learning.

** The modern equivalent to Toastmasters is of course any number of online courses on public speaking.