In the matter of speech as in others one should be respectful to elders and kind to youngsters. Allah the Exalted gives plenty of guidance in this field as well; for example: ‘it is most hateful in the sight of Allah that you say that which you do not do’ (Qur’ān – 61:3); ‘ye shall speak kindly to people’ (Qur’ān – 2:83) and ‘when ye speak be just even though it concerns a near of kin.’ (Qur’ān – 6:152); and eighth of the ten commandments revealed to Prophet Musa.
Control of speech is better preached than practised.
Luqman the wise, when requested by his king to prepare a dish of the best part of the body on one occasion and a dish of the worst part on another, presented to him preparations of tongue both the times explaining that the same faculty of speech (tongue) is either the best thing or the worst thing depending upon its proper or improper use respectively.
Moreover, each and every word uttered by one’s tongue is recorded, one should always speak the truth and talk briefly with a dignified purpose avoiding impolite and dirty talk so that one’s precious time is not wasted.
Look at the golden rule of listening more and talking less. Development of listening skills is rather tougher than how to learn speaking effectively. While on discussion effective listening facilitates speaking with adequate communication, understanding and often cools down the heat if any generated at the moment.
When communicating Islam particularly one should be simple and clear and speak in a passionate and heartwarming style keeping in view the mental level and outlook of the addressee.
One should avoid sharp, harsh and teasing remarks against anyone. Keep the voice audible and not loud as ’the harshest of all voices is the voice of the ass’.
When women happen to talk to men they should speak in a clear, straight, and rough manner and not in delicate, sweet tone lest the listener should entertain any foul expectation.
In case of address to a gathering or presentation the speech should be suitably structured and planned to strictly fit into the timeframe provided for it.
The presentation should be divided broadly in three parts namely ‘introduction’, ‘main body’ and ‘conclusion’ corresponding to the rule that you should initially ‘say what you are going to’, then ‘say what you want to’ and finally ‘say what you have said’. The address should be prefixed and suffixed with proper greetings for the addressees.
The main body can be further divided in the major points of presentation/ discussion. Maximum advantage should be taken of user friendly multicoloured charts, graphs and videos to clarify the points in discussion and to avoid the monotonous textual portion throughout.
Using presentation software like power point ensures the dual advantage of not missing out any one of the points and presenting them systematically.
When a presentation is made as part of a training programme it is usual to conduct a self assessment test for the participants and obtain feedback from the participants on various aspects of the presentation.