In the age of prepared speech, notes or teleprompter (A teleprompter is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script), the secret formula of prime minister Narendra Modi’s oratory and extempore speeches had remained hidden till today. Modi himself revealed the ingredients of the formula.

Interacting with students across the country today on the eve of Teachers’ Day, Modi shared some tips on public speaking.

A student was curious to know how the prime minister made so many speeches without a script. "How have you achieved such mastery in oratory?" she questioned.

"To be a good orator, you need to be a good listener. You need to listen with your eyes and your mind," advised the PM.

A habit of keeping notes would also help in a big way, the prime minister told the students.

He observed that usually, people known to be orators take too much time to get to the point. For that, he advised, it is best to write down what one wants to say. "That will help you sharpen your speech," he suggested.

The prime minister also said that students could take pointers from Google and YouTube.

"You are google guru vidyarthi (students) after all. If you see other speeches online, you will gain confidence," he said.

But he admitted that he himself did not keep notes while speaking, "because Gadbad (a mess) happens." He did not elaborate

Throwing light on another facet of his personality he said "don't worry about what people will say. Don't be nervous. You should be confident." Now, we know why he is not provoked easily, like many of us.

He also answered a question on leadership. "To be a leader, you should be attached to people. Their pain should give you sleepless nights," he said, also urging students to introspect on why they would want to become leaders - "for happiness, elections or to solve problems."

Modi on Friday stayed away from rhetoric or big declarations and told the students to make small contributions to India by doing things like saving electricity and promoting cleanliness.

“We need not become robots. We should nurture sensitivity,” Modi said.

“People wonder why I choose to spend time with students on Teachers’ Day. I feel that students are an image of their teachers. We all have a memory of something our teacher has given us when we were young. After a certain age, children spend more time with their teachers than their family. There is a huge responsibility with teachers at this time. Teachers make generations. It is time to commemorate teachers who have made scientists, doctors who are working for nation-building,” the prime minister said.

Modi said his government was working on replacing the “character certificate” that students get after their school-leaving examination with an “aptitude certificate”. He said every quarter, the feedback of teachers, peers and friends of students will be captured digitally to produce the aptitude certificate, which will mention the areas of excellence of students when they pass out of the school system.

During the course of a nearly two-hour interaction, Modi reiterated his commitment for rural electrification and touched upon the key issues taken up by his government including promotion of khadi, creating awareness about yoga, digital India and swachh Bharat abhiyaan.

Replying to a question on how he will make the Digital India campaign a success even when several villages don’t have electricity, Modi promised to take electricity to 18,000 villages without power in the next 1,000 days.

This is the second year in a row that Modi has addressed students and teachers on the occasion of Teachers’ Day. He took questions from several students through video conferencing from Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and north-eastern states, among others.

Modi was joined by Union human resource development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani, minister of state (MoS) in HRD Upendra Kushwaha and MoS in finance ministry Jayant Sinha.