Public Speaking

A. The first objective is to gain the attention and interest of the audience. B. The second objective of a speech introduction is to reveal the topic of the speech. C. The third objectives of a speech introduction is to establish the credibility and good will of the speaker. D. The fourth objective of a speech introduction is to preview the body of the speech.

1. One method of gaining attention is to relate the topic to the audience. a. People pay attention to things that affect them directly. b. No matter what other interest-arousing lures a speaker uses, she or he should always relate the topic to the audience. 2. A second method of gaining attention is to state the importance of the topic. a. An audience is not likely to be interested in a topic they regard as unimportant. b. Whenever a speaker discusses a topic whose importance may to demonstrate its importance in the introduction. 3. A third method of gaining attention is to startle the audience. a. This method can be highly effective. b. It is important, that the startling material be directly related to the speech. 4. A fourth method of gaining attention is to arouse the curiosity of the audie...

A. The introduction should usually be relatively brief. B. Speakers should keep an eye out for potential introductory material as they research the speech. C. Speakers should be creative when devising their introductions. D. Speakers should not be concerned with the exact wording of the introduction until the body of the speech is finished. E. The introduction should be worked out in detail so it can be delivered effectively.

There are four tips for preparing an effective conclusion A. Speakers should keep an eye out for potential concluding materials as they research the speech. B. Speakers should conclude with a bang instead of a whimper. C. Speakers should not be long-winded in the conclusion. D. Speakers should prepare the content and delivery of their conclusions with special care.

A. The first function is to signal the end of the speech. 1. Abrupt ending leave listeners surprised and unfulfilled. 2. One way to signal the end of a speech is with a brief verbal cur such as “In conclusion” or “One last thought.” 3. Another way to signal the end is by the speaker’s manner of delivery. a. In a crescendo ending, the speech builds in force until it reaches a zenith of power and intensity. b.In a dissolve ending, the final words fade like a spotlight on a concert singer, bringing the speech to an emotional close. B. The second function of a conclusion is to reinforce the audience’s understanding of or Commitment to the central idea of the speech. 1. There are four methods of accomplishing this. a. One method is to summarize the main points of the speech. b. A second method is to conclude with a quotation. c. A third method is to end with a dramatic statement. d. A fourth method is to refer back to the introduction of the speech. 2. Th...

Public speaking retains three important characteristics of good conversation.First it preserves the natural directness and spontaneity of informal talk. Second, it is colorful. And third, it is tuned to the reactions of listeners. Public Speaking Preserves Conversational Directness and Spontaneity. Even though a speech has been carefully researched, thoughtfully prepared, and well rehearsed, it should sound conversational and spontaneous as it comes to life before an audience. Those words bear repeating; a speech comes to life before an audience. Consider the following opening to a self-introductory speech: It may seem hot here today, but it’s not near as hot as Dhaka , Bangladesh , where I was born and reared. I almost said “roasted.” John has just told us about the joys of urban living. Now you’re going to hear about what you might call a “country-fried” lifestyle. Compare that opening with My name is Rashadul Islam, and I come from Dhaka , Bangladesh . ...

What makes public speaking distinctive as a from of communication are the relationships among a set of nine elements: speaker, purpose, message, medium, setting, listener, response, interference, and consequences. These elements interact with one another in ways that can affect those who participate and the world around them. They constitute a dynamic, interactive communication process.

In public speaking, speaker and listener roles are clearly defined. There is little doubt as to who the speaker and listeners are. Public speaking spotlights the role of the speaker, but whether speakers can take advantage of Conversations Public Speaking 1. Audience-centered 1. More audience-centered 2. Loosely Organized 2. Organized and planned 3. Off of the top of your head 3.Grounded in responsible knowledge 4. Often no clear purpose 4. Has a clear purpose 5. Informal language 5. More formal language 6. Speaker/listeners change roles 6.Speaker/listeners roles clearly defined 7.Informal environment/small group 7.More formal environment/large group this attention depends on their ability to reward listeners with interesting and useful messages. As Aristotle pointed out more than two thousand year...

People seldom speak in public unless they have some purpose in mind something they wish to accomplish. A purpose can be complex, privet, and psychological. With respect to the public work performed by public speaking, scholars called reroricians have been working to identify major types of purposes for over two thousand years. Aristotle, who lived about 2,400 years ago, near the end of a great era of civilization called the Golden age of Greece, divided purposes into three forms: forensic, deliberative, and ceremonial. The forensic purpose, enacted in speeches before the Athenian courts, satisfied the needs of the justice system. These speeches were concerned largely with past events and with the guilt and innocence of individuals. The deliberative purpose was fulfilled in speeches before the assembly dealing with the formation of public policy. How the future might be shaped and controlled was the business of such speeches. The ceremonial purpose was satisfied by speeches that celeb...

Successful public speaking offers a massage that is designed to serve the speaker’s purpose. It is based on responsible research and careful thought and should be internally consistent and complete. Its aim is to coax an audience to give sympathetic attention to the speaker’s ideas. It has been carefully worded and rehearsed so that it achieves maximum impact. The message is the product of the speaker’s encoding processes-the effort to convey through words, tones, and gestures how the speaker thinks and feels about the subject. Audience members respond by decoding the message, deciding what the speaker mended and determining the value of the message for their lives. Shaping a message is a basic public speaking skill. It begins with a search for supporting material-facts, examples, testimony, and stories-that will help convey your purpose. How you word your message can determine its fate. In the 2,000 presidential elections, George W. Bush used the term compassionate conservatism to...

The medium transmits a speaker’s message. When public speaking takes place in a direct, face-to-face encounter, the medium is the air through which the sound travels. When a speech is presented outside or in a large auditorium, a microphone and amplifiers may be part of the medium. We tend to take the medium for granted until we discover something wrong with it, like poor acoustics. Public speeches can also be transmitted through the electronic media of radio, television, and video-or-audiotapes. The electronic media have major effects on the entire communication process. For example, radio emphasizes the attractiveness, clarity, and expressiveness of a speaker’s voice. Television brings a speaker into a close relationship with viewers, so personality and physical appearance take on added importance. When speakers want news coverage, they must compress important ideas into twenty-second sound bites, and the language must be immediately clear and colorful. Any change in the medi...

A speech occurs within a physical and psychological setting that can determine how well it succeeds. The physical setting in which a speech is presented can include such factors as the time the speech is given; the time allotted for the presentation the pace of the presentation, and the size and arrangement of the audience. For example, when speaking outside, a speaker may need a more forceful presentation than when speaking in a small room. A larger audience may require a more formal manner of presentation than a smaller audience. The very quality of the physical setting can affect the speech. For example, one of the most profound discussions of the ethics of communication, Plato’s Pbaedrus, written in ancient Greece some 2,400 years ago, takes place in a woodland setting that frames and colors its message appropriately. In this setting, Socrates envisions an ideal communication that promotes spiritual growth for both listeners and speakers. One classroom setting in which we ta...

A constructive listener is supportive yet listens carefully and critically. Such listeners seek the value in all messages. Because the fate of a message depends on how listeners respond to it, the audience must be at the center of your thinking as you plan, prepare, and present your speeches. What needs or problems concern them? What subjects interest them? What biases could distort their reception of message? Such questions are crucial to the selection of your topic and to the way you frame your message. Moreover, you should be sensitive to the fact that your words could affect the lives of listeners and even their perception of themselves. Listeners do not come to a speech with a blank slate. Their minds are filled with past experiences, information or misinformation about a topic or speaker, attitudes and values, aspirations and fears. All of these factors form the frame of reference that a listener brings to a speech. The better you understand these audience factors, the more...

The response to a speech is what happens during and as a result of the speech. Of course you hope that your speeches are well received and that they will affect the lives of your listeners favorably. But whether they achieve that result depends a great deal on what happens during the speech. One of the things that make public speaking dynamic is its interactive quality. While you are speaking, listeners are responding. As they respond, so should you. This makes a speech an interaction in which listeners and speakers constantly adjust to each other. These on-the-spot adjustments lend an unpredictable quality to public speaking that can make it an interesting and exciting form of communication. Note the adjustment that one of our speakers made during a speech on the dangers of global warming; Some of you are frowning, and I can hardly blame you. This is really hard to believe. But let me quote to you the words of Time magazine in a recent survey of all these scientific disc...

Interference can enter at any point in the process to disrupt the effectiveness of communication. Interference, which we discuss further in Chapter 3, can range from physical noise that impedes the hearing of a speech, such as a plane flying over the building, to psychological “noise” within speakers and listeners that prevents them from connecting. Three forms of interference are especially troubling. The first is speaker apprehension. Fear is an understandable reaction to public speaking experiences. The situation may seem strange, and speakers may feel exposed and vulnerable. Listeners may seem distant, unfriendly, or threatening. Beginning speakers will learn to control their fears and to convert them into positive energy that adds sparkle and power to a speech. But at the outset, these feelings can interfere with effective communication. A second form of interference is listener distraction, which imposes a barrier between an audience and a message. Listene...

Successful speeches obviously have impact. As a result of them, listeners learn, decide to change their minds or to take action, or join in celebrating the meaning of exemplary lives. Moreover, if we could see the communication process at work in a speech, we might also see the identities of speakers and listeners coming into or out of focus of communication or show those same people growing larger or smaller. These effects would all represent the consequences of public speaking, especially the ethical impact of public speaking as transactional and transformational communication. Transactional communication suggests that successful communication goes beyond personal achievement and the sharing of vital information, ideas, and advice. It implies the sharing and sharing of sieves. In the introduction to Bridges Nor Walls, John Stewart, an interpersonal communication scholar, notes: “Every time persons communicate, they are continually offering definitions of themselve...

The materials used to support a speaker’s ideas. The skillful use of Supporting Materials often makes the difference between a poor speech and a good one. It is also closely related to Critical Thinking. Using supporting materials is not a matter of haphazardly tossing facts and figures into your speech. You must decide which ideas need to be supported, give your audience, topics and specific purpose. You must to research to find materials that will being your ideas across clearly and creatively. And you must evaluate your supporting materials to make sure they really do back up your ideas. As you put your speeches together, you will need to make sure your supporting materials are accurate, relevant, and reliable. You will find yourself asking questions such as “Are my example representative?” “Am I using statistical measures correctly?” “Am I quoting reputable, qualified sources?” Assessing the supporting materials in your speech – as well as in your speech of your classmates—is...

A specific case used to illustrate or represent a group of people, ideas, conditions, experiences, or the like. Across from a small, grassy park dedicated to Greek and Irish immigrants, Joe Cogliano, whose grandparents were Italian, sells mangoes to Hispanic customers from the back of his truck. Children play tag while chattering in Spanish on O’Brien Terrace, part of the housing project built in 1939 for Irish laborers. The pungent odor of Vietnamese fish sauce fills a Southeast Asia restaurant where Giavis’ Greek Grocery once thrived for more than 70 years. These were the opening lines of an article in Time Magazine about the interaction of cultures in Lowell , Massachusetts . It illustrates a device well known to magazine writes – and speech makers: get the audience involved. See how skillfully this example accomplishes the goal.It begins by focusing attention on a particular person (Joe Cogliano). It then provides details of time and place that set the scene vivi...

A specific case referred to in passing to illustrate a point. Brief examples-also called specific instances-may be referred to in passing to illustrate a point. The following excerpt uses a brief example to illustrate the miraculous nature of recent advances in creati9ng artificial limbs for accident victims: Changes in technology have made it possible for doctors to work wonders that once seemed impossible. Roger Charter, for example, lost both his feet when they were crushed in a truck accident. Now he has new feet – made of a spring plastic alloy that duplicates a normal arch. Not only can Roger walk normally, but he can run and play sports again! A brief example may also be used to introduce a topic.

Extended examples are often called illustrations, narratives, or anecdotes. They are longer and more detailed then brief example. By telling a story vividly and dramatically, they pull listeners into the speech. Here is such an example, from a speech about the astonishing similarities that sometimes exist between identical twins: After 40 years of separation from his identical twin, James Lewis began his search for his long-lost brother. They had been separated a few weeks after birth and were adopted by different families. Their reunion took place at the home of the other twin—James Springer. Upon meeting, they found that they had more in common then their first names. Both had married a woman named Betty, been divorced, and remarried a woman named Sally. Both had similar jobs as deputy sheriffs, McDonald’s employees, and gas station attendants. Both liked to build wood furniture in their basement workshops. Both put on 10 pound as teenagers and lost it latter. Both had the ...

Weather brief or extended, example can be either factual or hypothetical. All the example presented up to now have been factual; the incidents they refer to really happened. Sometimes, however, speakers will use a hypothetical example-one that describes an imaginary situation. Usually such examples are brief stories that relate a general principle. An example that describes an imaginary or fictitious situation is say Hypothetical Example. Here is how one student used a Hypothetical Example to illustrate the need for college student to protect themselves against crime. You’re tried; you’re hungry. You’ve just spent a long day at College Library and you can’t wait to get back to your room. Glancing outside, you remember how quickly it becomes dark. You don’t think much of it, though, as you bundle up and head out into the gusty wind. Not until you spy the shadows on the sidewalk or hear the leaves rusting beside you do you wish you weren’t alone. You walk quickly, trying t...

Testimony from people who are recognized experts in their fields. In most speeches you will probably rely on expert testimony – testimony from people who are acknowledged authorities in their fields. Expert Testimony is especially helpful for student a speaker because students are seldom recognized as experts on their speech topics. Citing the views of people who are experts is -a good way to lend credibility to your speeches. It shows that you are not just mouthing your own opinions, but that your position is supported by people who are knowledgeable about the topic. Expert Testimony is even more important when a topic is a controversial or when the audience is skeptical about a speaker’s point of view. The following story explains how one speaker enlisted expert testimony for speech on reforming the US Social Security System: As Julia Wang did her research on how to make Social Security more equitable for younger taxpayers, she became convinced that individual citizens ...

Another type of testimony often used in speeches is Peer Testimony – opinions of people like ourselves; not prominent figures, but ordinary citizens who have firsthand experience on the topic. This kind of testimony is especially valuable because it gives a more personal viewpoint on issues then can be gained from expert testimony. It conveys the feeling, the knowledge, and the insight of people who speak with the voice of genius experience. For example, if you were speaking about the barriers faced by people with physical disabilities, you would surely include testimony from doctors and other medical authorities. But in this case, the expert testimony would be limited because it cannot communicate what it really means to have a physical disability – such as the following: Itzhak Perlman, the word-renowned violinist whose legs are paralyzed, once said; “When you are in a wheelchair, people don’t talk to you. Perhaps they think it is contagious, or perhaps they think crippled...