Reviewer in G-ELEC-1: Public Speaking

MODULE 1: Speaking in Public

• The Power of Public Speaking

• The Tradition of Public Speaking
• Similarities Between Public Speaking and Conversation
• Differences Between Public Speaking and Conversation
• Developing Confidence: Your Speech Class
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Six ways to turn nervousness from negative force into a positive one
• Tips to dealing with nervousness in your first speeches.
• Public Speaking and Critical Thinking
• The Speech Communication Process

THE POWER OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

• During modern times, many women and men around the globe have spread their ideas
and influence through public speaking.
• In another survey, college graduates in the workforce were asked to rank the skills most
essential to their career development. What was at the top of their list? Oral
Communication.
• The ability to speak effectively is so prized the college graduates are increasingly being
asked to give a presentation as part of their job interview.
• To be successful, says business leader Midge Costanza, you must have “the ability to
stand on your feet, either on one to one basis or before a group, and make a
presentation that is convincing and believable.”
• The same is true in community life. Public speaking is a vital means of civic engagement.
• It is a way to express your ideas and to have an impact on issues that matter in society.
• Public speaking offers you an opportunity to make a difference in something you care
about very much.

THE TRADITION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

• Given the importance of public speaking, it is not surprising that it has been taught and studied
around the globe for thousands of years.
• Almost all cultures have an equivalent of the English word “orator” to designate someone with
special skills in public speaking.
• Eloquence was highly prized in ancient India, Africa, and China, as well as among the Aztecs and
the other pre European cultures of North andSouth America.
• In classical Greece and Rome, public speaking played a central role in education and civic life. It
was also studied extensively. Over the centuries, many other notable thinkers have dealt with
issues of rhetoric, speech, and language.
• In recent years, communication researchers have provided anincreasingly scientific basis for
understanding the methods and strategies of effective speech.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CONVERSATION

 1. Organizing your thoughts logically.
o In speaking, you would take your listener systematically, step by step. You would
organize your message.
2. Tailoring your message to your audience.
o In speaking, we adjust our technique according to our audience.
3. Telling a story for a maximum impact.
o you carefully build up your story, adjusting your words and tone of voice to get the best
effect.
4. Adapting to listener feedback.
o Whenever you talk with someone, you are aware of that person’s verbal, facial and
physical reactions

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CONVERSATION

1. Public speaking is more highly structured.

a. It usually imposes strict time limitations on the speaker. In most cases, the situation
does not allow listeners to interrupt with questions or commentary. The speaker must
accomplish her or his purpose in the speech itself.
b. In preparing the speech, the speaker must anticipate questions that might arise in the
minds of the listeners and answer them.
c. Consequently, public speaking demands much more detailed planning and preparation
than ordinary conversation.
2. Public speaking requires more formal language.
a. Slang, jargon, and bad grammar have little place in public speeches.
b. Listeners usually react negatively to speakers who do not elevate and polish their
language when addressing an audience.
c. A speech should be “special.”
3. Public speaking requires a different method of delivery.
a. When conversing informally, most people talk quietly, interject stock phrases such as
“like” and “you know,” adopt a casual posture, and use what are called vocalized pauses
(“uh”, “er”, “um”).
b. Effective public speakers, however, adjust their voices to be heard clearly throughout
the audience. They assume a more erect posture.

DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE: YOUR SPEECH CLASS

o One of the major concerns of students in any speech class is stage fright.
o Many people who converse easily in all kinds of everyday situations become frightened at the
idea of standing up before a group to make a speech.
o stage fright – the anxiety over the prospect of giving a speech in front of an audience.
o NERVOUSNESS IS NORMAL
o If you feel nervous about giving a speech, you are in a very good company.
o Eighty-one percent of business executives say public speaking is the most nerve-
wracking experience they face.
o In other words, it is perfectly normal – even desirable – to be nervous at the start of the
speech.
 o Your body is responding as it would to any stressful situation – by producing extra
adrenaline.
o DEALING WITH NERVOUSNESS
o Rather than trying to eliminate ever trace of stage fright, you should aim at transforming
it from a negative force into what one expert calls positive nervousness - a zesty,
enthusiastic, lively feeling with a slight edge to it…. It’s still nervousness, but it feels
different. You’re no longer victimized by it; instead, you’re vitalized by it. You’re in
control of it.”
o positive nervousness – controlled nervousness that helps a speaker for her or his presentation.
o Do not think of yourself as having stage fright. Instead, think of it as “stage excitement” or
“stage enthusiasm.”

SIX WAYS TO TURN NERVOUSNESS FROM A NEGATIVE FORCE INTO A POSITIVE ONE

1. Acquire Speaking Experience

a. For most students, the biggest part of stage fright is fear of the unknown.
b. The more you learn about public speaking and the more speeches you give, the less
threatening speech-making will become.
2. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
a. Another key to gaining confidence is to pick speech topics you truly care about – and
then to prepare your speeches so thoroughly that you cannot help but be successful.
3. Think Positively
a. Confidence is mostly the well-known power of positive thinking.
b. If you think you can do it, you usually can.
c. Speakers who think negatively about themselves and the speech experience are much
more likely to be overcome by stage fright that are speakers who think positively.
4. Use the power of Visualization
a. Visualization is closely related to positive thinking. It is used by athletes, musicians,
actors, speakers, and others to enhance their performances in stressful situations.
b. visualization – mental imaging in which a speaker vividly pictures himself or herself
giving a successful presentation.
5. Know that Most nervousness is not visible
a. One of the most valuable lessons you will learn as your speech class proceeds is that
only a fraction of the turmoil you feel inside is visible on the outside.
6. Do not expect Perfection
a. It may also help to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech.
b. If you momentarily lose your place, reverse the order of a couple statements, or forget
to pause at a certain spot, no one need to be wiser.

TIPS TO DEALING WITH NERVOUSNESS IN YOUR FIRST SPEECHES

o Be at your best physically and mentally. It is not a good idea to stay up until 2:00 A.M. partying
with friends or cramming for an exam the night before your speech. A good night’s sleep will
serve you better.
 o As you are waiting to speak, quietly tighten and relax your leg muscles, or squeeze your hands
together and then release them. Such actions help reduce tension by providing an outlet for
your extra adrenaline.
o Take a couple slow, deep breaths before you start to speak. Most people, when they are tense,
take short, shallow breaths, which only reinforces their anxiety. Deep breathing breaks this cycle
of tension and helps calm your nerves.
o Work especially hard on your introduction. Once you get through the introduction, you should
find smoother sailing the rest of the way.
o Make eye contact with members of your audience. Remember that they are individual people,
not a blur of faces. And they are your friends.
o Concentrate on communicating with your audience rather than worrying about your stage
fright. If you get caught up in your speech, your audience will too.
o Use visual aids. They create interest, draw attention away from you, and make you feel less self-
conscious.

PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CRITICAL THINKING

o What is critical thinking? To some extent, it is a matter of logic – of being able to spot
weaknesses in other people’s argument and to avoid them in your own.
o It also involves related skills such as distinguishing fact from opinion, judging the credibility
statements, and assessing the soundness of evidence.
o critical thinking – focused, organized thinking about such things as the logical relationships
among ideas, the soundness of evidence, and the differences between fact and opinion.

THE SPEECH COMMUNICATION PROCESS

1. Speaker
a. Speech communication begins with a speaker. He/she is the person who is presenting
an oral message to a listener.
2. Message
a. It is whatever a speaker communicates to someone else. Your goal in public speaking is
to have your intended message that is actually communicated.
b. Achieving this depends both on what you say (the verbal message) and on how you say
it (the non-verbal).
3. Channel
a. It is the means by which a message is communicated.
b. Public speakers may use one or more several channels, each of which will affect the
message received by the audience.
c. Examples are television, radio, and a direct channels.
4. Listener
a. The listener is the person who receives the communicated message from the speaker.
b. Without a listener, there is no communication. Everything as speaker says is filtered
through listener’s frame of reference.
c. frame of reference – the sum of a person’s knowledge, experience, goals, values, and
attitudes. No two people can have exactly the same frame of reference.
5. Feedback
 a. Communication is a two-way process. Listeners do not simply absorb messages like
human sponges. They send back messages of their own.
b. Feedback is the message, usually nonverbal, sent from a listener to a speaker.
6. Interference
a. It is anything that impedes the communication of a message. Interference can be
external or internal to the listeners.
b. internal interference – this comes from within your audience. Examples are an audience
having a toothache, pain, worrying about a test in the next class period, etc.
c. external interference – these happens outside you audience such as traffic outside the
building, the clatter of a radiator, students conversing in the hall, etc.
7. Situation
a. It is the time and place in which speech communication occurs.
b. Conversation always takes place in a certain situation. Public speakers must be alert to
the situation.
c. Physical setting is important.