Chapter 1 Introducing Public Speaking

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Chapter 1

• Introducing Public Speaking

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Introduction to public speaking Introduction

• Effective public speaking can inspire, persuade,
  educate, and entertain.
• Because of this public speaking is a required
  course at many colleges.
• Despite this, many employers report a lack of
  public speaking skills among job candidates.
• You can learn to overcome speech anxiety and
  master public speaking just like you would learn
  to read, ride a bicycle, develop or another skill.

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Introduction to public speaking Introduction
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Introduction to public speakingAn overview

• This introduction to public speaking reviews
• What is public speaking? What distinguishes it
  from other types of speech?
• Why study public speaking?
• Public speaking a great tradition
• Public speaking a dynamic discipline

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What is public speaking?

• Public speaking features communication between a
  speaker and his or her audience.
• The speaker does most of the talking.
• The audience gives feedback.

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What is public speaking?

• Public speaking is audience centered.
• Good speakers
• Consider audience's interest and needs
• Adapt to the occasion

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What is public speaking?

• Public speaking emphasizes the spoken word.
• Visual aids assist the speaker they are not the
  sole focus.
• Good speakers use non-vocal elements of delivery
  to communicate.

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What is public speaking?

• Public speaking is usually a prepared
  presentation.
• The best speakers spend significant time
  preparing.
• Even impromptu speeches typically piece together
  a string of relevant ideas.

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Why study public speaking?

• Studying public speaking can help you deliver
  effective presentations in the classroom, on the
  job, and in your community.

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Why study public speaking?

• Using Public Speaking as a Student
• Many courses require speeches.
• Well prepared and delivered speeches make a
  better impression on the professor and the class.
• Extracurricular groups often have a public
  speaking component.

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Why study public speaking?

• Using Public Speaking in Your Career
• Employers cite communication skills as the most
  important quality for a job candidate.
• Workers report that communication is important in
  their jobs.

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Why study public speaking?

• Using Public Speaking in Your Community
• Membership in community organizations may require
  speaking.
• Community leadership certainly will require
  speaking.

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Public speaking A great tradition
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Public speaking A great tradition

• There is a great tradition of the study of
  speaking in antiquity.
• In 5th century B.C.E. Greece, speaking at
  assembly gave rise to the first formal studies of
  rhetoric, the craft of public speaking.
• Aristotle formalized the analysis of rhetoric.
• His work influences the study of public speaking
  today.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• In 1st century B.C.E. Rome, vigorous debate took
  place in the Senate.
• Cicero was a Senator and famous orator whose
  writings on rhetoric remain important.
• Quintilian emphasized the notion of the ethical
  oratora good person speaking well.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• Historically, public speaking was studied across
  the globe.
• From the 5th through the 3rd Century B.C.E.,
  traveling scholars debated philosophies
  throughout ancient China.
• Traveling storytellers and Islamic scholars spoke
  throughout Africa in the 15th Century.
• Many Native Americans prized oratory over bravery
  in battle.

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Public speaking A great tradition
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Public speaking A great tradition

• The tradition of public speaking flourished in
  American history.
• The Great Awakening of the 1730s-1740s was an
  oratorical religious revival.
• George Whitfield spoke in fields because churches
  weren't big enough.
• Jonathan Edwards made worshippers shriek in
  fright with Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
  God in 1741.
• Recently, the Promise Keepers filled football
  stadiums to hear speeches on family and religion.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• There were many key speaking opportunities in
  revolutionary America.
• The Boston Tea Party is a well-known instance of
  colonists speaking out in protest of taxation.
• There were numerous political debates around the
  framing of the Constitution.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• The antislavery movement was one of great
  oratory.
• The Lincoln-Douglas debates before the Civil War
  drew massive crowds.
• Frederick Douglass moved audiences with accounts
  of life under slavery.
• Abolitionist Angelina Grimké won adherents with
  her tales of slave abuse in South Carolina

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Public speaking A great tradition

• The women's suffrage movement emerged at the same
  time.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and
  others led the movement.
• They used oratory to persuade Americans that
  women deserved the vote.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• Public address flourished in the 20th century.
• After World War I President Wilson traveled
  through the U.S. to promote his League of Nations
  idea.
• In 1963, Martin Luther King brought 250,000 to
  the capitol with his March on Washington and his
  I Have A Dream speech.

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Public speaking A great tradition

• Today, it may seem as if speaking is less
  important.
• We are more likely communicate now by cell phone
  or text message than to listen to a speech.
• However, after the attacks of September 11, 2001,
  millions of people felt it crucial to hear the
  President speak about the tragedy.

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Public speaking A great tradition
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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• From Linear to Transactional Evolving Views of
  the Public Speaking Process
• The linear model emphasized a source encoding a
  message through a channel impeded by noise to a
  decoding receiver.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• From Linear to Transactional Evolving Views of
  the Public Speaking Process
• Recent models stress the idea of transaction
  both parties are in communication, sending and
  receiving messages and feedback, and creating
  shared meaning.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• Awareness of Audiences Cultural Diversity
• There is increasing cultural diversity in the
  United States.
• Culture is the traditions, values, and rules for
  living that people pass from generation to
  generation.
• Increasingly, Americans come from other
  countries, bringing cultural diversity.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• Awareness of Audiences Cultural Diversity
• Because of the diversity of cultures, it is
  unlikely people you interact with share the same
  worldviews and values.
• We must adapt the way we use humor.
• We must adjust our understandings of how
  audiences express feedback.
• The recent immigration debates illustrate the
  complexity of this issue.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• Emphasis on Critical Thinking
• You should feel confident that all the ideas you
  present to an audience are reasonable.
• You should always evaluate the truth claims you
  make.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline
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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• The Increasing Importance of Ethics
• Unethical communication seems to have increased.
• In recent years, journalists covered politicians
  and CEOs lying to the American public.
• 1/3 of adults do not consider the traditionally
  reliable figures of doctors and clergy as
  credible.

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Public speaking A dynamic discipline

• It is thus even more important that we treat our
  audiences ethically.
• The persuasive power of public speaking comes
  with responsibilities.
• Always tell the truth.
• Provide balanced, accurate information.
• Avoid manipulative reasoning.
• Supply proper support for your argument.