“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” - Lilly Walters
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Public speaking is the process and act of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain a listening audience. Public speaking is commonly understood as face-to-face speaking between individuals and an audience for the purpose of communication. It is closely allied to "presenting," although the latter is more often associated with commercial activity.
In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as "who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?" The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story.
Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them. Public speaking can also be considered a discourse community. Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication. Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, translation, or simply ethos. In current times, public speaking for business and commercial events is often done by professionals, with speakers contracted either independently, through representation by a speakers bureau paid on commission of 25-30%,or via other means.
Dan O'Hair and Mary Wiemann describe the power of public speaking and how preparation eases natural nervousness, in their textbook Real Communication An Introduction with Mass Communication.
Among their suggested steps for preparing and researching presentations are the ideas below:
Conduct audience analysis—the process of getting to know your audience:
O'Hair and Wiemann say that, to be effective, public speakers need to:
Choose an appropriate topic and develop it:
“Words have incredible power. They can make people’s hearts soar, or they can make people’s hearts sore.” -Dr. Mardy Grothe
___
Public speaking is the process and act of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain a listening audience. Public speaking is commonly understood as face-to-face speaking between individuals and an audience for the purpose of communication. It is closely allied to "presenting," although the latter is more often associated with commercial activity.
In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as "who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?" The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story.
Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them. Public speaking can also be considered a discourse community. Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication. Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, translation, or simply ethos. In current times, public speaking for business and commercial events is often done by professionals, with speakers contracted either independently, through representation by a speakers bureau paid on commission of 25-30%,or via other means.
Dan O'Hair and Mary Wiemann describe the power of public speaking and how preparation eases natural nervousness, in their textbook Real Communication An Introduction with Mass Communication.
Among their suggested steps for preparing and researching presentations are the ideas below:
Conduct audience analysis—the process of getting to know your audience:
- It is important to understand and appreciate your audience’s expectations for the speech as well as key situational factors.
- Knowing demographics, the quantifiable characteristics of your audience, will help you identify topics that the audience would be interested in learning about.
- You will want to anticipate your audience’s response by considering their motivation, seeking common ground (homogeny), determining prior exposure, and considering disposition.
- You can learn about your audience by observing people, getting to know people, conducting interviews and using surveys, and using the Web.
Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by Greenville Kleiser. This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare’s finesse to Oscar Wilde’s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim’s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.
O'Hair and Wiemann say that, to be effective, public speakers need to:
Choose an appropriate topic and develop it:
- Speak about something that inspires you.
- Use brainstorming to amass information, think creatively, and consider problems and solutions related to your topic.
- Hone your topic by clustering, creating a web of thoughts and ideas about your topic on paper.
- A specific purpose statement expresses the topic and the general speech purpose in action form and in terms of the specific objectives you hope to achieve with your presentation .
- Narrow your topic and write a thesis statement, a summary of your central idea.
- Include expert testimony, the opinion of an authority, or lay testimony, opinion based on personal experience.
- Scientific research findings carry weight in topics on medicine, health, media, and the environment; statistics, information in numerical form, can clarify your presentation.
- Anecdotes, relevant personal stories, bring the human experience to the speech).
- surveys will add the point of view of a larger range of people.
- Use databases to find material, such as directories, library gateways, search engines, and metasearch engines.
- Take time to evaluate the credibility—the quality, authority, and reliability—of each source you use.
- Up-to-date information convinces the audience of its timeliness.
- Citing accurate and exact sources gains audience respect.
- Relevant information supports the core topic.
- Compelling information is influential and interesting.
- Reliable sources provide reputable information.
- Avoid plagiarism, presenting someone else’s intellectual property as your own.
- Keep accurate track of all your references to avoid unintentional errors.
- Keeping a running bibliography, the list of resources you’ve consulted, will free you from having to write the same information over and over.
“Words have incredible power. They can make people’s hearts soar, or they can make people’s hearts sore.” -Dr. Mardy Grothe
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