public speaking

civic engagement

Active public participation in political affairs and social and community organizations.

rhetoric

The craft of public speaking.

source

In models of communication, a person with an idea to express who creates and sends a message to receivers.

message

The verbal or nonverbal ideas that a source conveys to an audience through the communication process.

encode

To choose verbal or nonverbal symbols to organize and deliver one’s message.

verbal symbol

A spoken, written, or recorded word that a source uses to convey a message.

nonverbal symbol

A means of conveying a message without using words. Examples include hand gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions.

channel

The medium through which a source delivers a message, such as voice, microphone, radio, television, or Internet.

receiver

The person who processes a message to perceive its meaning.

decode

To interpret a message by making sense of a source’s verbal and nonverbal symbols. Decoding is performed by a receiver.

noise (interference)

External or internal phenomena that disrupt communication between a source and a receiver. External sources include nearby loud noises, and internal sources include the wandering thoughts of the source or receiver.

transaction

A communicative exchange in which all participants continuously send and receive messages.

feedback

An audience’s verbal and nonverbal responses to a source’s message.

shared meaning

A common understanding with little confusion and few misinterpretations among speakers and listeners. Achieving shared meaning is a priority of the transactional model of communication.

gender identity

“One’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither,” as defined by The Human Rights Campaign.

nonbinary

Refers to gender identity. Not identifying as exclusively male or female.

ethnicity

The part of a person’s cultural background that is usually associated with shared religion, national origin, and language.

cultural background

The part of a person’s cultural background that is usually associated with shared religion, national origin, and language.

critical thinking

The analysis and evaluation of one’s own ideas and others’ ideas based on reliability, truth, and accuracy.

freedom of expression

The right to share one’s ideas and opinions free from censorship.

ethics

A set of rules and values that are shared by members of a group and that help them guide conduct and distinguish between right and wrong.

classical canons of rhetoric

According to Cicero, the five concepts that effective speakers must attend to while preparing a speech. These concepts are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.

invention

The use of a variety of techniques and sources to gather and choose ideas for a speech. It is one of the five classical canons of rhetoric.

arrangement

The effective structuring of ideas to present them to an audience. It is one of the five classical canons of rhetoric.

style

A speaker’s choice of language that will best express their ideas to the audience. It is one of the five classical canons of rhetoric.

memory

The process of preparing and practicing a speech to ensure confident and effective delivery. It is one of the five classical canons of rhetoric. Although this canon originally referred to learning a speech by heart, today using notes and other memory aids is usually preferred.

delivery

A speaker’s varied and appropriate use of vocal and nonverbal elements, such as voice, hand gestures, eye contact, and movement. It is one of the five classical canons of rhetoric.

audience analysis

The process of learning about an audience’s interests and backgrounds in order to create or adapt a speech to their wants and needs.

topic

The subject of a speech. Speakers should choose a topic that is based on their own and their audience’s interests and knowledge level, as well as their ability to cover the topic during the allotted time frame.

rhetorical purpose

The speaker’s intended primary goal for the speech. There are three possible rhetorical purposes for a presentation: to inform, to persuade, or to mark a special occasion.

thesis statement

A single sentence that sums up a speech’s main message and reflects the speaker’s narrowed topic and rhetorical purpose. All the different parts of a speech, such as the main points and subpoints, should tie into the thesis statement. It is also referred to as the central idea or topic statement.

main point

A key idea that supports a thesis and helps an audience understand and remember what is most important about a speaker’s topic. Main points are supported by subpoints. See also subpoints.

supporting material

The examples, definitions, testimony, statistics, narratives, and analogies that develop and support the claims made in a speaker’s main points.

brainstorming

A strategy for generating topic ideas by listing every idea that comes to mind—without evaluating its merits—in order to develop a long list of ideas quickly.

research

The process of gathering information from libraries, quality online sources, and interviews with authorities on a topic to increase a speaker’s credibility and understanding of the topic.

citation

The key information about a researched source, including author, author’s credentials on the subject, title, publication date, and page numbers or URL.

outline

A written means of organizing a speech by using complete sentences or briefer phrases. An outline includes the main ideas of a speech’s introduction, body, and conclusion.

body

The main part of a speech. The body falls after the introduction and before the conclusion and includes all the main points and the material that supports them.

subpoint

An idea that is gathered from brainstorming and research and that explains, proves, or expands on a speech’s main points.

subordination

The act of making one thing secondary to another thing. This principle of outlining dictates the hierarchy in the relationship of main points and supporting materials. Each subpoint must support its corresponding main point, and each sub-subpoint must support its corresponding subpoint. In an outline, supporting points are written below and to the right of the point they support. See also subpoint, sub-subpoint.

introduction

The beginning of a speech. It gains the audience’s attention, presents the thesis statement, builds common ground with the audience, establishes speaker credibility, and previews the speech’s main points.

conclusion

The final part of a speech, in which the speaker summarizes the main points and leaves the audience with a clincher, such as a striking sentence or phrase, an anecdote, or an emotional message.

transition

A sentence that indicates you are moving from one idea to another in a speech.

word choice (diction)

The selection of language for a speech that considers the audience, occasion, and nature of one’s message in order to make the speech more memorable and engaging

presentation aid

Anything beyond the speech itself that a speaker uses to help listeners help understand and remember the message. Presentation aids include materials that can be seen, heard, or touched.

extemporaneous delivery

Presenting a speech using a speaking outline as a reference rather than reading it word-for-word.

mediated presentation

A speech that is transmitted through technology rather than to an audience face-to-face.

speech anxiety (stage fright)

The nervousness that a person experiences before giving a speech. It can take a variety of forms, including butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, dry mouth, nausea, hyperventilation, and panic.

imagined interaction

The mental delivery of a speech to an audience. The speaker practices delivering a speech silently and pictures a positive interaction with the audience (such as applause).

visualization

A method of easing speech anxiety in which the speaker imagines giving an extremely well-received speech.

relaxation strategy

A technique that can be performed before giving a speech to help reduce muscle tension and negative thoughts. Relaxation strategies include deep breathing and tensing and releasing one’s muscles.

ethics

A set of rules and values that are shared by members of a group and that help them guide conduct and distinguish between right and wrong.

ethical absolutism

A set of rules and values that are shared by members of a group and that help them guide conduct and distinguish between right and wrong.

situational ethics

The belief that ethical behavior can vary depending on the situation at hand, especially when those circumstances are extreme or unusual. See also ethical absolutism.

culturally relative

The principle that ethics vary according to the norms of individual societies.

ethical speech

Language that incorporates ethical decision making, follows guidelines to tell the truth, and avoids misleading the audience.

legally protected speech

The expression of any opinion in public without censorship by the government. When speakers use legal protection as a guiding principle for a speech—telling or withholding information based on whether the law allows it—they can technically stay within the bounds of what is lawful but still speak unethically.

half-truth

A statement that deceives an audience by stating part of the truth but mixing it with a lie.

false inference

Presenting information that leads an audience to an incorrect conclusion.

taking evidence out of context

Selectively choosing from a source’s data or statements and presenting the information in a manner that is inconsistent with the source’s beliefs or conclusions.

omission

A form of false inference that deceives an audience by withholding important information.

plagiarism

The presentation of another person’s words or ideas as one’s own.

paraphrasing

Restating someone else’s ideas in one’s own words and giving appropriate credit to the original source.

common knowledge

Widely known information that can be found in many sources and that does not require citation.

fallacious reasoning

Faulty, and thus unsound, reasoning in which the link between a claim and its supporting material is weak.

hasty generalization

An error in reasoning that occurs when a speaker bases a conclusion on limited or unrepresentative examples.

post hoc fallacy

An error in reasoning that incorrectly states that a second event is caused by the event that immediately preceded it.

ad hominem (personal attack) fallacy

An error in reasoning in which the speaker tries to compensate for a weak argument by targeting an opponent’s character through unsubstantiated claims, rather than focusing on the relevant issues.

ad populum (bandwagon) fallacy

An error in reasoning in which the speaker tries to persuade an audience to accept an argument by claiming that a fact is true because a large number of people believe that it is true. Another form of this logical fallacy (often used in advertising and marketing) is to imply that because many people are engaging in an activity, everyone should engage in the activity. Bandwagoning is unethical if speakers fail to provide well–reasoned support for their claims.

ethical audience

An audience that exhibits courtesy, open-mindedness, and a willingness to hold the speaker accountable.

hearing

receiving messages in a passive wa

listening

actively paying attention to what you’re hearing; it involves both processing the message to decide on its meaning and retaining what you’ve heard and understood.

processing

Thinking about the meaning of the verbal and nonverbal components of a message that one is receiving. Processing is the first step in effective listening.

retention

The ability to remember what one has heard. It is the second step in effective listening and is directly related to how much attention someone pays during an event. The more attentive a listener is, the more information will be remembered.

action-oriented listening

A style of listening in which the listener focuses on immediately getting to the meaning of a message and determining what response is required. Action-oriented listeners indicate a preference for messages that are direct, concise, and error-free.

content-oriented listening

Focusing on the depth and complexity of information and messages. Content-oriented listeners are willing to spend more time listening, pay careful attention to what’s being said, and enjoy discussing and thinking about the message afterward.

people-oriented listening

Investing time and attention in communication because of an interest in supporting one’s friends and strengthening relationships. People-oriented listeners notice the mood and body language of speakers and express more empathy toward them.

time-oriented listening

A style of listening in which listeners are concerned with managing, conserving, and protecting their time. Time-oriented listeners see time as a precious resource to be conserved and protected, so may exhibit impatience and rush interactions.

unprocessed note taking

Writing down a speech word-for-word without thinking about what is being said. Unprocessed note taking hampers retention.

nonlistening

Failing to pay attention to what one is hearing and thus failing to process, understand, and retain the message.

interruptive listening

Consistently interrupting a person who is speaking. Both audience members and speakers can be guilty of interruptive listening, either by interjecting questions or comments before a speaker is finished speaking or by cutting off an audience member who is asking a question.

agenda-driven listening

Focusing only on the mechanics of delivering one’s speech without acknowledging the audience’s questions and comments.

argumentative listening

Focusing on a message only long enough to get material to feed one’s own argument.

nervous listening

Talking through silences in conversation due to discomfort with conversational lapses or pauses.

interactive listening

The process of a receiver filtering out distractions, focusing on the speaker(s), and communicating that they are paying attention.

external noise

A distraction in the external speech environment that disrupts communication between source and receiver. For example, a speech might be drowned out by a fleet of jets roaring overhead. Also known as an external distraction.

internal noise

A thought that distracts a sender or receiver from processing and retaining a message. Also known as internal distraction.

audience surveillance

The speaker’s analysis of an audience’s nonverbal and verbal responses while listening to a speech.

defeated listening

Pretending to understand a message while actually being overwhelmed by or uninterested in the subject matter.

superficial listening

Pretending to pay attention while actually succumbing to internal or external noise, such as wandering thoughts, cell phones, or conversation.

speech critique

Written or oral feedback following a presentation that identifies the presentation’s main points and objectives, discusses strengths and weaknesses, and offers suggestions for improvement.

constructive criticism

Thoughtful and tactful suggestions for improvement that take into account what a speaker is trying to accomplish. Speakers can use these kinds of suggestions to make improvements for future presentations.

situational characteristics

are factors in a specific speech setting that you can observe or discover before you give your speech. They include audience size, time, location (forum), and mobility.

audience size

the number of people who will witness your speech.

presentation time

the number of people who will witness your speech.

body clock (chronemics)

also known as chronemics—refers to the time of day or day of the week when your audience members will be listening to your presentation.

location (forum)

the setting where your audience will listen to your speech.

stationary audience

that listeners will be relatively motionless (sitting or standing) and captive as you’re talking.