Chapter 1: The Evolving Art of Public Speaking

Public Speaking

When an individual speaks to a group of people, assuming responsibility for speaking for a defined length of time.

Optimized Speaker

A public speaker who consciously selects relevant topics, adapts to the audience, speaks personally and conversationally, and uses technology when appropriate.

Audience Centered

Acknowledging an audience’s expectations and situations before, during, and after a speech.

Digital Divide

The gap between groups that have a high level of access to and use of digital communications technology and groups that have a low level of access and use.

Information Literary

The ability to access, select, and evaluate, and use information effectively and responsibly.

Rhetoric

Aristotle’s term for public speaking

Invention

Discovering what you want to say in a speech, such as by choosing a topic and developing good arguments.

Arrangement

The way ideas presented in a speech are organized.

Style

The language or words used in a speech

Memory

Using the ability to recall information about all aspects of public speaking to give an effective speech.

Delivery

The presentation of a speech to an audience.

Narrative

A story used in a speech or other form of communication.

Distance Speaking

The planned and structured presentation of ideas transmitted from one physical location to other locations by means of information and communications technology.

Pervasive Communication Environment

The ability to access and share information in multiple forms from multiple locations in ways that transcend conventional ways of thinking about time and space.

Convergence

When people interact in multiple communications spheres simultaneously.

Audience

The intended recipients of a speaker’s message.

Speaker

The person who assumes the primary responsibility for conveying a message in a public communication context.

Message

The words and nonverbal cues a speaker uses to convey ideas, feelings, and thoughts.

Channel

A mode or medium of communication

Noise

Anything that interferes with the understanding of a message

Feedback

Audience member’s responses to a speech.

Context

The situation within which a speech is given.

Environment

The external surroundings that influence a public speaking event.