Public Speaking Exam Notes

Why Study Public Speaking?

  • Gain a vital life skill
  • Advance Professional Goals
  • Enhance Your Career as a Student
  • Find new Opportunities for Civil Engagement

Origins of Rhetoric

  • Agora: A public open space used for assemblies and meetings.
  • Forum: Similar to agora, a place for public discussion.
  • Public Forum: A platform for discussing issues of public interest.

Five Canons of Rhetoric

  • Invention: Discovering evidence and arguments for your case.
  • Arrangement: Organizing evidence and arguments effectively.
  • Style: Using language to express speech ideas effectively.
  • Memory: Practicing the speech for artful delivery.
  • Delivery: Using vocal and nonverbal behaviors while speaking.

Learning to Speak in Public

  • Draw on Conversational Skills
  • Draw on Skills in Composition
  • Develop an Effective Oral Style
  • Demonstrate Respect for Difference

Four Categories of Human Communication

  • Dyadic Communication: Between two people (e.g., conversation).
  • Small Group Communication: Among a small number of people who can interact directly.
  • Mass Communication: Speaker to a large, unknown audience, often through electronic media, with little interaction.
  • Public Speaking: Speaker delivers a message with a specific purpose to an audience present physically or virtually.
    • Includes a speaker with a reason, an attentive audience, and a purposeful message.
    • Speakers address audiences without interruption and are responsible for their words and ideas.

Interactive Communication Process

  • Source, Receiver, Message, Channel, and Shared Meaning

Steps to Putting Together Your First Speech

  • Analyze
  • Select or Adapt a Topic
  • Determine the General and Specific Speech Purposes
  • Gather Supporting Material
  • Compose a Thesis Statement
  • Develop the Main Points
  • Separate the Speech into its Major Parts
  • Outline the Speech
  • Consider Presentation Aids
  • Practice Delivering Speech

Speech Purposes

  • General Speech Purpose: To inform.
  • Specific Speech Purpose: To inform the audience about the ways that Game of Thrones has affected tourism in Northern Ireland.
  • Thesis Statement: "During the eight-season series production of Game of Thrones, Northern Ireland tourism saw tremendous growth in the numbers of visitors to filming locations and exhibits of props and artifacts, making Game of Thrones-related information among the lead marketing material for tourism in the country."

Major Parts of a Speech

  • Introduction
  • Body
  • Conclusion

Outlines

  • Working Outline: Contains points in complete or near-complete sentences.
  • Delivery Outline: A condensed outline used during the speech.

Practicing Speech Delivery

  • To appear natural and transparent to the audience.

Public Speaking Anxiety

  • A situation-specific social anxiety from anticipating giving an oral presentation.

Areas Speech Anxiety Can Occur

  • Pre-preparation
  • Preparation
  • Pre-performance
  • Performance

Improving Confidence

  • Positive Self-Talk: Positive statements and thoughts about yourself and your upcoming performance.
  • Cognitive Restructuring: Training your mind to think positively about anxiety-inducing situations.

Six Steps to Gain Confidence

  • Prepare and practice early and often.
  • Modify thoughts and attitudes; practice positive self-talk.
  • Practice Visualization.
  • Use stress-controlled breathing, meditation, and other relaxation techniques.
  • Incorporate natural, controlled movements.
  • Learn from the experience of public speaking and enjoy it.

Four Types of Listening

  • Comprehensive Learning: To gain understanding.
  • Critical Listening: To evaluate and make judgments; to be a responsible receiver.
  • Empathic Listening: To provide support.
  • Appreciative Listening: To experience pleasure and enjoyment.

Active Listening

  • Listening that is focused and purposeful.

Hearing vs. Listening

  • Hearing: Psychological, involuntary process of perceiving sound.
  • Listening: Conscious act of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to messages, including sign language.

Selective Perception

  • Paying attention to certain messages while ignoring others.

Listening Distractions

  • Anything that competes for attention.
    • External: Originates outside us, in the environment.
    • Internal: Arises from our own thoughts and feelings.

Multitasking Effect on Listening

  • Diverts attention from the speaker.

Defensive Listening

  • Deciding in advance that you won't like what the speaker will say or that you know better.

Overcoming Cultural Barriers

  • To fully understand the speaker's message.

Four Listening Goals

  • Identify your listening skills.
  • Identify why listening will help you.
  • Make an action statement (goal).
  • Assess how you did.

Listening to Main Ideas

  • To understand the key points of the speech.

Critical Thinking

  • Evaluating claims based on reasons, looking for flaws in arguments, and resisting claims without evidence.

Supporting Critical Thinking Skills

  • Evaluate the speaker’s evidence.
  • Analyze the speaker’s assumptions and biases.
  • Assess the speaker’s reasoning.
  • Consider other viewpoints.

Monologue vs. Dialogic Communication

  • Monologue: Imposing one's views on others.
  • Dialogic: Open sharing of ideas with respect.

Constructive Criticism

  • Start with something positive.
  • Be selective in your criticism.
  • Focus on the speech, not the speaker.

Ethics

  • The study of moral conduct and cultural beliefs about how people should act.

Communication Ethics

  • Responsibilities when influencing others, with right and wrong choices.

Source Credibility

  • Contemporary term for ethics.

Ethical Perspectives

  • Consequential Ethics: Outcome determines rightness.
  • Ruled-Based Ethics: Duty to do what is inherently right.
  • Virtue Ethics: Role of individual moral character.

Speech That Provokes Violence

  • Fighting words.

Defamatory Speech

  • Slander (can be proved defamatory).

Hate Speech

  • Offensive communication against protected characteristics.

Ethnocentrism

  • Acting as though everyone shares your point of view.

Stereotyping

  • Putting a person or group into a fixed category.

Dignity

  • Respectful conduct to oneself and others.

Integrity

  • Avoiding compromising the truth.

Speaking with Responsibility

  • Being accountable for what you say.
  • Employ fairness.

Plagiarism

  • Using others' ideas or words without acknowledgment.
    • Ex: cutting and pasting without attribution.

Avoiding Plagiarism

  • Cite sources through direct quotation, paraphrasing, or summarizing.

Copyright Laws

  • Protecting copyrighted material from unauthorized reproduction for profit.

Fair Use Doctrine

  • Permits limited use of copyrighted works for scholarship, criticism, etc., without permission.

Audience Analysis

  • Gathering and analyzing information about audience attributes and motivations.

Attitudes, Beliefs, Values, and Behaviors

  • Attitudes: Likes and dislikes.
  • Beliefs: Perceptions of reality.
  • Values: Enduring judgments about importance.

Audience Types

  • Captive: Required to attend.
  • Voluntary: Present by choice.

Demographics

  • Statistical characteristics of a population (age, ethnicity, etc.).

Situational Analysis

  • Analyzing the context of the speech.

Generating Speech Topic Ideas

  • Personal interests, current events, community engagement, etc.

General Purposes

  • To inform, persuade, or mark a special occasion.

Specific Purpose

  • Describes in action form what you want to achieve.

Support Material

Descriptions of the many forms of materials used to support your speech.

Types of Support Material

  • Example: Aids understanding, creates interest.
  • Story: Generates interest and identification.
  • Testimony: Provides evidence and credibility.
  • Fact: Provides evidence and demonstrates points.
  • Statistic: Summarizes information, demonstrates proof, makes points memorable.

Cherry-Picking

  • Selectively referring to statistics that support arguments while ignoring competing data; to be avoided.

Canon of Arrangement

  • Introduction, Body, Conclusion.

Purpose of Main Points

  • Express the key ideas or arguments.

Ideal Number of Main Points

  • Two to five, typically three.

Purpose of Supporting Points/Subpoints

  • Organize evidence to explain or justify main points.

Outline Guidelines

  • Unity: Points implied by the thesis statement.
  • Coherence: Organized clearly and logically.
  • Balance: Appropriate emphasis on each part.

Purpose of Transitions

  • Tie speech ideas together and enable listeners to follow the speaker.

Types of Transitions

  • Comparison, contrast, cause and effect.

Organizational Patterns

  • Chronological: Sequential order.
  • Spatial: Physical arrangement.
  • Casual: Cause and effect.
  • Topical: Subtopics or categories.
  • Problem-Solution: Problem and proposed solution.
  • Narrative: Story or series of stories.

Connotation vs. Denotation

  • Denotation: Literal dictionary definition.
  • Connotation: Emotional associations.

Abstract vs. Concrete Language

  • Concrete: Specific, tangible, definite.
  • Abstract: General, non-specific, open to interpretation.

Jargon

  • Insider language; appropriate when the audience understands it.

Incorporating Vivid Language

  • To provide more effective delivery.

Vocal Elements

  • Volume: Loudness of voice.
  • Pitch: Range of sounds.
  • Speaking Rate: Pace of speech.
  • Intonation: Rising and falling of pitch.

Pauses

  • Can enhance meaning and emphasize points.

Vocal Fillers

  • Words used to fill pauses; can be reduced with practice.

Vocal Variety

  • Helps deliver a more effective presentation.

Pronunciation vs. Articulation

  • Pronunciation: Correct formation of word sounds.
  • Articulation: Clarity of sounds.

Dialects

  • Regional or social language variations; acceptable to use if used correctly.

Informative Speaking

  • Communicating information and explaining concepts.

Informative Speaking Subject Matters

  • Speeches about events, concepts, issues, processes, objects, and phenomena

Informative Speech Methods

  • Defining: Identifying essential qualities and meaning.
  • Demonstrating: Working with actual objects or representations.
  • Explaining: Providing causes, relationships, and analysis.

Organizational Patterns for Informative Speeches

Chronological, Spatial, Causal, Topical, Narrative, and Comparative Advantage patterns.

Persuasion

  • Deliberate influence to convince others.

Increasing Influence

  • Set modest goals, establish credibility, make the message relevant.

Coercion

  • Negative, do not do it.

Three Appeals

  • Logos: Appeals to logic and rationality.
  • Pathos: Appeals to emotions.
  • Ethos: Appeals to speaker's character.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  • Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Self-Actualization

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

  • Listeners engage in central processing when motivated and able to think critically.

Speaker Credibility

  • Trustworthiness and expertise.

Stages of Speaker Credibility

  • Initial, Derived, and Terminal credibility

Factors to Consider When Choosing an Organizational Pattern

  • Claims, evidence, desired response, and audience disposition.

Organizational Patterns for Persuasive Speaking

  • Problem-Solution, Monroe's Motivated Sequence, Comparative Advantage, Refutation, Casual (cause-effect), Topical (categorical), Chronological (temporal), Spatial, and Narrative.

Preferred Patterns for Persuasive Speech Assignment

  • Problem & Solution, Comparative Advantage, Refutation, and Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.

Problem-Solution Pattern

  • 1. A need or a problem
  • 2. Reasons for the need or problem
  • 3. A solution to the need or the problem
  • 4. Evidence of the solutions feasibility

Refutation Pattern

  • 1. State the opposing position
  • 2. Describe the implications or ramifications of the opposing opinion
  • 3. Offer arguments and evidence for your position
  • 4. Contrast your position with the opposing claim to drive home the superiority of your position

Comparative Advantage Pattern

  • Directly compare your position favorably with alternatives.

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Pattern

  • 1. Attention
  • 2. Need
  • 3. Satisfaction
  • 4. Visualization
  • 5. Action

Functions of Special Occasion Speeches

  • Celebrate, entertain, commemorate, inspire, or set a social agenda

Special Occasion Speech Types

  • Speech of Introduction: Prepare and motivate the audience for the main speaker.
  • Speech of Acceptance: Response to receiving an award.
  • Speech of Presentation: Communicate the meaning of the award and why the recipient is receiving it.
  • Toast: Brief tribute to a person or event.
  • Roast: Humorous tribute with jokes.
  • Eulogy: Commemorate the life of the deceased and console the bereaved.
  • After-Dinner Speech: Occurs during a meal; can be formal or informal.
  • Speech of Inspiration: Uplift and provide positivity.

Face-to-Face and Online Presentations Similarities

  • Planning and delivery are the same as online presentations

E-Charisma

  • The quality of being compelling to others.

Familiarity with Equipment

  • Compel the audience with a visual experience and catch their attention.

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Communication

  • Synchronous: Real Time (Live)
  • Asynchronous: Time Delay (At different times)

Asynchronous Presentation Advantages and Disadvantages

  • Advantages: You restart whenever you want to
  • Disadvantages: You will not get immediate feedback from the audience

Online Presentation Formats

  • Video: Pervasive in online presentations, from individuals using smartphone cameras or webcams to professional companies sending out messages using high-definition digital video cameras.
  • Podcasts: A digital audio recording of a speech or presentation captured and stored in a form that is accessible via the web or an app.
  • Webinar: A real-time seminar, meeting, training session, or other presentation that connects presenters and audiences from their computers or mobile devices.

Planning an Online Presentation

  • 1. Start with a title that indicates what the webinar will do for the audience
  • 2. Time each aspect of the webinar, and distribute the following information to each presenter
  • 3. Rehearse the webinar
  • 4. Check equipment, and eliminate or reduce noise and visual distractions.
  • 5. Have a backup plan in case of technical problems