PS
Course Logistics, Policies, and Speech Schedule
Class Cap and Presentation Roll-over Policies:
The course enrollment is over the traditional limit, leading to an official cap set at students.
Introductory speech presentations begin on Wednesday.
Because of the cap of students, presentations may not all finish during Wednesday's class session.
Remaining students will roll over to subsequent class periods.
There is no school or class on the following Monday due to the Labor Day holiday.
Students who do not present on the first Wednesday will present on the following Wednesday.
Expectation Warning: Instructor expectations increase significantly for students presenting on the second Wednesday due to having an extra full week to prepare.
Students are permitted to negotiate, trade, or buy presentation order spots with classmates if both parties mutually agree.
Speech Requirements and Visual Aids:
Visual aids are optional for the introductory speech, but mandatory for the upcoming Informative Speech.
Most students choose PowerPoint for their informative speech visual aid.
The informative speech presentations will span approximately class periods, averaging to speakers per day.
Technology and Authentication Protocol: All visual materials must be pre-loaded on the classroom computer before the speaking block begins.
Students are strictly forbidden from logging in, double-authenticating, or retrieving forgotten phones/passwords during their designated speaking time.
All presentations must be ready to click and display instantly when a speaker steps up.
Outline and Submission Rules:
Students must bring a typed hard copy of their speech outline to class on the day they speak.
Handwritten outlines are strictly prohibited to prevent students from writing them during class.
Students must also submit an electronic copy of the outline online.
The online outline submission counts as a one-off grade.
Students may make handwritten adjustments, jottings, or notes directly onto their hard copy outline during their speech if needed.
Every outline (both hard copy and online) must explicitly feature the student's name and topic.
Citation Rule: Any statistics, facts, or direct quotations used during a speech must include a verbal source citation (unless the quote is anonymous).
Quiz Adjustments and Class Logistics:
A quiz covering Chapter 2 is scheduled for the week.
Chapter 1 Quiz Correction: Question 6 contained a matching format issue ( response choices for answer slots).
Leaving the fourth slot unselected resulted in a score of out of point instead of a full point.
The instructor will manually repair the quiz grades to restore the deducted point for affected students.
Late quiz submissions were noted, including students submitting after , , and one student submitting at in another section.
Douglas Ehninger's Factors of Attention
Target Attention Type:
Public speaking aims to capture focused attention, requiring the audience to be cognitively engaged with the material.
Douglas Ehninger's Framework:
Douglas Ehninger (former speech professor at Purdue University) established the Factors of Attention, which identify core qualities of information that hold an audience's interest.
The Seven Factors of Attention:
1. Activity:
Physical Activity: Speaker movement, physical animation, and energetic delivery.
Cognitive Activity: Smartly and rapidly moving ideas forward in the speech without laboring points, compensating for short audience attention spans.
2. Reality:
Referencing concrete, tangible items, real people, and real human experiences rather than abstract theories.
Campus Experience Example: Parking struggles or dashing across the Tampa campus from the Engineering building to the Business building within a window on foot or scooter.
3. Proximity:
Direct nearness in space or time.
Study Habits Example: Students pay closest attention to materials right before an exam ( or the night before, rather than prior).
Fowler Entrance Example: A student reviewing a textbook propped on a steering wheel at the Fowler main entrance red light on the Tampa campus.
Tax Filing Example: Filing income taxes on April 15th at , where post office workers stand outside to timestamp mail returns before the midnight deadline.
4. Familiarity:
Connecting topics to well-known people, shared experiences, or existing knowledge bases.
5. Novelty:
Introducing unexpected, unusual, or unseen ideas and objects.
Novelty Store Examples: Retailers like Spencer's selling posters, shirts, fake dog poop, and fake throw-up.
Wildlife Photography Example: The National Wildlife Federation placing close-up cameras hidden inside fake animal poop along trails to photograph animals without spooking them.
Marijuana Lollipop Example: Smoke shops and convenience stores (e.g., 7-Eleven) selling novelty marijuana-flavored lollipops packaged in dime bags with cardboard toppers, provoking curiosity despite containing no actual drugs.
Lakeland City Hall Alligator Example: A homeless individual taking a bath in a natural water pond at Lakeland City Hall (east of Tampa) was bitten by an alligator. After hospital treatment, he returned to the same pond a week later for another bath and was bitten a second time, failing to adjust behavior through novel experience.
6. Conflict and Suspense:
Opposing forces, dramatic tension, and unresolved outcomes that draw viewers in.
Media Examples: Drama and reality television shows depend heavily on conflict to drive viewership, such as 90 Day Fiancé, My 600-lb Life, My Strange Addiction, Hell's Kitchen, The Great British Baking Show (Bake Off), and Bad Girls Club.
Film Examples: Movies sustained by conflict and suspense include Sleepless in Seattle, Scream, The Odyssey, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the Evil Dead series, Can't Buy Me Love, and Memento.
7. The Vital (Vital Needs and Values):
Core human values that directly impact life quality. The top three prioritized values in American society are:
Money
Family
Health
Tailoring speech content to show how it helps the audience's money, family, or health ensures maximum audience engagement.
Carmen Simon's Retention Theory and Memory Anchors
Research Overview:
Dr. Carmen Simon, cognitive scientist and author of Impossible to Ignore and Made You Look, studies cognitive attention and memory retention.
Her research indicates that speakers must integrate memory anchors/attention factors throughout a presentation to sustain continuous attention and maximize long-term information retention.
Function of Memory Anchors:
Anchors prevent mental drift and reinforce cognitive recall.
Strategies include repetition of core ideas, physical movement, and strategic use of visual representations.
Physiological Responses to Public Speaking Anxiety
The Fight-or-Flight-or-Freeze Response:
Staring at an audience triggers an evolutionary survival response as the brain signals the adrenal glands to prepare for perceived danger.
Neurochemical and Biological Cascade:
Adrenaline:
Heart Rate: Increases to pump more blood to major muscle groups.
Respiration: Speeds up to supply oxygen required for muscle contraction.
Digestive System: Shuts down completely because non-essential survival functions are suspended.
Pupils: Dilate to enhance visual acuity by letting in more light.
Neurotransmission: Accelerates reaction times.
Cortisol:
Released during sustained stress.
Elevates blood pressure, depresses the immune system, and causes long-term organ strain or cardiovascular risks (heart attack or stroke).
Dopamine:
Acts as an immediate desensitizer following traumatic or fearful events, blunting pain temporarily.
Endorphins:
Neurochemicals released after high-intensity adrenaline events, producing a euphoric physical "rush."
Skydiving Case Example: The professor completed skydiving jobs/jumps before stopping due to family commitments and his wife's rule ("only two things fall from the sky: bird poop and fools"). Jumpers experience extreme physical reactions, including having their breath momentarily taken away upon exiting the aircraft.
Toastmasters International Concept:
Toastmasters International operates local business chapters meeting times monthly in restaurant meeting rooms to practice public speaking.
Core Philosophy: "You're not trying to get rid of butterflies; you're trying to teach them to fly in formation."
Eliminating all adrenaline leaves a speaker feeling "flat," resulting in poor performance. A moderate adrenaline rush enhances optimal physical and vocal focus.
Anxiety Management Techniques Across Speech Stages
Stage 1: Planning and Preparation:
Select comfortable, familiar topics (e.g., personal experiences).
Thoroughly prepare and rehearse the speech structure rather than attempting impromptu delivery.
Visualize the speech space and audience beforehand.
Memorize and master the intro script completely to build immediate speaking rhythm.
Opening Error Warning: Never start a speech by walking up and chatting casually, or by saying "Good morning," "Good afternoon," or "Good evening." Begin immediately with the planned attention-getter.
Stage 2: Immediately Before the Speech:
Verify all electronic visual equipment beforehand.
Walk around outside the room to disperse excess physical adrenaline.
Perform discrete isometric or muscle tension-release exercises while seated.
Stage 3: Delivery and Physical Anxiety Manifestations:
Head and Eyes: Begin speaking with your head up; establish direct eye contact before looking down at outline notes.
Hand Tremors / Shaking: Avoid holding thin, loose paper sheets. Use heavy cardstock, note cards, or rest notes on the lectern.
Facial Flushing / Sweating: Wear dark colors or layers (such as a jacket) to mask blushing or body heat.
Rapid Pacing / "Happy Feet": Plant feet securely; move intentionally to specific audience quadrants rather than pacing back and forth aimlessly.
Hyper-Fast Pacing / Speech: Draw visual cues directly onto outlines, such as small red stop signs or caution symbols, to force deliberate pauses.
Shaky Voice / Vocal Cord Tension: Stress causes throat muscles surrounding the larynx to constrict and vibrate under strain.
Correction Method: Deep diaphragmatic breathing, or dropping one arm to the side and clenching a single fist tightly. Clenching the fist redirects bodily tension downward, allowing laryngeal muscles to relax.
Cognitive Reframing and Poise:
Amy Cuddy's Psychological Principle: Reframes "Fake it till you make it" to "Fake it until you become it." Consistently acting poised eventually creates genuine internal poise.
Perspective on Grading: Public speaking mistakes carry minimal academic risk. For example, scoring a out of on an introductory speech worth points in a course drops the final total to points (), preserving an overall grade of A.
Accept human imperfection; audiences take their cues from how calmly the speaker reacts to minor mistakes.
Physical Stress-Release Exercises:
Tense-and-Release Method: Sequentially tense specific muscle groups (feet, calves, thighs, stomach, arms) for , then release completely.
Isometrics: Exerting muscle force against an immovable object, such as gripping the underside of a chair seat while sitting and pulling upward to release trapped nervous energy.
Nonverbal Delivery Mechanics: Proxemics, Kinesics, and Paralanguage
1. Proxemics (Use of Space):
Lectern Position: Standing behind a lectern represents the formal "power position," communicating high authority but adding distance from the audience.
Religious Parallel: Clergy members (priests, rabbis, ministers, imams) speak elevated behind altars or pulpits to signal formal authority and convey divine messages to the congregation.
Moving Forward: Moving away from the lectern toward the audience creates a casual, accessible atmosphere, but sacrifices a degree of formal authority.
2. Kinesics (Body Language and Attire):
Attire Guidelines: Dress neatly and appropriately. Strictly avoid baseball caps inside class, revealing cut clothing, or graphic t-shirts with offensive or suggestive text (e.g., "protect your wildlife, Trojans" or "women prefer longboards").
Posture: Functions as an attitudinal index reflecting the speaker's internal energy and command.
Eye Contact and The Zone of Impact: Instructors notice a common visual flaw called the "zone of impact"—a narrow funnel shape where speakers look only at the center of the room, completely ignoring the front side fringes and back corners.
Eye Contact Execution: Look directly at an individual until a genuine connection is established, hold for one beat, then transition to another audience member in a different quadrant.
Hand Position / Home Base: Keep hands hanging naturally at your sides when not gesturing.
Allowed: Placing one hand in a pocket is acceptable if taken out periodically.
Prohibited: Putting both hands in pockets slumps the shoulders forward and project a lack of confidence.
Power Stance / C-Suite Hold: Holding hands centered at waist level (common executive posture). Corporate reality note: less than of Fortune 500 CEOs and under of Fortune 100 CEOs are female.
3. Paralanguage (Vocal Attributes):
Vocal Variety: Modulating pitch, tone, and volume. Avoiding monotone delivery, which induces "white line fever" (a hypnotic state where listeners tune out continuous, unvarying audio stimulus).
Intelligibility: The clarity with which speech can be processed and understood by the audience.
Dialects and Accents: Dialects encompass regional word choices, rhythmic parsing, and vocal accents.
General American Dialect: Often termed "vanilla" or Midwestern American speech; represents the most widely understood, accent-neutral dialect in the United States.
Southern Dialect Stereotypes: Discussion of common cultural biases associated with Southern speech patterns (perceived as rustic, Woods-bound, uneducated, or conservative versus hospitable, polite, and welcoming).
Dialogue and Classroom Q&A
Q: When is the first introductory speech scheduled?
A: Presentations begin this coming Wednesday.
Q: What happens if we do not finish all presentations on Wednesday?
A: Remaining students will roll over to the following Wednesday because Monday is Labor Day (no school).
Q: Is there any flexibility in the presentation order?
A: Students may swap spots with classmates if both parties agree to trade.
Q: What went wrong with Question 6 on the Chapter 1 Quiz?
A: The matching question provided only response options for blank fields. Leaving the blank empty resulted in an automated score of instead of . The instructor will manually restore the point deduction for all affected students.
Q: What are the two physical copies required for the speech presentation?
A: Students must bring one typed hard copy of their outline to turn in before speaking, submit one copy online, and fill out two peer feedback forms provided in class.
Q: Are peer feedback forms required for credit?
A: Yes. Forms must be completed with detailed written answers (evaluating attention getters and speaker goals) to receive credit.
Q: Can we use handwritten outlines during our presentation?
A: No. Outlines must be typed prior to class. Students may write notes or make minor pen edits on their typed hard copy during the presentation.
Q: What must be explicitly written on the outline?
A: The student's full name and speech topic.
Q: How do Japanese business cultural norms differ regarding audience questions?
A: In Japanese business culture, asking a speaker public questions during a presentation can be perceived as questioning authority or credibility, causing the speaker to "lose face." Questions are instead saved for private, one-on-one interactions following the session.