Chp 13: Nature of Formal Presentations

BOOK: pgs. 193-205

PDF: pgs. 203-215

What you need to Know

• Roots of public speaking

• Deliberation, forensic, epideictic

• General purpose

• Subject versus topic-lecture notes

• Brainstorming

• Concept mapping

• Demographics

• Audience analysis

• Gathering information for supporting evidence:

  • Primary research: interviews, surveys, polling, direct observations

  • Secondary research: peer-reviewed academic journal articles, books, newspaper & magazine articles, web and media sources

• Types of Supporting Evidence: statistics, examples, testimony, definitions (denotative and connotative meanings)

• What 4 things should you evaluate in a source? (accuracy, responsibility, impartiality, currency)

• Determining credibility of the sources: how recent, expert, biasedness, consistency with other reliable sources)

• Ch. 13 practice quiz: http://fountainheadpress.com/commpath/quizzes/commpath_ch13/

Presenting in Public

• Speeches are a part of life

• Various occasions, formal/informal, planned/unplanned, that call for a presentation

• Public speaking instruction dates back to classical times.

• Aristotle identified three types of speeches

  • Deliberative (about future actions that may be taken)

  • Forensic (debate, legal arguments about what has happened)

  • Epideictic (ceremony, celebratory, commemorative)

Aristotle’s 5 Canons of Rhetoric

• Invention (ID topic)

• Arrangement (order of main points)

• Style (words used to make your speech interesting)

• Delivery (vocal and physical and type)

• Memory (remembering speech, more important during ancient times)

Subject versus Topic Selection (PDF: p. 204-206)

• Subject - a broad area of expertise

• topic - a narrow, specific aspect of the subject

• Let’s brainstorm for your topic!

  • Is the topic narrow enough?

  • Explain your subject matter in the amount of time you have available.

  • If you are struggling, you might have to brainstorm.

  • Also, create a concept map to help you identify the other potential areas you could cover and how they relate to one another.

• Is the topic appropriate/relevant for my audience and for me?

  • Is this topic something you care about?

  • Is it a subject in which you are an expert, or about which you would like to know more?

  • Is the topic choice that reflects the person you want to be seen as?

• GENERAL PURPOSE: to inform, persuade, and/or entertain.

• SPECIFIC PURPOSE (speech goal): My goal is to inform my Communication classmates about my career goal to become a registered nurse.

• What Topics are Appropriate for the Occasion?

  • Consider what types of topics are appropriate for the occasion

  • Take time to consider what types of topics might be appropriate or even expected for the occasion when you think about potential topics.

• Is the Topic Appropriate for This Particular Audience?

  • Consider your audience’s interests, needs, and level of expertise when choosing a topic, and consider how those mesh with the occasion.

  • What topics will be of interest to, connect with, and build upon an audience’s existing knowledge in some way.

Audience Analysis (PDF: p. 206-209)

• Demographics - what are some examples?

• Artifacts about a person or group

  • How could someone learn more about your experiences, knowledge, interests, beliefs, and values?

• Informant - contact person of the event

• Interview audience members to tailor your msg (message)

• Surveys - we will do this before the pers. (persuasive) speech

  • Likert scale questions - survey questions that provide statements and then ask respondents to circle a number that measures their level of agreement with it

  • Semantic differential scale questions - survey questions that asks participants to choose their position on a continuum between two polar opposites

• Polling the audience (ask during your speech)

• Observe the audience before you speak

Researching the Topic (PDF: p. 210-212)

• Sources of information

  • Peer-reviewed academic journal articles

  • Books

  • Magazines and newspapers

  • Web and media sources

  • Interviews

Types of Supporting Evidence (PDF: p.212-213)

• Numbers and statistics

• Examples

• Testimony, stories

  • Expert

  • Peer

  • You own! (but not on works cited)

• Definitions

  • Denotative meanings

  • Connotative meanings

Evaluating Information (PDF: p.213-214)

1. How recent is the source?

2. Is the source reliable?

3. Is the source biased?

4. Is it consistent with other sources?

5. CRAAP Test (see library website)

6. Do not cite Wikipedia or Google. Instead, find the original source.

7. Is this real? https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/in-time-saving-measure-bigen-signs-mile-long-executive-order-reversing-everything-trump-did

Dialogic Public Speaking (PDF: p. 214-215)

• Identify with your audience

• Respect differences

• Keep an open mind

• Strive for audience understanding

• Talk with, not at, your audience

How to sound smart in your Tedx Talk | Will Stephen | TEDxNewYork

Key Terms

1. Deliberate - speeches about future actions that might be taken

2. Forensic - arguments about what had happened

3. Epideictic - speeches that celebrate or commemorate events or people

4. General purpose - the broad intent of what your speech should accomplish; the three types of general purposes are to inform, persuade, and commemorate

5. Brainstorm - the practice of creating a list of all the possible topics you can think of, beginning by writing down every possible idea that comes to mind, regardless of how good you think the idea is, and then afterward organizing or evaluating the ideas to help you make a decision about which to choose

6. Concept map - a visual representation of all the potential areas you could cover in your speech that includes circles around topics and lines that connect related ideas; also known as a mind map

7. Demographics - categories of definable characteristics of groups of people, such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, socioeconomic status, education level, and sexual orientation

8. Informant - a contact person within the organization or group you can talk with to obtain information about the audience you will be speaking to

9. Likert scale questions - survey questions that provide statements and then ask respondents to circle a number that measures their level of agreement with the statement

10. Semantic differential scale questions - survey questions that ask participants to choose their position on a continuum between two polar opposites

11. Numbers - raw quantitative data

12. Statistics - quantitative reports that summarize and organize sets of data to make them easier to understand and visualize

13. Testimony - the words of other people used to support your point

14. Examples - instances that we use to help define or clarify concepts, draw attention to a particular feature of an experience, or elicit memories and emotions in our audience

15. Expert testimony - information that you obtain from someone who has conducted extensive research on the topic, has significant experience with the topic, has significant experience with the topic, or holds a position that lends credibility to his or her ideas on a subject matter

16. Peer testimony - information that comes from someone who is in the same peer group as the audience; they are not necessarily an expert on the topic

17. Denotative meaning - the literal definition of a word or phrase that you might find in a dictionary

18. Connotative meaning - the way a word or phrase is used in a particular context, potentially as slang or with an implied value judgment