RHET 007

03/06/2015

Overview of Communication/Public Speaking

Source: aka the speaker
Message: ideas communicated verbally and nonverbally
Channel: the way a message is sent (rate, volume, quality, pitch)
Receive: aka the listener/receiver or decoder of the message
Feedback: Verbal/nonverbal responses between communicators
about the clarity or acceptability of messages
Noise: anything that distracts from effective communication (define,
explain how they relate, give examples)
o Physical noise: distractions originating in the physical
environment
o Physiological noise: distractions originating in the bodies of
communicators
Ex: tapping foot, um, nervous body movements
o Psychological noise: distractions originating in the thoughts of
the communicators
Facing an audience
Know how you react to stress
o Allows you to predict/cope with physical conditions (dry
mouth, difficulty breathing, shakiness, sweatiness)
o Because you are anticipating these conditions, you can mask
them better from the audience
Dont hold paper if youre shaking
Take deep breaths before you start speaking if your
voice shakes
Arrive early if you are easily flustered
Know your strengths and weaknesses

o Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses

o Use strengths to communicate message
Know speech principles:
o What are the five functions of an effective speech
introduction?
o How should you construct the body of your speech
o How should you develop each key idea?
o What strategies help you conclude your speech?
o How can you use your voice and body to communicate your
ideas dynamically?
o What strategies help you word ideas correctly, clearly, and
vividly?
Know that it always looks worse from the inside
o Even if you feel extremely nervous, your audience probably
wont realize it
Knowing this should help you to feel more secure
Know your speech
o If you dont know what you want to say, you wont say it
o The more confident you are about your message, the less
nervous you will be
Believe in your topic:
o If you are giving an informative speech, you must believe that
what you say will benefit your listeners
o If you are giving a persuasive speech, commit to the believe
you attempt to initiate in your audience
o It is easier to convince your audience if you believe the topic
is important
View speech making positively
o Cognitive restructuring: strategy for reducing communication
anxiety by replacing negative thoughts and statements with
positive ones

o By thinking positively about making a speech, a speaker can

reduce his/her anxiety
Identify negative self statements and replace them with
positive ones
Ie: My audience will probably be bored with my
speech I found the topic interesting and my
audience will too
Visualize success
o Visualization: a strategy for reducing communication anxiety
by picturing yourself delivering a successful speech
Project Confidence
o If you want to feel confident, act confident
o Make eye contact, stand still, use your hands to gesture
emphatically
Test your message
o Practice speech in front of your friends to see if your speech
content will make your audience interested
Practice your delivery:
o Practice your speech several times from start to finish
o Practice how to recover from a mistake without starting over
o Practice with distractions

Choosing a topic
Places you can find a topic:
Brainstorming: listing all the ideas that come to mind without
evaluating or censoring any of them
Self Generated Topics:
o Topics from your memory, notes, interests, or experiences
Ex: hobbies, favorite courses, books youve read, pet
peeves, likes and dislikes, etc.
Audience Generated Topics:

o What topics interest or seem important to your listeners?

o Ask your classmates what they would like to hear
o Listen and read: what do your classmates discuss before/after
class? Articles in your campus? Consider your listeners needs
Occasion-Generated Topics:
o Derived from particular circumstances, seasons, holidays, or
life events
o When and where a speech is given may guide you in selecting
a topic
Ex: A speech on stress management may have an
impact right before exams
Research Generated Topics: requires the speaker to explore a
variety or sources
o Consult databases and indexes
o Browse through magazines or journals in library or online
o Look at book titles at a bookstore
o By using these research tools databases/indexes,
magazines/journals, and books- you may not only discover a
speech topic but also locate your first source of information
o
Speaker, Audience, Occasion, Research
Think about what YOU would want to hear if you were in the
audience: if your instructor assigns you a topic, the specific details
you include and the order in which you say them will be uniquely
your own
Keep audience in Mind
o The topic you select or the way you approach an assigned
topic should be guided by what you think your listeners will
find most interesting or useful
If your topic is not assigned, brainstorm for topics that interest you
or that you think would benefit or interest your audience
o Your speaking occasion, the time of year that you speak, and
upcoming or recent holidays can also suggest topic ideas
Consider topics you discover as you conduct research, but dont
settle for the first topic that comes to mind.
o Generate many possible topics and spend time reflecting on
them

Thesis
One sentence synopsis of a speakers message
o Should summarize what you will say in your speech
o Gives you a handle on subject as you develop your key ideas
State your purpose in a well worded sentence
Command attention
Should clarify your topic or your purpose in speaking
Supporting ideas
Develop research plan:
o What info do I need, where am I most likely to find I, how can
I obtain this info, how will time constraints affect my research
options
Collect Information:
o Internet, library resources, magazines and journals,
newspapers, government documents, books, reference works
(dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs), TV and radio,
interviews, calling/writing/emailing for info
Purposes of Supporting Material
Clarity, Vividness, Credibility
Types of support materials:
Example: specific illustration of a category of people, places,
objects, actions, experiences, or conditions
o Measles, mumps, and chicken pox are examples of childhood
illnesses

o Brief examples are short specific instances of the general

category you are discussing.
o Extended examples are lengthier and more elaborate than
brief examples. Allow you to create more detailed pictures of
a person, place, object, experience or condition
o Actual examples are real and true
o Hypothetical examples are imaginary or fictitious
Suppose that, Imagine yourself, What if
Definition: Tells us the meaning of a word, a phrase, or a concept
o Definition by synonym: substitution of a word having similar
meaning for the word being defined
o Definition by etymology: explanation of the origin of the word
being defined
o Definition by example: providing an instance or illustration of
the word being defined
o Definition by operation: clarifies a word or phrase by
explaining how an object or concept works
Narration: storytelling, the process of describing an action or series
of occurrences
o Personal narrative: a story told from the viewpoint of a
participant in the action and using the pronouns I or we
o Third Person narrative: a story told from the viewpoint of a
witness and using the pronouns he, she or they
Comparison: process of depicting one item a person, place,
object, or concept by pointing out its similarities to another, more
familiar item
o Literal Comparison: associations between two items that
share actual similarities
Ex: speech on interstate highway system noted that it
required a strong national commitment of vision,
patience and resources, just like how these
commitments were needed for a high speed rail system
o Figurative comparison: associations between two items that
dont share actual similarities
Contrast: links two items by showing their differences
Statistics: collections of data
Testimony: quotations or paraphrases of an authoritative source to
clarify or prove a point

Questions to ask when evaluating support materials

Is the evidence quoted in context?
Is the source of the evidence an expert?
Is the source of the evidence unbiased?
Is the evidence relevant?
Is the evidence specific?
Is the evidence sufficient?
Is the evidence timely?

Why is organization so important for an oral presentation?

It takes time to organize your thoughts to write a coherent letter or
give a sufficient answer to an essay question.
Investing the time to organize simplifies the task in the end
Getting organized helps simplify speech preparation and makes
your speech more vivid and memorable for your listeners
A well prepared outline serves 5 important functions for a speaker
o Tests scope of content
o Tests logical relations among parts of the speech
o Tests relevance of supporting ideas
o Checks balance or proportion of the speech
o Serves as notes during the delivery of the speech

Parts of a Speech:
Introduction:
o Focuses the audiences attention on your message
o Clarify your topic or your purpose in speaking
o Establish the significance of your topic or explain your interest
in it
o Your intro should also establish your credibility to speak on
that topic
Reveal any special qualifications you have for speaking
on the topic
o Highlight or preview the aspects of your subject that you will
discuss
Body: Longest and most substantial
o Your organizational goal in the body is to structure your main
points so clearly that they are distinct and unmistakable to
your listeners
o 4 Ss
Signpost each main idea (use numbers like first or
one OR words like initially and finally
State the idea clearly
Support and explain the idea
Summarize the idea before moving to your next one
Conclusion: brief final step with three main functions
o Summary: final review of the main points you have covered
You should not introduce new ideas in conclusion
Bring speech to logical close
o Activate an audience response by letting your listeners know
whether you want them to accept, use, believe, or act on the
content of your speech

You want audience to have been involved with your

info/ideas
Last opportunity to highlight what you want your
listeners to take away
o Should provide your speech with a strong sense of closure..
end on a positive/forceful note
Question the audience, amuse them, stimulate their
imaginations, etc.

Functions of an Introduction:
Get attention of audience
State topic or purpose
Stress importance or relevance of your topic
Establish your credibility to speak on your topic
Preview the key ideas you will develop in the body of the speech
Functions of a Conclusion
Summarize your key ideas or bring speech to logical conclusion
Secure listeners commitment to your information and ideas
Provide closure or bring the speech to a satisfying psychological
conclusion
Primacy-Recency theory: serial position effect says that when given a
list of information and later asked to recall that information, the items at the
beginning (primacy) and the items at the end (recency) are more likely to be
recalled than the items in the middle
Organizational Formats:
Topical Division: organization of a speech according to subtopics or
the subject
o Used to narrow broad topics

Ex: Inform audience on types and taste of coffee

Key Ideas: Types of Coffee (Type A, B, C), Tastes
of coffee (Acidity, Body, Flavor)
Chronological Division: organization of a speech according to time
sequence
Spatial Division: organization of a speech according to the
geography or physical structure of the subject
o Ex: Inform audience about halls and palaces of the Forbidden
City in Beijing
Key Ideas: Hall 1, Hall 2, Hall 3, Etc.
Causal Division (Cause & Effect): when you want to trace a
condition or action from its causes to its effects, or from effects
back to causes
o Ex: Inform audience about effects and causes of sports
victory riots
Key Ideas: Effects (Death and injuries, vandalism, law
enforcement costs), Causes (Competitiveness of sports,
Mob psychology, inadequate police presence)
Problem Solution Division: simple, rigid organizational approach
that establishes a compelling problem and offers one or more
convincing solutions
o Persuade the audience to support reform of our national park
system
Key Ideas: National parks are threatened (politics,
littering) National parks can be saved (stricter laws on
littering, increased funding)

Transitional Statements: statements that connect parts of the speech and

indicate the nature of their connection
Without transitions, ideas of a speech are introduced abruptly.
Speech will lack a smooth flow of ideas and will sound choppy
Ex: It is clear that studying is extremely important in a students
success. However, it is not the only factor that contributes to being
a great student. Attending classes is also a key factor to a students
success
Effective Language Use
Use language correctly
o Poorly worded ideas can come across as a poor idea
Ex: speech about the increase of STDS, told audience to
commit to long-term monotonous relationships but
meant monogamous

o Use language clearly

To achieve clarity, a speaker should use language that is
specific and familiar
o Use language vividly
Speakers should choose language that is colorful and
picturesque
Vivid language engages the audience and makes the
task of listening easier
Use active language, appeal to listeners senses, use
figures of speech, structures of speech
o Use language inclusively
Unbiased and respectful language
o Use oral style
Dont memorize what you write down, it will make your
speech stiff
Use tone, personal pronouns and references, repetition,
shorter sentences than what you would write
Figures of speech: help to create vivid language and images to capture and
maintain the attention of your audience
Parallelism: expression of ideas using similar grammatical
structures
Repetition: restating words, phrases, or sentences
o Often used together to emphasize an idea or call for action
Ex: Tonight, turn off your alarm, turn down your covers,
and turn in for a good nights sleep
Antithesis: the use of parallel construction to contrast ideas:
o Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can
do for your country
Personification: gives human qualities to objects, ideas, or
organizations
o The angry sea, jealousy rearing its ugly head
Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds in adjacent or nearby
words

o to Dream, to dare, and to do

Delivery: the way a speaker presents a speech, through voice

qualities, bodily actions, and language
Kinesics: Nonverbal communication
Appearance: a speakers physical features, including dress and
grooming
Posture: the position or bearing of a speakers body while delivering
a speech
Facial expression: the tension and movement of various parts of a
speakers face
Eye contact: gaze behavior in which a speaker looks at listeners
eyes
Movement: a speakers motion from place to place during speech
delivery
Gestures: movements of a speakers hands, arms and head while
delivering a speech

Paralanguage: rate, pause, volume, pitch, inflection, articulation, and

pronunciation
Rate: speed of speaking can communicate something, intentionally
or unintentionally about your motives in speaking, your disposition,
or your involvement with the topic. Try to use a variety of rates to
reinforce your purpose in speaking and make you seem
conversational
Pauses: silences allow the audience time to reflect on something
you have just said or to heighten suspense about something you
are going to say.
o Also mark transitions in your speech and help you/audience to
shift gears
Volume: how loudly or softly you speak
o Speaker should analyze dynamics of a room
Pitch: the highness or lowness of a speakers voice
o Nerves sometimes make a speaker talk in a higher pitch

o When presenting, you should find your natural pitch in order

to have a conversational tone with your audience so you dont
sound mechanical
Inflection: patterns of change in a persons pitch while speaking
o Inflection is important to avoid being monotonous
o You can give words distinct meanings by raising pitch and
volume of specific words
Articulation: mechanical process of forming the sounds necessary to
communicate in a particular language
o Many speakers leave out sounds: libary instead of library
Pronounciation: knowing how the letters of a word sound and where
the stress falls when that word is spoken

Proxemics: spatial separation individuals maintain

Moving to side or front of a podium reduces physical and
physiological distance between you and your audience and can be
helpful when you conclude your speech with a persuasive appeal
People who are confident, relaxed, and have high status tend to
expand into space around them and use gestures that are wider
than those of other people
Adapt movement and gestures to the size of your audience