Public speaking (sometimes termed oratory or oration) is the process or act of

giving a performance focused around an individual's direct speech to a live

audience. This speech is structured and deliberate with three general purposes: to
inform, to persuade, and to entertain.[1] Closely allied to "presenting," although the
latter is more often associated with commercial activity, public speaking is
commonly understood as formal, face-to-face talking of a single person to a group
of listeners.

Contents [hide]
1

Overview

History

Methods and techniques

Tools

National and organizations

5.1

Non-Scholastic

5.2

Intercollegiate

5.3

High School

See also

References

External links

Overview[edit]
In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements
that are shown through Lasswell's model of communication. In short, the speaker
should be answering "who says what in which channel to whom with what effect?"
Along with the basic elements of public speaking, the general purpose can range
from transmitting information to telling a story to motivating people to act. Public
speaking can also be considered a discourse community, where the audience and
speaker are working to achieve a certain goal or find a purpose.

Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several common

components, including motivational speech, leadership, personal development,
business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication.
Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use to persuade, influence, and inform the
audience. It also utilizes ethos, or character.[2]

Currently, public speaking for business and commercial events is often done by
professionals. These speakers are contracted either independently, through
representation by a speakers bureau, or via other means. It is believed that 70% of
jobs today involve some form of public speaking.[3]

History[edit]

The Orator, c. 100 BC, an Etrusco-Roman bronze sculpture depicting Aule Metele
(Latin: Aulus Metellus), an Etruscan man wearing a Roman toga while engaged in
rhetoric; the statue features an inscription in the Etruscan alphabet
Although there is early evidence of training in public speech in ancient Egypt,[4] the
first known work[5] on oratory, written over 2,000 years ago, came from ancient
Greek. This work elaborated on principles drawn from the practices and experiences
of orators in the city-states. In classical Greece and Rome, the main component of
composition and speech delivery was rhetoric, which was an important skill in both
public and private life. Aristotle and Quintilian discussed oratory, and the subject,
with definitive rules and models, which was emphasized as a part of a liberal arts
education during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The art of public speaking, developed by the ancient Greeks,[6] is known from
works classical antiquity. Greek orators spoke on their own behalf rather than on
behalf of representatives of either a client or a constituency. So, any citizen who
wished to succeed in court, in politics, or in social life had to learn techniques of
public speaking. These skills were first taught by a group of self-styled "sophists"
who were known to help their students through instruction towards excellence.
Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates all developed theories of public speaking in opposition
to the Sophists, and their ideas took on institutional form through the development
of permanent schools where public speaking was taught. Though Greece eventually
lost political sovereignty, the Greek culture of training in public speaking was
adopted virtually wholesale by the Romans.

With the political rise of the Roman Republic, Roman orators copied and modified
Greek techniques of public speaking. Instruction in rhetoric developed into a full
curriculum, including instruction in grammar (study of the poets), preliminary
exercises (progymnasmata), and preparation of public speeches (declamation) in
both forensic and deliberative genres. The Latin style was heavily influenced by
Cicero, and involved a strong emphasis on a broad education in all areas of
humanistic study in the liberal arts (including philosophy). Other areas of study
included the use of wit and humor, the appeal to the listener's emotions, and the
use of digressions. Oratory in the Roman empire, though less central to political life
than in the days of the Republic, remained important in law and became an

important form of entertainment with famous orators gaining great wealth and
prestige for their skills.

The Latin style was the primary form of oration in the world until the beginning of
the 20th century. After World War II, there began a gradual deprecation of the Latin
style of oration. With the rise of the scientific method and the emphasis on a "plain"
style of speaking and writing, even formal oratory has become less polished and
ornate than in the Classical period.

Some of the best known examples of public speaking have been studied years after
their delivery. Among these are Pericles' funeral oration in 427 B.C.E. over those
that died during Peloponnesian War; Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863;
Sojourner Truth's identification of racial issues in "Ain't I a Woman?; and Mahatma
Gandhi's message of nonviolent resistance in India, which in turn inspired Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at the Washington Monument in 1963.[7]
Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Winston Churchill are notable examples
of effective orators who used speech to make a significant impact on society.