Public Speaking

 

1.0 Introduction

Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate

manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. In public speaking, as in

any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as "who is

saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?" The purpose of public

speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to

simply telling a story. Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their

listeners, not just inform them. Public speaking can also be considered a discourse

commnotey. Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components

that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership/personal development,

business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication. Public

speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence,

persuasion, informing, translation, or simply entertaining.

The common fear of public speaking is called gloss phobia (or, informally, "stage

fright"). As Jerry Seinfeld said: "The average person at a funeral would rather be in the

casket than doing the eulogy." Many careers require some ability in public speaking, for

example presenting information to clients or colleagues.

2.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE NOTE

On the completion of this note, you should be able to:

· Explain the meaning of public speaking.

· Describe the requirement for planning a presentation.

· Perform the ways to practicing a public speaking.

· Describe the ways to perform a planned talk.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Public Speaking

Public speaking and oration are sometimes considered some of the most importantly

valued skills that an individual can possess. This skill can be used for almost anything.

Most great speakers have a natural ability to display the skills and effectiveness that can

help to engage and move an audience for whatever purpose. Language and rhetoric use

are among two of the most important aspects of public speaking and interpersonal

communication. Having knowledge and understanding of the use and purpose of

communication can help to make a more effective speaker communicate their message in

an effectual way. The major area of speaking is public speaking. From the origin of time,

it has been obvious that some people are just better public speakers than others. Because

of this, today a good speaker can earn a living by speaking to people in a public setting.

Some of the major areas of public speaking are

· Speaking to persuade

· Speaking to inform

· Speaking to inspire or motivate

3.2 Planning your Talk

The first step in planning a public speaking involves acknowledging two fundamental

differences between oral and written communication. One essential goal of public

speaking is to make personal contact with the audience, and to help connect them to the

content. Reading a written report aloud is not usually an effective strategy for engaging

with the audience. The needs/preferences of the audience play an even larger role in

public speaking than in writing. The content of presentations should be prepared with

this goal in mind.

Second, public speaking is fleeting (or time-sensitive). If readers get lost or stop paying

attention for a few minutes, they can always flip back a few pages. Listeners, on the

other hand, usually can’t interrupt the speaker and ask that s/he should start again and go

back a few minutes. Once words are uttered, they vanish. Presenters can account for the

fleeting nature of oral presentations by making sure that the presentation is well

Organized and by making structure explicit in the talk, so the audience can always know

where they’ve been and where they’re going.

3.2.1 A Speech or Notes?

The first decision a presentation planner must make is whether to speak from notes or to

write a complete speech. Either strategy can work. Some students are not comfortable

without a prepared text to read; others can easily talk authoritatively with only notes (and

sometimes without). Choose what you’re comfortable with, or something in between the

two options.

However, if you choose to write a prepared speech, make sure that it’s designed for oral

delivery, that you’ve practiced it adequately, and that you don’t read from the sheet.

Using a prepared text as a security blanket is okay, but relying on it too much makes it

difficult to connect or engage with the audience; be prepared to depart from your text

when necessary and be flexible.

1. Purpose Statement

2. Opening Strategy

3. Main Idea

4. Overview

5. Conclusion

6. Take Away Statement

3.2.2 Components of a presentation

A well-planned oral presentation should contain these elements at the beginning and the

end of the talk:

1. The first step in planning a talk is developing a Purpose Statement: this is the objective

for the talk, or what the speaker wants to accomplish. The purpose statement is more

than a statement of topic. For example, your purpose might be to explain the advantages

of your design, to allay the concerns that a project is behind (or justify why it is), or to

clarify a complex aspect of your work. This purpose statement, however, is not always

explicitly stated in the presentation itself: you may not necessarily say “I’m giving this

talk to explain why we’re five weeks behind schedule” or “I’m giving this talk to sell 500

computers to you.” Although often unstated, the purpose statement guides your

preparation for your talk.

2. A well-planned presentation should also have an Opening Strategy that helps to

develop a rapport with the audience. There are a wide range of strategies available, but

they all attempt to connect the audience to the content. Some example opening strategies

are:

· Telling jokes, anecdotes, bits of history, startling facts, etc.

· Giving key information the audience needs

· Making the listener own the problem

Major considerations for planning opening strategies are relevance and time: make sure

that the opening strategy chosen suits the context and the content of the talk, and that it

doesn’t take up too much time.

3. The Main Idea is how the purpose statement manifests itself in the talk: it is the

explicit statement made at the beginning of the talk that identifies

a) The topic

b) The end goal of the talk.

Be careful when using the phrase “talk about” in your statement, because it tends to give

only a statement of topic: “I’m going to talk about Project X” establishes a topic, but

doesn’t provide any further focus for the talk. Instead, the main idea should be based on

a stronger verb. For example, given the two unstated purpose statements from above,

your main idea might be:

· “We’ll diagnose the problems with Project X and provide recommendations for

mitigating them.”

· “This presentation identifies the advantages of Bluetooth enabled computers and

Local Area Networks.”

These stronger verbs help to establish the goal of the presentation. Sometimes you will

begin your planning by establishing this statement; other times you might start in the

middle to help you to figure out what you are trying to say. Regardless, you need a

strong sense of purpose to motivate your talk

4. An Overview gives the listeners a mental roadmap of the whole talk, making the

structure explicit at the beginning. For example, if you have three reasons why the

project is behind, sketch them out quickly:

· “Project X is behind because the raw materials for High Performance concrete

arrived late, unforeseen weather delays prevented pouring on four days, and

changing specifications forced us to re-design two areas.”

When developing an overview, make sure that it contains actual information that is

relevant to the talk. Be careful not to provide a, such as: “I’m going to explain the

problem, provide several solutions, evaluate generic statement to structure them, and give

recommendations.” This overview could be applied to many talks because it says

nothing specific, and is not particularly helpful for the audience (especially if they are

hearing more than one talk).

5. The Conclusion should provide a brief summary by referring to the presentation’s main

point(s). You don’t usually need to go over every single point or repeat the headings

stated at the beginning of the talk, but you should signal that your talk is coming to an

end by using phrases such as “in conclusion” or “to sum up” and reiterate your main

idea.

· “Because it’s cheap and easy to implement, Bluetooth technology can make for

effective and easier to manage LANs.”

6. The Take Away Statement is the last sentence that comes out of your mouth: it will

also be the last thing the audience remembers and should clearly identify

a) That the talk is over (and to give the audience the signal to applaud) and

b) Identify what the audience should take away from the talk, or what they can do with

the information given in the talk. Don’t finish the talk by saying “that’s it” – it may

signal that the talk is over, but it doesn’t remind the listener of what s/he should take

away from the talk. For example, a summary for the second sample talk, you could say:

· “So, the next time you’re untangling wires from printers, mice, keyboards,

speakers etc. from the back of your computers, think about easy managing a

network of Bluetooth enabled computers would be.”

3.2.3 Presentation Organization:

These six key components should sandwich the body of the talk. However, presentation

planning also involves organizing  the body of the talk. There are two steps in organizing

the body

1) Identify the key points

2) Use an Organizational method appropriate for the presentation content and purpose.

Some relevant organization structures are listed below

· Chronological: Breaks talks into steps, Organized by time; useful for process

descriptions or progress reports.

· Ascending or Descending Pattern: Sorts topics based on performance in

predetermined criteria, such as difficulty (easiest to hardest), size (smallest to

largest), significance (least to most important), or cost (inexpensive to costly.)

· Pro and Con: Divides talk into positives and negatives. Useful in evaluating; can

be objective or persuasive.

· Cause to Effect: Breaks material up in results and precipitating causes; can be

speculative (starts with causes) or analytical (starts with effects). Emphasizes

ways one thing leads to another.

· Scientific Method: Follows reporting structure for lab work: purpose, methods,

results, discussion, and recommendations.

· Problem/Solution: Describe situation/ explain problem (or opportnunity)/ explain

solution (include methodology if appropriate)/ justify solution.

3.3 Practicing your Talk

The second step to delivering an effective public speaking is Practice. Practice is a

necessary part of presentation preparation, but there are different types of practice that

help accomplish specific goals.

3.3.1 Practicing delivery on your own will help you achieve the following.

1) Become familiar with the material you’re delivering.

2) Develop a proper cadence and rhythm for your speech.

3) Allow you to establish proper timing for your talk.

Ideal presentation delivery is not usually achieved by reading a prepared speech, but by

engaging the audience through a natural, conversational style. If working from notes, use

these practice sessions to develop a familiarity with the material and to develop/memories

key sentences that will anchor parts of your talk. If you’re working from a memorized

text or reading a written speech, you should try not to sound like you’re reading, and

work on fostering natural, conversational delivery.

Timing is important in public speaking: when you’re given a time limit, respect it. In

most situations – such as conference panels with a hard time limit and more than one

speaker – audiences do not have the luxury or the inclination to listen beyond the given

times. In fact, audiences tend to get annoyed if a speaker goes over significantly. When

practicing, ensure that you time yourself. In order to get accurate timing, your practice

sessions have to be uninterrupted. Times in these practice sessions aren’t always accurate

because they don’t mimic the real conditions of delivery very well – but they will give

you rough idea of whether or not you’re in the ballpark.

3.3.2 Practicing in front of a mirror can allow you to work on:

1) maintaining eye contact,

2) using gestures appropriately, and,

3) making sure you’re familiar with the material.

When working on eye contact, ensure that you’re actually engaging the audience and

sustaining the contact for more than a few seconds. In other words, make sure that you’re

not just looking in the general vicinity of the audience, but making actual contact with

audience members. In the mirror, focus on your own eyes, and note when and how often

you look away. If you need to look away (at your notes) every few seconds, you’ll need

to become more familiar with the content. A second or two at a time is not usually

sufficient to connect with the audience. Instead, focus on maintaining eye contact for

sustained periods

If you have a large or full-length mirror, you can also use this technique to correct your

posture and identify your gesturing techniques. Use this time to spot problems with your

gesturing – too much or too little – and identify areas in the talk where you can use

gestures to add emphasis or meaning to your presentation.

3.3.3 Practicing in front of others is the best type of practice because it mimics the

actual conditions of delivery. In this situation, you have “one goes” and can time your

delivery more accurately, and should be able to practice eye contact, gesturing, and

generally engaging the audience. If possible, use this opportnunity to test your familiarity

and interaction with the visuals you plan on using.

You should also ask your friends for feedback on the content and structure of the talk,

and make sure that the talk served the purpose that you identified in the planning stage.

More Practice Strategies: When working on effective vocal and physical delivery, you

may want to try some of these simple practice strategies; these shouldn’t be used in the

actual performance, but are useful for fine- tuning specific aspects of the delivery. The

first relates to gesture and voice, the second is an audience reminder trick, and the last

two focus on enunciation:

A. The bad actor strategy: Try performing the talk aloud (and alone behind a locked

door) as if you were a bad actor. Go completely over the top! Make huge sweeping

gestures and overdo the words. Do this Twice. As you do it the second time, try to make

mental note of two key things:

· Where your voice rises for emphasis

· Where you want to make gestures

The information you gain here shows you the natural points of emphasis. That important

information can now be used in a “normal” version of the talk. Of course, one of the

things you’ll find is that “normal” has changed, as the speech becomes more energised.

B. Follow the Leader Practice: One of the most important, but most neglected, aspects

of the talk is how we make transitions between points. Imagine you have an audience

full of people with very poor short-term memories, but you’re trying to get through to

them. Deliver your talk repeating everything, and using whatever transitions you need to

make that audience grasp your talk, without forgetting points.

C. The Eliza Doolittle Method: In “My Fair Lady” Eliza had the accent knocked out of

her with speech lessons. We all need that. Finding our best pitch, our best tone and our

best accent require practice. Choose a familiar bit of speech and use it to hone your

delivery. You’re best off to start with something other than your speech, and only apply it

to your speech later. Speeches by Shakespeare, Churchill, or Martin Luther King Jr. all

serve well as practice points. Once you’ve mastered one of these, then bring the same

enunciation effort to your talk. If you have an accent, you need to learn this exercise

taking particular care of sounds that may trip your listeners. For example, many Chinese

speakers of English struggle to distinguish “l” vs. “r” etc., so you need to work with these

sounds, particularly if they appear in words that are central to your purpose.

3.4 Performing your Talk

In Performance, you’re simply doing what you’ve practiced many times before.

Thinking of the actual performance in this way should help to calm nerves and anxieties

about giving the talk. The following page outlines some of the main goals in

performance, and strategies for achieving them. Most of these you’ll have had a chance

to practice already; but some considerations will only come up in the actual

performance.

3.4.1 Assuming an Appropriate Presentation Persona: When you deliver a formal

presentation, you are “performing” – as in a play – in front of an audience. While you

don’t want to become something artificial when you talk, you do want to play the part of

a speaker. The role you are playing is “you,” but it’s not the same “you” as we see in

informal settings. This is a persona that should look and feel quite natural, but also be

elevated from the everyday person. For some, assuming a presentation persona may

include costuming – wearing a suit or getting more dressed up than usual can help you

assume the appropriate character.

3.4.2 Effective vocal delivery: This includes appropriate volume, pace, and natural

speech. Adequate Volume is an essential component of effective delivery. If you can’t be

heard, you can’t be understood, and your main point will be missed. Being audible is

often not enough. Even if you can be heard, speaking too softly means that the audience

expends energy to trying to make out what you’re saying; this may mean that they aren’t

paying enough attention to interpreting and understanding what you’re saying. Generally

speaking, the problems that presenters have are with low volume; rarely are speakers so

loud that their speech is distracting. Speak loud enough so that the further member of the

audience can hear you comfortably.

The same is true for Pace. Especially when nervous, presenters tend to talk too quickly,

trying to get the talk over as soon as possible. Too fast a pace results in the same

difficulties that low volume presents: the audience spends most of its energy in trying to

make out the words being spoken, rather than in interpreting or understanding what’s

being said.

Ideally, we would all be able to speak naturally, as we do when we’re engaged in a

conversation, during presentations. However, presenters often fall back on a “reading”

rhythm and speech pattern, even if they’re working from notes. What constitutes “natural

speech” differs from person to person, but it is usually marked by variations in pitch,

tone, and pace, with appropriate pauses, all of which add layers of meaning to the words

being spoken. The best that you can aim for is the speech that you can achieve when

talking to friends on a topic you’re confident and passionate about, with a more little

formality added in.

3.4.3 Effective Physical Delivery: includes positioning, eye contact, body language, and

connecting to your visuals. The first step, taking your position, should be done prior to

the talk: determine the best place to stand before the audience arrives. The best place is:

a) WHERE YOU DON’T BLOCK ANYONE’S VIEW?

b) WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE AUDIENCE, AND

c) WHERE YOU CAN EASILY OPERATE THE PROJECTOR / LAPTOP AND

ENGAGE WITH THE VISUALS? If you are very nervous, anchor yourself with a

podium or desk – but not by leaning back or sitting. That is usually regarded as too

casual. Instead, stand behind it, and use the desk as a front piece. During the talk, you

might consider moving around to make sure you’re paying attention to the entire

audience.

o Eye contact

This is an important strategy for both connecting to the audience and getting

information from them. Effective eye contact is achieved when the speaker actually

engages the audience. Just because a speaker doesn’t read from a speech or look at

their notes often doesn’t mean that they’ve made effective eye contact: they could just

be staring outward or at other distractions, like their visuals. Look into the eyes of

audience members and confirm that they’re looking back. This also requires that eye

contact is sustained: looking at someone for a second doesn’t achieve the same level

of engagement as maintaining that contact for four to five seconds.

If you actually engage with the audience through eye contact, you can also see

whether people are confused or bored. You can use that information to help you

decide whether to move on, or spend more time on a particular point.

o Effective body language

This involves both posture and gesture. Posture communicates much about

confidence and attitude towards the audience and material. For example, slouching

suggests a casual attitude that may not be appropriate for formal presentations;

leaning forward with hands on a desk suggests an aggressiveness that may make the

audience uncomfortable. An upright posture communicates confidence and

formality. Gestures and movement can be used to deliver information as well. If you

practiced gestures beforehand, they will happen more naturally when time comes to

deliver. Some speech coaches advocate “standing still” and that is generally good

advice, but some excellent speakers move a lot. Why? Because they are comfortable

moving. If you look comfortable, your audience will be comfortable too. Therefore,

the general guide to appropriate gesture is “do what makes you comfortable.”

Obviously, some comforting gestures can be annoying – key rattling, jingling the

change in your pocket, picking your nose: these are called physical tics. However, if

walking around or talking with your hands makes you more comfortable, it probably

also makes you more effective. Connecting with your visuals and managing them

correctly is also a key part of effective physical delivery. If you’re using overhead

transparencies, don’t fumble with your slides. Throw away paper separators before

you present. When placing a slide on the projector, make sure that you look back at

the screen to see that all is visible, and adjust the slide if necessary, but do not stare at

the screen.

o Show Mastery:

Showing that you have mastery over your material increase your listeners’ confidence

in you and also sets them at ease. This can be as simple as showing that you are able

to operate the equipment. Another way to show you are confident in your material is

humor. It can lighten dry technical talks, especially after some particularly heavy

going. Cartoons can be an effective way to draw parallels with points you are trying

to make, if relevant. Even short verbal asides, rhetorical questions, or anecdotes can

go a long way to keeping audience interest. You can also show mastery by taking

control of the questions, during or after the talk. During the talk, interact with the

audience. Ask them if they are following you, or ask them simple questions to see if

they are. Liven them up a bit. After the talk, take control by managing the question

and answer period. Always finish with a strong take away statement, allows the

audience clapping, and then asking for questions. Control the question period by

choosing the speakers, preparing yourself to handle certain questions beforehand, and

taking the time to consider questions before formulating a response. If you encounter

a question that you can’t answer, acknowledge that you can’t answer it, and tell them

that you’ll consider that in the future or turn the question back on the audience. If

questions lead things astray, try to steer the topic back on track, otherwise audience

participation can drive things far away from the main points of the talk. Take

discussions off-line if they are consuming too much time or will not readily be

resolved – suggest that you will check a fact or point and respond to the questioner by

e-mail or telephone. Feel free to interrupt debates among audience members; after all,

it's your talk!

3.4.4 Supporting your Talk with Visuals

Visuals are an important part of public speaking: they can be used to highlight important

information, explain technical concepts and details that are difficult to explain through

words alone, and can help connect the listener to the content. In planning presentation

visuals, you have the same options as with writing but will have to adjust your visuals for

presentation on a screen, further away from your audience (than a piece of paper arms

length away). Many of concerns outlined in using visuals in writing still apply to their

use in public speaking. The following are particularly important in a presentation setting.

· Introduce the graphic and explain its role in the presentation in words. Make sure

that the graphic has a specific purpose in your presentation, and use your speech

to identify its purpose and to highlight the key parts of the visual that serve that

purpose. For example, when presenting a table of results, highlight (visually,

through gestures, and in words) the cells that hold the most significant data.

· Make sure that the precision of the illustration matches the precision of the

speech: this is of particular concern when using graphics originally design for a

written text, which is likely to provide a more detailed accompanying description,

in oral presentations. Adjust the visual so that it suits the presentation content.

· Ensure than graphics are properly titled (i.e. Figure 1.1: Cut Away Drawing of

Solid Fuel Rocket Boosters) and labeled. In an oral presentation setting, it is

likely that some listeners may miss your introduction to the graphic. Readers who

miss this introduction can simply flip back; listeners do not have this luxury. The

title and the labels hold the key to interpreting the graphic element and its role in

the presentation.

In addition to these shared issues, using graphics in a public speaking setting presents

some other challenges:

o Orientation of Visuals: When using transparencies, always use landscape

orientation rather than portrait. This is not a constraint introduced by

PowerPoint (which limits users to landscape format), but by the fact that a

landscape oriented slide fits better on a projector than portrait oriented

ones. Landscape oriented slides allow you to use more of the space

available on the slide, without having to adjust the slide during the

presentation.

o Text / Image Size / Resolution: The titles and labels need to be readable

from a distance. This means that text should be a minimum of 18 point in

size (24 point is typical).

While Times New Roman is typically the standard font for written documents, less print

oriented fonts with harder edges and fewer curves are more suitable for presentation

slides. Commonly used fonts for oral presentations include:

Furthermore, a standard approach to using images from written documents is simply to

resize the image so that it fits the slide. This sometimes works, but resizing a small, lower solution

image to a larger size can result in fuzzy images that are difficult to interpret.

3. Text Based Slides: In an oral presentation, text based slides are common. They

function to highlight the key points and reinforce the structure of the presentation.

However, text based slides also encourage listeners to read, rather than listen. This is

especially true if the presenter reads the text of the slide: avoid this. To use text based

slides effectively, minimize the amount of the text on the slide by using note form instead

of complete sentences, and leaving the details for your speech, rather than on the slide.

The slide presented below is an example of a poorly designed slide, using too much text:

· The Orbiter is one key component of the

space shuttle, and holds the astronauts

along with all the equipment

· The solid rocket boosters are another,

and provide the initial thrust required to

get the shuttle out of the atmosphere. It

is jettisoned and recovered.

· The liquid rocket booster is the final

component, and provides the thrust

required to get the rocket into orbit. It is

jettisoned after leaving the atmosphere,

and burns up on reentry.

Reduce text by adding a title (Components) and using note form:

Shuttle Components:

· Orbiter:

o Holds astronauts and equipment

· Sold Rocket Boosters:

o Provides initial thrust to exit

atmosphere

o Jettisoned and recovered

· Liquid Rocket Booster

o Provides thrust to achieve orbit

o Jettisoned and burns up on

reentry

4.0 CONCLUSION

Public speaking is an effective way of promoting an image of an organization through

dissemination of information to the public. However, the result can only be achieved, if

the speaker has successfully mastered the process of public speaking and oratory. Proper

study of the above will go along way in helping you to acquire public speaking skill.

5.0 SUMMARY

The following has been discussed in this note. These include the meaning of public

speaking, planning your speech in public speaking, practicing your speech in public

speaking and performing a talk

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