Presenting a good speech requires
practice and knowledge. There are a few basics to get started.
Approaching the Speaking Situation:
Audience, Occasion, Purpose
Communication, both spoken and written,
is always addressed to an audience, a set of listeners or readers you are
intending to convey information to or have some effect upon. Public speaking
differs from written communication in that the audience is present, gathered
for some occasion. That occasion has norms and expectations that a speaker
must recognize. Finally, a public speaker has some purpose, something they
are trying to accomplish or set in motion. Good public speaking always accounts
for these three components.
Audience.
Speakers communicate differently to different audiences. To take a simple
example, people tell their grandmothers about their new “significant
other” in a different way than they tell their best friend. Similarly,
people speak about trees differently with their high school biology teacher
than they do with their younger siblings; and speakers often need to make
arguments about public policy differently to Republicans than to Democrats.
Two main questions guide audience adaptation in a speaking situation: Who
are they? What qualities about them are relevant?
Who are they?
Distinguishing general from specific audiences is useful. A general audience
is everyone who will hear the speech or read the paper. A specific audience,
on the other hand, is that subset of the general audience who the speaker
particularly wants to reach, or to reach in a different way than the rest
of the group. In an audience with varying degrees of knowledge on a subject,
for instance, a speaker might want to pitch their comments primarily to
non-experts (while at the same time not saying anything that a specialist
would find objectionable). In the classroom, students may be speaking
to the entire group but making a special effort to address the professor's
expectations.
What qualities
about them are relevant? Audiences vary in values, knowledge, style of
communication, and intellectual capacity—among other qualities.
Depending on the topic and purpose, effectiveness could be influenced
by whether the audience is young or old, rich or poor, female or male,
highly religious or less believing, college graduates or high school dropouts,
ethnic minorities or majorities. In addition, audiences carry different
expectations to a speaking occasion: some want to be there, others do
not; some want to be entertained, others are looking to be informed; some
are open to being persuaded while others are unlikely to change their
minds anytime soon; some expect a highly polished presentation with sophisticated
visual aids while others are looking for less formal comments. All of
these expectations help shape a speaking situation.
Occasion.
Unlike much written communication, a public speaking situation occurs at
a specific time and place. With regard to time, the speech can be affected
by events that have very recently occurred (e.g. the morning's news may
be fresh in your audience's mind); by the time of day (8:00 A.M. lectures
are different than 10:00 A.M. lectures); and by the fact that it comes after
or before other speeches. Place matters too--different-sized rooms make
a difference for visual aides and intimacy.
There is also a reason
that the speech is happening, the occasion for which the audience has gathered.
Are you speaking at a wedding or a funeral? An academic lecture series or
a public meeting of concerned citizens? A mandatory assignment for freshman
communication students? Each of these occasions has different norms for
speaking, calling for speakers to operate in different modes--from formal
to informal, from light to heavy, humorous to serious, conversational to
highly practiced.
Purpose.
Speakers hope to accomplish general and specific purposes when they communicate.
For most speaking in college and beyond, there are two general purposes:
to inform or to persuade. The line between informing and persuading is not
absolute, and many speeches will do some of both. Nonetheless, they are
useful guides for speakers.
When a speaker seeks
to inform, they want the audience to leave the speech knowing more than
they knew beforehand. Speakers may want to explain an idea or process, share
new information, or show how to do something.
When a speaker aims
to persuade an audience, they want them to adopt a new position or belief,
to change their minds, or to be moved to action. Persuasion calls a speaker
to advocate one position among others that are possible and be willing to
defend it against challenges.
In addition to a
general purpose and speaker typically has a range of more specific goals
for their speech. They may want to get a few laughs, to build upon a classmate's
speech, to reach a selected group of listeners, to show themselves to be
competent to potential employers, or to create controversy. A successful
speech requires a clear sense of general and specific purpose to guide how
selection and presentation of ideas and words.
Structuring
the Speech
Organizing speeches
serves two important functions. First, organization helps improve clarity
of thought in a systematic way. Second, organization increases the likelihood
that the speech will be effective. Audiences are unlikely to understand disorganized
speeches and even less likely to think that disorganized speakers are reliable
or credible. Speeches are organized
into three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction of
the speech establishes the first, crucial contact between the speaker and
the audience. For most classroom speeches, the introduction should last less
than a minute. The introduction needs to accomplish three things:
Focus
your audience's attention. Speakers must have an “attention
grabber” to interest the audience—a joke, astonishing fact,
or anecdote. (Rhetorical questions like “Haven’t you ever wondered
how…” are notoriously ineffective.) The introduction is the
place where the main claim or idea should be stated very clearly to give
the audience a sense of the purpose of the speech. Speakers need to orient
the audience and make connections between what they know or are already
interested in and the speech topic.
Establish
goodwill and credibility. Many people believe the most important
part of persuasion was ethos, or the character the speaker exhibited to
the audience. The audience needs to see the speaker as someone to listen
to attentively and sympathetically. Ethos is generated by both delivery
style and content of the speech. Making eye contact with the audience and
displaying confidence in voice and body are two important ways to establish
ethos. In addition, if you express ideas that are original and intelligent,
you will show “intellectual character.” Audiences pay attention
to habits of thought that are interesting and worth listening to.
Give
a preview. Mentioning the main points to be covered in the
body prepares the audience to listen for them. Repetition is an important
aspect of public speaking, for listening is an imperfect art, and audience
members nearly always tune out in parts--sometimes to think about previous
parts of the speech, sometimes for other reasons. The preview should end
with a transition, a brief phrase or a pause to signal to the audience that
the speech is moving out of the introduction and into the body.
The body follows and
is itself structured by a mode of organization, a logical or culturally specific
pattern of thinking about ideas, events, objects, and processes. Having a
mode of organization means grouping similar material together and linking
the component parts together with transitions. Good transitions show the relation
between parts of a speech. They display the logic of the speech. Common transition
phrases include: in addition to, furthermore, even more, next, after that,
then, as a result, beyond that, in contrast, however, and on the other hand.
One special type of transition is called the internal summary, a brief restatement
of the main point being completed.
In the body, the fewer
the main points the better. For short classroom speeches, under 10 minutes,
speeches should not have more than three main points. For longer speeches,
more than five main points ensures that audiences will have trouble following
and remembering the speech. In the speech, main points should be clearly stated
and "signposted," marked off as distinct and important to the audience.
Transitions often serve to signpost new points, as do pauses before an important
idea. Additionally, speakers might number main points—first, second,
third or first, next, finally. Always make it easy for the audience to recognize
and follow key ideas.
There are several common
modes of organizing the information in the body of your speech:
Temporal
organization groups information according to when it happened
or will happen. Types of temporal patterns include chronological (in the
sequence it occurred) and reverse chronological (from ending back to start). Inquiry
order is one special mode of temporal organization useful in presenting
some kinds of research: here you organize the body in accord with the unfolding
processes of thinking and gathering data, taking the audience from the initial
curiosity and questions to final results.
Cause-effect
is a related mode of organization, showing how one event brings about another.
Cause-effect, like other temporal modes, may be used for past, present,
or future events and processes. Cause-effect can also be reversed, from
effect back to cause.
Spatial
patterns group and organize your speech based on physical
arrangement of its parts. If a speech is describing a place, a physical
object, or a process of movement--downtown Mercer, a plant cell, or the
Battle of Shiloh--spatial patterns can be useful.
Topical
designs are appropriate when the subject matter has clear
categories of division. Government in the United States, for instance, falls
into federal, state, and local categories; or into executive, legislative,
and judicial branches; into elected and appointed officials. Categories
like these can help divide the subject matter to organize the main points.
Compare/contrast
takes two or more entities and draws attention to their differences and/or
similarities. Sometimes speakers explain a difficult subject by comparing
it with an easier, more accessible one--to explain nuclear fusion with the
stages of high school romance, for instance. The use of analogies often
assists in audience understanding.
Following a transition from the body of the speech, the conclusion follows.
The conclusion should be somewhat shorter than the introduction and accomplishes
two purposes: summarize main ideas and give the speech a sense of closure
and completion. Good conclusions might refer back to the introduction, offer
an analogy or metaphor that captures the main idea, or leave the audience
with a question or a challenge of some type. Brief quotations can also make
effective conclusions (just as they can make effective openings for introductions).
Argument: Claims,
Reasons, Evidence
Critical thinking
means being able to make good arguments. Arguments are claims backed by reasons
that are supported by evidence. Argumentation is a social process of two or
more people making arguments, responding to one another--not simply restating
the same claims and reasons--and modifying or defending their positions accordingly.
Claims are statements
about what is true or good or about what should be done or believed. Claims
are potentially arguable. "A liberal arts education prepares students
best" is a claim, while "I didn't like the book" is not. The
rest of the world can't really dispute whether I liked the book or not, but
they can argue about the benefits of liberal arts. "I thought the movie
was cool" is not an arguable statement, but "the movie was Paul
Newman's best" is, for people can disagree and offer support for their
different opinions.
Reasons are statements
of support for claims, making those claims something more than mere assertions.
Reasons are statements in an argument that pass two tests:
Reasons are answers to the hypothetical challenge to your claim:
· “Why do you say that?”
· “What reason can you give me to believe that?” If a claim
about liberal arts education is so challenged, a response with a reason could
be: “It teaches students to think independently.”
Reasons can be linked
to claims with the word because:
· Liberal arts is best [claim] because it teaches students independent
thinking [reason];
· That was Newman's best [claim] because it presented the most difficult
role [reason];
· Global warming is real [claim] because the most reputable science
points in that direction [reason].
· Everyone should stop wearing seat belts [claim] because it would
save lives [reason].
If reasons do not make
sense in the hypothetical challenge or the 'because' tests, there is probably
something wrong with the logic of the argument. Passing those tests, however,
does not ensure that arguments are sound and compelling.
Evidence serves as
support for the reasons offered and helps compel audiences to accept claims.
Evidence comes in different sorts, and it tends to vary from one academic
field or subject of argument to another. Scientific arguments about global
warming require different kinds of evidence than mealtime arguments about
Paul Newman's movies. Evidence answers challenges to the reasons given, and
it comes in four main types:
Specific
instances include examples, case studies, and narratives.
Each can be an effective mode of building support for a reason or claim.
In a public speech, they offer audiences a way to see an idea illustrated
in a particular case. To be effective, specific instances need to be representative
of the broader trend or idea they are supporting. With an example as evidence,
someone arguing against seat belt use might say "Last year my cousin
crashed her car off a bridge and would have drowned if she were wearing
her seatbelt" as evidence (the answer to "Why do you believe that?"
question.) An opponent might challenge whether this example was a representative
one: surely there are many more car crashes that do not end in water, so
this one instance is not a fair gauge of the relative safety of not wearing
seat belts.
Statistics
include raw numbers (117 million visitors to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,),
averages ('women's bowling teams drink on average two pitchers less then
men's'), statistical probabilities ('crossing North Main during rush hour
increases your chances of death 20%'), and statistical trends ('applications
have risen 40% over the past three years'). In public speeches, statistics
have the advantage of seeming objective, authoritative, and factual, but
critical audiences will want to know about the sources and methods for determining
your statistical evidence.
Testimony,
or appeals to authority, come in two main types, eyewitness and expert.
Eyewitness or first-hand testimonies are reports from people who directly
experience some phenomenon. If a speaker is arguing about toxic waste dumps,
a quotation from someone living next to a dump would fall into this category.
First-hand testimony can help give the audience a sense of being there.
Experts may also rely on direct experience, but their testimony is also
backed by more formal knowledge, methods, and training. Supplementing the
neighbor's account with testimony from an environmental scientist, who specializes
in toxic waste sites, is an appeal to expertise. When using testimony in
arguments, you should always make sure the authority you are appealing to
is in fact qualified to speak on the topic being discussed.
Oral Discourse
and Extemporaneous Delivery
The spoken word differs from the written. Audiences for public speeches do
not have the benefit of being able to go back and re-read sentences. They
cannot look at a page and see section headings or new paragraph indentations.
Public audiences have a more limited capacity to comprehend complicated ideas
and to take in long sentences and difficult or dense language. Public speakers
have to compensate for these limits by using the principles of repetition
of content, clarity of structure, and simplicity of language.
Repetition.
Repetition is a fundamental part of most good public speeches. An old public
speaking adage goes something like: “tell ‘em what you’re
going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and then tell ‘em what you
told ‘em.” By the end of a speech, an audience should have absolutely
no question about what the central idea or main claim is. To make sure that
happens, state that idea clearly in the introduction of your speech, tie
the information and arguments of the body to it in explicit ways, and restate
the idea again in your conclusion. Audiences are more likely to miss or
forget important information if you do not repeat and restate it.
Clarity.
Clarity of structure means that ideas are logically grouped into categories
the audience can easily understand. In addition, just as paragraph indents
and underlining alert readers to new or important ideas, transitions and
signposts help listeners recognize new 'paragraphs' and key points of the
speech. Brief pauses can signal to listeners that the speaker is about to
say something important or is moving onto the next main point. Phrases like
"most important," "I am claiming that," "the crucial
point is this," call your listeners' attention to what follows them
and act as verbal underlining.
Simplicity.
Simplicity in language is crucial to conveying information effectively.
Oral discourse differs from written in its use of language. Oral discourse
is often best when it uses the first person, “I” and “we.”
Such language gives the speech a sense of immediacy and helps the speaker
to connect with the audience. In addition, good speeches will often use
less formal language--contractions, sentence fragments, selected slang expressions.
Finally, oral language needs to be less dense and jargon-laden then some
kinds of written language, especially academic language. When written papers
are read out loud, they almost never make effective speeches.
While there are several
effective modes of delivery, extemporaneous speaking is the most adaptable
and time efficient. Learning it is also an excellent way of sharpening critical
thinking. Extemporaneous speeches are developed through outlining ideas, not
writing them out word-for-word. They are practiced ahead of time, rehearsed
and re-rehearsed (extemporaneous speeches are not impromptu), using a keyword
outline of single words and short, 3-5 word phrases. The speech is not memorized
but instead is concentrating on the main ideas; each time a speaker practices
and delivers the speech, wording comes out a little differently. Extemporaneous
delivery gives the speech freshness, for it doesn't sound canned and over-rehearsed.
Additionally, this flexible form of delivery allows a speaker to make adjustments
to their speech in response to non-verbal signals from the audience--signs
of confusion, displeasure, curiosity, or excitement.
Extemporaneous delivery
allows speakers to make eye contact with the audience—one of the best
ways to connect with them and keep them involved in the speech. Eye contact
is an important way to establish a speaker's credibility and make a speech
compelling; when a speaker relies too much on notes, they are potentially
losing their audience and running the risk of looking unprepared.
Verbal and nonverbal
communication are important in public speaking, helping to make a speech clear
and compelling to an audience. Developing good vocal delivery means focusing
first and foremost on being heard clearly: a speaker must speak loudly enough
to be heard by everyone, articulate words sharply so they can be understood,
and speak slowly enough so that the audience can easily take in the ideas.
In addition, avoid monotone delivery and be engaged enough with the speech
to communicate interest. Effective bodily delivery begins with this simple
maxim: do not distract the audience with extraneous movement. Nervous pacing,
standing cross-armed or hands-in-pockets for long stretches, turning from
the audience and talking into a visual aid, gestures unrelated to the verbal
message--all of these distract from the content of the speech and should be
avoided.
.jpg)