Throughout history people have used public speaking as a vital means of
communication. What the Greek leader
Pericles said more than 2,500 years ago is still true today: “One who forms a
judgment on any point but cannot explain” it clearly “might as well never have
thought at all on the subject."1 Public speaking, as its name
implies, is a way of making your ideas public — of sharing them with other
people and of influencing other people.
During modern times, many women and men
around the globe have spread their ideas and influence through public speaking.
In the United States, the list includes Franklin Roosevelt, Billy Graham, Cesar
Chavez, Barbara Jordan, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and
Barack Obama. In other countries, we have seen the power of public speaking employed
by people such as Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi.
As you read these names, you may think to
yourself, "That’s fine. Good for them. But what does that have to do with
me? I don't plan to be a president or a preacher or a crusader for any cause.”
Nevertheless, the need for public speaking will almost certainly touch you
sometime in your life—maybe tomorrow, maybe not for five years. Can you imagine
yourself in any of these situations?
You are one of seven management trainees in a large corporation. One of
you will get the lower-management job that has just opened. There is to be a
large staff meeting at which each of the trainees will discuss the project he
or she has been developing. One by one your colleagues make their presentations.
They have no experience in public speaking and are intimidated by the
higher-ranking managers present. Their speeches are stumbling and awkward. You,
however, call upon all the skills you learned in your public speaking course.
You deliver an informative talk that is clear, well reasoned, and articulate.
You get the job.
One of your children has a learning disability. You hear that your local
school board has decided, for budget reasons, to eliminate the special teacher
who has been helping your child. At an open meeting of the school board, you
stand up and deliver a thoughtful, compelling speech on the necessity for
keeping the special teacher. The school board changes its mind.
You are the assistant manager in a branch office of a national company.
Your immediate superior, the branch manager, is about to retire, and there will
be a retirement dinner. All the executives from the home office will attend. As
his close working associate, you are asked to give a farewell toast at the party.
You prepare and deliver a speech that is both witty and touching—a perfect
tribute to your boss. After the speech, everyone applauds enthusiastically, and
a few people have tears in their eyes. The following week you are named branch
manager.
Fantasies? Not really. Any
of these situations could occur. In a recent survey of more than 300 employers,
93 percent stated that the ability to think critically and communicate clearly
is more important for career success than is a job candidate's undergraduate
major. In another survey, the American Management Association asked 768
executives and managers to rank the skills most essential to today's workplace.
What was at the top of their list? Communication skills.
The importance of such skills is true
across the board—for accountants and architects, teachers and technicians,
scientists and stockbrokers. Even in highly specialized fields such as civil
and mechanical engineering, employers consistently rank the ability to
communicate above technical knowledge when deciding whom to hire and whom to
promote.
Businesses are also asking people to give
more speeches in the early stages of their careers, and many young
professionals are using public speaking as a way to stand out in today's
highly competitive job market. In fact, the ability to speak effectively is so
prized that college graduates are increasingly being asked to give a
presentation as part of their job interview.
Nor has the growth of the Internet and
other new technologies reduced the need for public speaking. In this age of
Instagram and Twitter, businesses are concerned that college graduates are
losing the ability to talk in a professional way. As career expert Lindsey
Poliak states, "It's so rare to find somebody who has that combination of
really good technical skills and really good verbal communication skills. You
will be head and shoulders above your colleagues if you can combine those
two."
The same is true in community life. Public
speaking is a vital means of civic engagement. It is a way to express your
ideas and to have an impact on issues that matter in society. As a form of
empowerment, it can—and often does—make a difference in things people care
about very much. The key phrase here is "make a difference." This is
what most of us want to do in life—to make a difference, to change the world in
some small way. Public speaking offers you an opportunity to make a difference
in something you care about very much.
The Tradition of Public Speaking
Given the importance of public speaking,
it's not surprising that it has been taught and studied around the globe for
thousands of years. Almost all cultures have an equivalent of the English word
"orator" to designate someone with special skills in public speaking.
The oldest known handbook on effective speech was written on papyrus in Egypt
some 4,500 years ago. Eloquence was highly prized in ancient India, Africa, and
China, as well as among the Aztecs and other pre-European cultures of North and
South America.
In classical Greece and Rome, public
speaking played a central role in education and civic life. It was also studied
extensively. Aristotle's Rhetoric, composed during the third century B.C., is still considered the most important
work on its subject, and many of its principles are followed by speakers (and writers)
today. The great Roman leader Cicero used his speeches to defend liberty and
wrote several works about oratory in general.
Over the centuries, many other notable
thinkers have dealt with issues of rhetoric, speech, and language—including the
Roman educator Quintilian, the Christian preacher St. Augustine, the medieval
writer Christine de Pizan, the British philosopher Francis Bacon, and the
American critic Kenneth Burke. In recent years, communication researchers have
provided an increasingly scientific basis for understanding the methods and
strategies of effective speech.
Your immediate objective is to apply those
methods and strategies in your classroom speeches. What you learn, however,
will be applicable long after you leave college. The principles of public
speaking are derived from a long tradition and have been confirmed by a
substantial body of research. The more you know about those principles, the
more effective you will be in your own speeches—and the more effective you will
be in listening to the speeches of other people.
Similarities Between Public Speaking and
Conversation
How much time do you spend each day
talking to other people? The average adult spends about 30 percent of her or
his waking hours in conversation. By the time you read this book, you will have
spent much of your life perfecting the art of conversation. You may not realize
it, but you already employ a wide range of skills when talking to people. These
skills include the following:
Organizing your thoughts logically. Suppose you were giving someone directions
to get to your house. You wouldn't do it this way:
When you turn off the highway, you’ll see
a big diner on the left. But before that, stay on the highway to Exit 69.
Usually a couple of the neighbors’ dogs are in the street, so go slow after you
turn at the blinking light. Coming from your house you get on the highway
through Maple Street. If you pass the taco stand, you’ve gone too far. The
house is blue.
Instead, you would take your listener
systematically, step by step, from his or her house to your house. You would
organize your message.
Tailoring your message to your audience. You are a geology major. Two people ask
you how pearls are formed. One is your roommate; the other is your
nine-year-old niece. You answer as follows:
To your roommate: ‘‘When any irritant, say a grain of sand, gets inside
the oyster’s shell, the oyster automatically secretes a substance called
nacre, which is principally calcium carbonate and is the same material that
lines the oyster’s shell. The nacre accumulates in layers around the irritant
core to form the pearl.”
To your niece: “Imagine you’re an oyster on the ocean floor. A grain of
sand gets inside your shell and makes you uncomfortable. So you decide to cover
it up. You cover it with a material called mother-of-pearl. The covering builds
up around the grain of sand to make a pearl.”
Telling a story for maximum impact. Suppose you are telling a friend about a
funny incident at last week's football game. You don't begin with the punch
line ("Keisha fell out of the stands right onto the field. Here's how it
started. . . Instead, you carefully build up your story adjusting your words
and tone of voice to get the best effect.
Adapting to listener feedback. Whenever you talk with someone, you are
aware of that person's verbal, facial, and physical reactions. For example:
You are explaining an interesting point
that came up in biology class. Your listener begins to look confused, puts up a
hand as though to stop you, and says “Huh?” You go back and explain more
clearly.
A friend has asked you to listen while she
practices a speech. At the end you tell her, “There’s just one part I really
don’t like—that quotation from the attorney general.” Your friend looks very
hurt and says, “That was my favorite part!” So you say, “But if you just worked
the quotation in a little differently, it would be wonderful.”
Each day, in casual conversation, you do
all these things many times without thinking about them. You already possess
these communication skills. And these are among the most important skills you
will need for public speaking.
To illustrate, let's return briefly to one
of the hypothetical situations at the beginning of this chapter. When
addressing the school board about the need for a special teacher:
You organize your ideas
to present them in the most persuasive manner. You steadily build up a
compelling case about how the teacher benefits the school.
You tailor your message
to your audience. This is no time to launch an impassioned defense of special
education in the United States. You must show how the issue is important to the
people in that very room—to their children and to the school.
You tell your story for
maximum impact. Perhaps you relate an anecdote to demonstrate how much your
child has improved. You also have statistics to show how many other children
have been helped.
You adapt to listener feedback.
When you mention the cost of the special teacher, you notice sour looks on the
faces of the school board members. So you patiently explain how small that cost
is in relation to the overall school budget.
In many ways, then, public speaking
requires the same skills used in ordinary conversation. Most people who
communicate well in daily talk can learn to communicate just as well in public
speaking. By the same token, training in public speaking can make you a more
adept communicator in a variety of situations, such as conversations, classroom
discussions, business meetings, and interviews.
Differences
Between Public Speaking and Conversation
Despite their similarities, public
speaking and everyday conversation are not identical. Imagine that you are
telling a story to a friend. Then imagine yourself telling the story to a group
of seven or eight friends. Now imagine telling the same story to 20 or 30
people. As the size of your audience grows, you will find yourself adapting to
three major differences between conversation and public speaking:
Public speaking is more highly structured. It usually imposes strict time
limitations on the speaker. In most cases, the situation does not allow listeners
to interrupt with questions or commentary. The speaker must accomplish her or
his purpose in the speech itself. In preparing the speech, the speaker must
anticipate questions that might arise in the minds of listeners and answer them.
Consequently, public speaking demands much more detailed planning and
preparation than ordinary conversation.
Public speaking requires more formal
language. Slang, jargon, and bad grammar have
little place in public speeches. When Malala Yousafzai addressed the United
Nations, she didn't say, "We've got to stop Taliban creeps from going
after innocent people." Listeners usually react negatively to speakers who
do not elevate and polish their language when addressing an audience. A speech
should be “special.''
Public speaking requires a different
method of delivery. When
conversing informally, most people talk quietly, interject stock phrases such
as "like" and "you know," adopt a casual posture, and use
what are called vocalized pauses ("uh," "er,"
"um"). Effective public speakers, however, adjust their voices to be
heard clearly throughout the audience. They assume a more erect posture. They
avoid distracting mannerisms and verbal habits.
With study and practice, you will be able
to master these differences and expand your conversational skills into
speechmaking. Your speech class will provide the opportunity for this study and
practice.
Developing Confidence: Your Speech Class
One of the major concerns of students in
any speech class is stage fright. We may as well face the issue squarely. Many
people who converse easily in all kinds of everyday situations become
frightened at the idea of standing up before a group to make a speech.
If you are worried about stage fright, you
may feel better knowing that you are not alone. A 2001 Gallup Poll asked
Americans to list their greatest fears. Forty percent identified speaking
before a group as their top fear, exceeded only by the 51 percent who said they
were afraid of snakes. A 2005 survey produced similar results, with 42 percent
of respondents being terrified by the prospect of speaking in public. In
comparison, only 28 percent said they were afraid of dying.
In a different study, researchers
concentrated on social situations and, again, asked their subjects to list
their greatest fears. More than 9,000 people were interviewed. Here is the
ranking of their answers:
Greatest Fear
Public speaking
Speaking up in a meeting or class
Meeting new people
Talking to people in authority
Important examination or interview
Going to parties
Talking with strangers
Again, speechmaking is at the top in
provoking anxiety.
If you feel nervous about giving a speech,
you are in very good company. Some of the greatest public speakers in history
have suffered from stage fright, including Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Sanger,
and Winston Churchill. The famous Roman orator Cicero said, "I turn pale
at the outset of a speech and quake in every limb and in my soul."
Jennifer Lawrence, Conan O'Brien, and
Oprah Winfrey all report being anxious about speaking in public. Early in his
career, Leonardo DiCaprio was so nervous about giving an acceptance speech that
he hoped he would not win the Academy Award for which he had been nominated.
Eighty-one percent of business executives say public speaking is the most
nerve-wracking experience they face. What comedian Jerry Seinfeld said in jest
sometimes seems literally true: “Given a choice, at a funeral most of us would
rather be the one in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy."
Actually, most people tend to be anxious
before doing something important in public. Actors are nervous before a play,
politicians are nervous before a campaign speech, athletes are nervous before a
big game. The ones who succeed have learned to use their nervousness to their
advantage. Listen to tennis star Andy Murray speaking after his 2013 Wimbledon
title match against Novak Djokovic: "If I'm feeling butterflies in the
stomach, I know I’m ready, focused on what I'm going to try and accomplish. If
you aren't nervous before playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon, maybe you're
doing the wrong job." Putting his butterflies to good use, Murray beat
Djokovic in straight sets to become the first British man to capture Wimbledon
in 77 years.
Much the same thing happens in
speechmaking. Most experienced speakers have stage fright before taking the
floor, but their nervousness is a healthy sign that they are getting
"psyched up” for a good effort. Novelist and lecturer
A. R. Wylie once said: "I rarely rise
to my feet without a throat constricted with terror and a furiously thumping
heart. When, for some reason, I am cool and self-assured, the speech is
always a failure."
In other words, it is perfectly
normal—even desirable—to be nervous at the start of a speech. Your body is
responding as it would to any stressful situation—by producing extra adrenaline.
This sudden shot of adrenaline is what
makes your heart race, your hands shake, your knees knock, and your skin
perspire. Every public speaker experiences all these reactions to some extent.
The question is: How can you control your nervousness and make it work for you
rather than against you?
DEALING WITH NERVOUSNESS
Rather than trying to eliminate every
trace of stage fright, you should aim at transforming it from a negative force
into what one expert calls positive nervousness—"a zesty,
enthusiastic, lively feeling with a slight edge to it. . . . It's still
nervousness, but it feels different. You're no longer victimized by it;
instead, you're vitalized by it. You're in control of it.”
Don’t think of yourself as having stage
fright. Instead, think of it as "stage excitement" or "stage
enthusiasm."11 It can help you get focused and energized in the
same way that it helps athletes, musicians, and others get primed for a game or
a concert. Actress Jane Lynch, talking about her gig hosting Saturday Night
Live, said that she got through it with "that perfect cocktail of
nervousness and excitement." Think of that cocktail as a normal part of
giving a successful speech.
Here are six time-tested ways you can turn
your nervousness from a negative force into a positive one.
Acquire Speaking Experience
You have already taken the first step. You
are enrolled in a public speaking course, where you will learn about
speechmaking and gain speaking experience. Think back to your first day at
kindergarten, your first date, your first day at a new job. You were probably
nervous in each situation because you were facing something new and unknown.
Once you became accustomed to the situation, it was no longer threatening. So
it is with public speaking. For most students, the biggest part of stage fright
is fear of the unknown. The more you learn about public speaking and the more
speeches you give, the less threatening speechmaking will become.
Of course, the road to confidence will
sometimes be bumpy. Learning to give a speech is not much different from
learning any other skill—it proceeds by trial and error. The purpose of your
speech class is to shorten the process, to minimize the errors, to give you a
nonthreatening arena—a sort of laboratory—in which to undertake the "trial."
Your instructor recognizes that you are a
novice and is trained to give the kind of guidance you need to get started. In
your fellow students you have a highly sympathetic audience who will provide
valuable feedback to help you improve your speaking skills. As the class goes
on, your fears about public speaking will gradually recede until they are
replaced by only a healthy nervousness before you rise to speak.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Another key to gaining confidence is to
pick speech topics you truly care about—and then to prepare your speeches so
thoroughly that you cannot help but be successful. Here’s how one student
combined enthusiasm for his topic with thorough preparation to score a triumph
in speech class:
Jesse Young was concerned about taking a speech class. Not having any
experience as a public speaker, he got butterflies in his stomach just thinking
about talking in front of an audience. But when the time came for Jesse’s first
speech, he was determined to make it a success.
Jesse chose Habitat for Humanity as the topic for his speech. He had
been a volunteer for three years, and he believed deeply in the organization
and its mission. The purpose of his speech was to explain the origins,
philosophy, and activities of Habitat for Humanity.
As Jesse spoke, it became clear that he was enthusiastic about his
subject and genuinely wanted his classmates to share his enthusiasm. Because he
was intent on communicating with his audience, he forgot to be nervous. He
spoke clearly, fluently, and dynamically. Soon the entire class was engrossed
in his speech.
Afterward, Jesse admitted that he had surprised even himself. “It was
amazing,” he said. “Once I passed the first minute or so, all I thought about
were those people out there listening. I could tell that I was really getting
through to them.”
How much time should you devote to
preparing your speeches? A standard rule of thumb is that each minute of
speaking time requires one to two hours of preparation time—perhaps more,
depending on the amount of research needed for the speech. This may seem like a
lot of time, but the rewards are well worth it. One professional speech
consultant estimates that proper preparation can reduce stage fright by up to
75 percent.
If you follow the techniques suggested by
your instructor and in the rest of this book, you will stand up for every
speech fully prepared. Imagine that the day for your first speech has arrived.
You have studied your audience and selected a topic you know will interest
them. You have researched the speech thoroughly and practiced it several times
until it feels absolutely comfortable. You have even tried it out before two or
three trusted friends. How can you help but be confident of success?
Think Positively
Confidence is mostly the well-known power
of positive thinking. If you think you can do it, you usually can. On the other
hand, if you predict disaster and doom, that is almost always what you will
get. This is especially true when it comes to public speaking. Speakers who
think negatively about themselves and the speech experience are much more
likely to be overcome by stage fright than are speakers who think positively.
Here are some ways you can transform negative thoughts into positive ones as
you work on your speeches:
Negative/Positive Thought
Negative Thought
I wish I didn't have to give this speech.
I'm not a great public speaker.
I'm always nervous when I give a speech.
can handle it, I can too.
No one will be interested in what I have
to say.
Positive Thought
This speech is a chance for me to share my
ideas and gain experience as a speaker.
No one's perfect, but I’m getting better
with each speech I give.
Everyone's nervous. If other people can
handle it, I can too.
I have a good topic and I'm fully prepared.
Of course they'll be interested.
Many psychologists believe that the ratio
of positive to negative thoughts in regard to stressful activities such as
speechmaking should be at least five to one. That is, for each negative
thought, you should counter with a minimum of five positive ones. Doing so will
not make your nerves go away completely, but it will help keep them under
control so you can concentrate on communicating your ideas rather than on
brooding about your fears and anxieties.
Visualization is closely related to
positive thinking. It is used by athletes, musicians, actors, speakers, and
others to enhance their performance in stressful situations. How does it work?
Listen to Jamie Anderson, who, during the 2014 Winter Olympics, won the
first-ever gold medal in the women's Slopestyle event. Afterward, she talked
about how she used visualization to settle her nerves before the winning ride:
There was so much anticipation leading up to this event, I just had to calm
my mind and have the trust and faith that I was capable of doing what I really wanted
to do. At the top of the course, I took a moment, took a deep breath, and saw
everything I wanted to see happen. ... I was visualizing it, seeing it to the
end, and knowing that I was going to land everything perfectly with as much
style as possible.
Of course, visualization doesn't mean that
Anderson wins every competition she enters. But research has shown that the
kind of mental imaging she describes can significantly increase athletic
performance. It has also shown that visualization can help speakers control
their stage fright.
The key to visualization is creating a
vivid mental blueprint in which you see yourself succeeding in your speech.
Picture yourself in your classroom rising to speak. See yourself at the
lectern, poised and self-assured, making eye contact with your audience and
delivering your introduction in a firm, clear voice. Feel your confidence
growing as your listeners get more and more caught up in what you are saying.
Imagine your sense of achievement as you conclude the speech knowing you have
done your very best.
As you create these images in your mind's
eye, be realistic but stay focused on the positive aspects of your speech.
Don't allow negative images to eclipse the positive ones. Acknowledge your
nervousness, but picture yourself overcoming it to give a vibrant, articulate
presentation. If one part of the speech always seems to give you trouble,
visualize yourself getting through it without any hitches. And be specific. The
more lucid your mental pictures, the more successful you are likely to be.
As with your physical rehearsal of the
speech, this kind of mental rehearsal should be repeated several times in the
days before you speak. It doesn't guarantee that every speech will turn out
exactly the way you envision it—and it certainly is no substitute for thorough
preparation. But used in conjunction with the other methods of combating stage
fright, it is a proven way to help control your nerves and to craft a
successful presentation.
Know That Most Nervousness Is Not Visible
Many novice speakers are worried about
appearing nervous to the audience. Its hard to speak with poise and assurance
if you think you look tense and insecure. One of the most valuable lessons you
will learn as your speech class proceeds is that only a fraction of the turmoil
you feel inside is visible on the outside. "Your nervous system may be
giving you a thousand shocks," says one experienced speaker, "but the
viewer can see only a few of them."
Even though your palms are sweating and
your heart is pounding, your listeners probably won't realize how tense you
are—especially if you do your best to act cool and confident on the outside.
Most of the time when students confess after a speech, "I was so nervous I
thought I was going to die," their classmates are surprised. To them the
speaker looked calm and assured.
Knowing this should make it easier for you
to face your listeners with confidence. As one student stated after watching a
videotape of her first classroom speech, "I was amazed at how calm I
looked. I assumed everyone could be able to see how scared I was, but now that
I know they can't, I won't be nearly so nervous in the future. It really helps
to know that you look in control even though you may not feel that way."
Don’t Expect Perfection
It may also help to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech.
At some point in every presentation, every speaker says or does something that does
not come across exactly as he or she had planned. Fortunately, such moments are
usually not evident to the audience. Why? Because the audience does not know
what the speaker plans to say. It hears only what the speaker does
say. If you momentarily lose your place, reverse the order of a couple of
statements, or forget to pause at a certain spot, no one need be the wiser.
When such moments occur, just proceed as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake
during a speech, that is no catastrophe. If you have ever listened to Martin
Luther King's "I Have a Dream," you may recall that he stumbles twice
during the speech. Most likely, however, you don't remember. Why? Because you
were focusing on King's message, rather than on the fine points of his
delivery.
One of the biggest reasons people are
concerned about making a mistake in a speech is that they view speechmaking as
a performance rather than an act of communication. They feel the audience is judging
them against a scale of absolute perfection in which every misstated word or
awkward gesture will count against them. But speech audiences are not like
judges in a violin recital or an ice-skating contest. They are not looking for
a virtuoso performance, but for a well-thought-out address that communicates
the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes an error or two can
actually enhance a speaker's appeal by making her or him seem more human.
As you work on your speeches, make sure
you prepare thoroughly and do all you can to get your message across to your
listeners. But don't panic about being perfect or about what will happen if you
make a mistake. Once you free your mind of these burdens, you will find it much
easier to approach your speeches with confidence and even with enthusiasm.
Besides stressing the six points just
discussed, your instructor will probably give you several tips for dealing with
nervousness in your first speeches. They may include:
Be at your best physically and mentally. It's not a good idea to stay up
until 3:00 a.m. partying with friends or cramming for an
exam the night before your speech. A good night's sleep will serve you better.
As you are waiting to speak, quietly tighten and relax your leg muscles,
or squeeze your hands together and then release them. Such actions help reduce
tension by providing an outlet for your extra adrenaline.
Take a couple of slow, deep breaths before you start to speak. When they
are tense, most people take short, shallow breaths, which only reinforces their
anxiety. Deep breathing breaks this cycle of tension and helps calm your
nerves.
Work especially hard on your introduction. Research has shown that a
speaker's anxiety level begins to drop significantly after the first 30 to 60
seconds of a presentation. Once you get through the introduction, you should find
smoother sailing the rest of the way.
Make eye contact with members of your audience. Remember that they are
individual people, not a blur of faces. And they are your friends.
Concentrate on communicating with your audience rather than on worrying
about your stage fright. If you get caught up in your speech, your audience
will too.
Use visual aids. They create interest, draw attention away from you, and
make you feel less self-conscious.
If you are like most students, you will
find your speech class to be a very positive experience. As one student wrote
on her course evaluation at the end of the class:
I was really dreading this class. The idea of giving all those speeches
scared me half to death. But I’m glad now that I stuck with it. It’s a small
class, and I got to know a lot of the students. Besides, this is one class in
which I got to express my
ideas, instead of spending the whole time listening to the teacher talk. I even
came to enjoy giving the speeches. I could tell at times that the audience was
really with me, and that’s a great feeling.
Over the years, thousands of students have
developed confidence in their speechmaking abilities. As your confidence grows,
you will be better able to stand before other people and tell them what you
think and feel and know— and to make them think and feel and know those same
things. The best part about confidence is that it nurtures itself. After you
score your first triumph, you will be that much more confident the next time.
And as you become a more confident public speaker, you will likely become more
confident in other areas of your life as well.
Public Speaking and Critical Thinking
That guy at the party last night really
owned me when we were talking about the economy. I know my information is
right, and I’m sure his argument didn’t make sense, but I can’t put my finger
on the problem.
I worked really hard on my term paper, but
it’s just not right. It doesn’t seem to hang together, and I can’t figure out
what's wrong.
Political speeches are so one-sided. The
candidates sound good, but they all talk in slogans and generalities. It's
really hard to decide who has the best stands on the issues.
Have you ever found yourself in similar
situations? If so, you may find help in your speech class. Besides building
confidence, a course in public speaking can develop your skills as a critical
thinker. Those skills can make the difference between the articulate debater
and the pushover, the A student and the C student, the thoughtful voter and the
coin tosser.
What is critical thinking? To some extent,
it's a matter of logic—of being able to spot weaknesses in other people's
arguments and to avoid them in your own. It also involves related skills such
as distinguishing fact from opinion, judging the credibility of statements, and
assessing the soundness of evidence. In the broadest sense, critical thinking
is focused, organized thinking—the ability to see clearly the relationships
among ideas.
If you are wondering what this has to do
with your public speaking class, the answer is quite a lot. As the class
proceeds, you will probably spend a good deal of time organizing your speeches.
While this may seem like a purely mechanical exercise, it is closely interwoven
with critical thinking. If the structure of your speech is disjointed and
confused, odds are that your thinking is also disjointed and confused. If, on
the other hand, the structure is clear and cohesive, there is a good chance
your thinking is too. Organizing a speech is not just a matter of arranging the
ideas you already have. Rather, it is an important part of shaping the ideas
themselves.
What is true of organization is true of
many aspects of public speaking. The skills you learn in your speech class can
help you become a more effective thinker in a number of ways. As you work on
expressing your ideas in clear, accurate language, you will enhance your
ability to think clearly and accurately. As you study the role of evidence and
reasoning in speechmaking, you will see how they can be used in other forms of
communication as well. As you learn to listen critically to speeches in class,
you will be better able to assess the ideas of speakers (and writers) in a
variety of situations.
To return to the examples at the beginning
of this section:
The guy at the party last night—would well-honed critical thinking
skills help you find the holes in his argument?
The term paper—would better organization and a clear outline help pull
it together?
Political speeches—once you get past the slogans, are the candidates
drawing valid conclusions from sound evidence?
If you take full advantage of your speech
class, you will be able to enhance your skills as a critical thinker in many
circumstances. This is one reason public speaking has been regarded as a vital
part of education since the days of ancient Greece.
The Speech Communication Process
As you begin your first speeches, you may
find it helpful to understand what goes on when one person talks to another.
Regardless of the kind of speech communication involved, there are seven
elements—speaker, message, channel, listener, feedback, interference, and
situation. Here we focus on how these elements interact when a public speaker
addresses an audience.
SPEAKER
Speech communication begins with a
speaker. If you pick up the telephone and call a friend, you are acting as a
speaker. (Of course, you will also act as a listener when your friend is
talking.) In public speaking, you will usually present your entire speech
without interruption.
Your success as a speaker depends on you—on
your personal credibility, your knowledge of the subject, your preparation of
the speech, your manner of speaking, your sensitivity to the audience and the
occasion. But successful speaking also requires enthusiasm.
You can’t expect people to be interested
in what you say unless you are interested yourself. If you are truly excited
about your subject, your audience is almost sure to get excited along with
you. You can learn all the techniques of effective speechmaking, but before
they can be of much use, you must first have something to say—something that
sparks your own enthusiasm.
MESSAGE
The message is whatever a speaker
communicates to someone else. If you are calling a friend, you might say,
"I'll be a little late picking you up tonight." That is the message.
But it may not be the only message. Perhaps there is a certain tone in your
voice that suggests reluctance, hesitation. The underlying message might be
"I really don't want to go to that party. You talked me into it, but I'm
going to put it off as long as I can.”
Your goal in public speaking is to have
your intended message be the message that is actually
communicated. Achieving this depends both on what you say (the verbal message)
and on how you say it (the nonverbal message).
Getting the verbal message just right
requires work. You must narrow your topic down to something you can discuss
adequately in the time allowed for the speech. You must do research and choose
supporting details to make your ideas clear and convincing. You must organize
your ideas so listeners can follow them without getting lost. And you must
express your message in words that are accurate, clear, vivid, and appropriate.
Besides the message you send with words,
you send a message with your tone of voice, appearance, gestures, facial
expression, and eye contact. Imagine that one of your classmates gets up to
speak about student loans. Throughout her speech she slumps behind the lectern,
takes long pauses to remember what she wants to say, stares at the ceiling, and
fumbles with her visual aids.
Her intended message is "We must make
more money available for student loans.” But the message she actually
communicates is "I haven't prepared very well for this speech." One
of your jobs as a speaker is to make sure your nonverbal message does not
distract from your verbal message.
CHANNEL
The channel is the means by which a
message is communicated. When you pick up the phone to call a friend, the
telephone is the channel. Public speakers may use one or more of several
channels, each of which will affect the message received by the audience.
Consider a speech to Congress by the
President of the United States. The speech is carried to the nation by the
channels of radio and television. For the radio audience the message is
conveyed entirely by the President's voice. For the television audience the
message is conveyed by both the President's voice and the televised image. The
people in Congress have a more direct channel. They not only hear the
President’s voice as amplified through a microphone, but they also see him and
the setting firsthand.
In a public speaking class, your channel
is the most direct of all. Your classmates will see you and hear you without
any electronic intervention.
LISTENER
The listener is the person who receives
the communicated message. Without a listener, there is no communication. When
you talk to a friend on the phone, you have one listener. In public speaking
you will have many listeners.
Everything a speaker says is filtered
through a listener's frame of reference— the total of his or her
knowledge, experience, goals, values, and attitudes. Because a speaker and a
listener are different people, they can never have exactly the same frame of
reference. And because a listener's frame of reference can never be exactly the
same as a speaker's, the meaning of a message will never be exactly the same to
a listener as to a speaker.
You can easily test the impact of
different frames of reference. Ask each of your classmates to describe a chair.
If you have 20 classmates, you'll probably get 20 different descriptions. One
student might picture a large, overstuffed easy chair, another an elegant
straight-backed chair, yet another an office chair, a fourth a rocking chair,
and so on.
Even if two or more envision the same
general type—say, a rocking chair—their mental images of the chair could still
be different. One might be thinking of an early American rocker, another of a
modern Scandinavian rocker—the possibilities are unlimited. And "chair” is
a fairly simple concept. What about "patriotism" or "freedom”?
Because people have different frames of
reference, a public speaker must take great care to adapt the message to the
particular audience being addressed. To be an effective speaker, you must be audience-centered.
You will quickly lose your listeners' attention if your presentation is either
too basic or too sophisticated. You will also lose your audience if you do not
relate to their experience, interests, knowledge, and values. When you make a
speech that causes listeners to say "That is important to me,"
you will almost always be successful.
FEEDBACK
When the President addresses the nation on
television, he is engaged in one-way communication. You can talk back to the
television set, but the President won't hear you. Most situations, however,
involve two-way communication. Your listeners don't simply absorb your
message like human sponges. They send back messages of their own. These
messages are called feedback.
In public speaking there is plenty of
feedback to let you know how your message is being received. Do your listeners
lean forward in their seats, as if paying close attention? Do they have
quizzical looks on their faces? Do they shuffle their feet and gaze at the
clock? The message sent by these reactions could be "I am
fascinated," "I am bored,” "I agree with you,” "I don't
agree with you,” or any number of others. As a speaker, you need to be alert to
these reactions and adjust your message accordingly.
Like any kind of communication, feedback
is affected by one's frame of reference. How would you feel if, immediately
after your speech, all your classmates started to rap their knuckles on the
desks? Would you run out of the room in despair? Not if you were in a European
university. In many parts of Europe, students rap their knuckles on their desks
to show admiration for a classroom lecture. You must understand the feedback to
be able to deal with it.
INTERFERENCE
Interference is anything that impedes the
communication of a message. When you talk on the telephone, sometimes there is
static, or wires get crossed so that two different conversations are going on
at once. That is a kind of interference.
In public speaking there are two kinds of
interference. One, like the static or crossed wires in a phone conversation, is
external to the audience. Many classrooms are subject to this kind of
interference—from traffic outside the building, the clatter of a radiator,
students conversing in the hall, a room that is stifling hot or freezing cold.
Any of these can distract listeners from what you are saying.
A second kind of interference is internal
and comes from within your audience. Perhaps one of your listeners has a
toothache. She may be so distracted by the pain that she doesn't pay attention
to your speech. Another listener could be worrying about a test in the next
class period. Yet another could be brooding about an argument with his
girlfriend.
As a speaker, you must try to hold your
listeners' attention despite these various kinds of interference. In the
chapters that follow you will find many ways to do this.
SITUATION
The situation is the time and place in
which speech communication occurs. Conversation always takes place in a certain
situation. Sometimes the situation helps—as when you propose marriage over an
intimate candlelight dinner. Other times it may hurt—as when you try to speak
words of love in competition with blaring music. When you have to talk with
someone about a touchy issue, you usually wait until the situation is just
right.
Public speakers must also be alert to the
situation. Certain occasions— funerals, church services, graduation
ceremonies—require certain kinds of speeches. Physical setting is also
important. It makes a great deal of difference whether a speech is presented
indoors or out, in a small classroom or in a gymnasium, to a densely packed
crowd or to a handful of scattered souls. When you adjust to the situation of a
public speech, you are only doing on a larger scale what you do every day in
conversation.
For a complete model of the speech
communication process, see the Figure below.
MESSAGE FEEDBACK
THE SPEECH COMMUNICATION PROCESS: EXAMPLE
WITH COMMENTARY
The following example shows how the
various components of the speech communication process interact:
Situation. It was 5:15 p.m., and the Midwest Food Festival and
Expo had been going on all day. Gourmet food vendors from across the Great
Lakes region were presenting their products to distributors and restaurant
owners, but the presentations had taken much longer than expected.
Speaker. Jason Cruz,
owner and operator of a gourmet salsa company, was worried. As the last speaker
of the day, he knew he faced a tough situation. He had been allotted 30
minutes, but the festival was scheduled to end in 15 minutes, and the success
of his products depended in large part on his presentation.
Channel. Jason stepped
to the microphone and began to speak. He could see members of the audience
looking at their watches, and he knew they were eager to get to dinner after a
long day of meetings.
Adapting to “Good afternoon,” Jason said, “and thanks for your attention. I
Interference. know everyone is ready to relax after a
long day—I certainly am. I was given 30 minutes to tell you about my salsa, but
I’ll do my best to finish in 15. I think you’ll find the time well worth your
while, because your customers are going to love my products.” Jason was
relieved to see people smiling as they settled back in their seats.
Message. Now that he
had the audience's attention, Jason presented each of his products as briefly
as he could. He streamlined his planned remarks to emphasize the salsas that
would be most appealing to grocery shoppers and restaurant diners.
He ended by handing out samples of two new
salsas that had won awards in recent food shows.
Feedback. As promised, Jason finished in 15 minutes.
“So, that's it!” he concluded. “Thanks for your attention after such a long
day.” The festival organizer came up to Jason after his presentation. “Great
stuff—both the talk and the salsa,” she said. “Next year I think we’ll try to
make all the presentations as concise and efficient as yours.”
Public Speaking in a Multicultural World
CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE MODERN WORLD
The United States has always been a
diverse society. By the middle of the 19th century, it contained so many people
from so many lands that novelist Herman Melville exclaimed, "You cannot
spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.”
One can only imagine what Melville would
say today! The United States is the most diverse society on earth. That
diversity can be seen in cities and towns, schools and businesses, community
groups, and houses of worship all across the land.
Globally, we live in an age of
international multiculturalism. The Internet allows for instant communication.
CNN is broadcast to more than 1 billion people around the world. Social media
connect people across ancient boundaries. Despite political, social, and
religious differences, all nations are becoming part of a vast global network.
For example:
There are 82,000 transnational
corporations around the world, and they account for one-third of the world's
economic output.
McDonald's sells twice as many hamburgers
and French fries abroad than it does in the United States; Nike makes 63
percent of its sales through exports.
France has more Muslims than practicing
Catholics; radio CHIN in Toronto, Canada, broadcasts in over 30 languages.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND PUBLIC SPEAKING
Speechmaking becomes more complex as
cultural diversity increases. Part of the complexity stems from the differences
in language from culture to culture. Nothing separates one culture from another
more than language. Language and culture are so closely bound that "we
communicate the way we do because we are raised in a particular culture and
learn its language, rules, and norms."
The meanings attached to gestures, facial
expressions, and other nonverbal signals also vary from culture to culture.
Even the gestures for such basic messages as "hello" and
"goodbye" are culturally based. The North American
"goodbye" wave is interpreted in
many parts of Europe and South America as the motion for "no,” while the
Italian and Greek gesture for "goodbye" is the same as the U.S.
signal for "come here."
Many stories have been told about the fate
of public speakers who fail to take into account cultural differences between
themselves and their audiences. Consider the following scenario:
The sales manager of a U.S. electronics
firm is in Brazil to negotiate a large purchase of computers by a South
American corporation. After three days of negotiations, the sales manager holds
a gala reception for all the major executives to build goodwill between the
companies.
As is the custom on such occasions, time
is set aside during the reception for an exchange of toasts. When it is the
sales manager’s turn to speak, he praises the Brazilian firm for its many
achievements and talks eloquently of his respect for its president and other
executives. The words are perfect, and the sales manager can see his audience
smiling in approval.
And then—disaster. As the sales manager
closes his speech, he raises his hand and flashes the classic U.S. “OK” sign to
signal his pleasure at the progress of the negotiations. Instantly the festive
mood is replaced with stony silence; smiles turn to icy stares. The sales
manager has given his Brazilian audience a gesture with roughly the same
meaning as an extended middle finger in the United States.
The next day, the Brazilian firm announces
that it will buy its computers from another company.
As this story illustrates, public speakers
can ill afford to overlook their listeners' cultural values and customs. The
methods of effective speech explained throughout this book will be helpful to
you when addressing culturally diverse audiences. Here we need to stress the
importance of avoiding the ethnocentrism that often blocks communication between
speakers and listeners of different cultural backgrounds.
AVOIDING ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is the belief that our own
group or culture—whatever it may be—is superior to all other groups or
cultures. Because of ethnocentrism, we identify with our group or culture and
see its values, beliefs, and customs as "right" or "natural”—in
comparison to the values, beliefs, and customs of other groups or cultures,
which we tend to think of as "wrong" or "unnatural."
Ethnocentrism is part of every culture,
and it can play a positive role in creating group pride and loyalty. But it can
also lead to prejudice and hostility toward different racial, ethnic,
religious, or cultural groups. To be an effective public speaker in a
multicultural world, you need to keep in mind that all people have their
special beliefs and customs.
Avoiding ethnocentrism does not mean that
you must agree with the values and practices of all groups and cultures. At
times you might try to convince people of different cultures to change their
traditional ways of doing things— as speakers from the United Nations seek to
persuade farmers in Africa to adopt more productive methods of agriculture, or
as delegates from the United States and China attempt to influence the other
country’s trade policies.
If such speakers are to be successful,
however, they must show respect for the cultures of the people they address.
They need to adapt their messages to the values and expectations of their
listeners.
When you work on your speeches, be alert
to how cultural factors might affect how listeners respond. Try to put yourself
in their place and to hear your message through their ears. If there is a
language difference, avoid words or phrases that might cause misunderstanding.
When researching the speech, keep an eye out for visual aids and other
materials that will relate to a wide range of listeners. When delivering the
speech, be alert to feedback that might indicate the audience is having trouble
grasping your ideas.
It is also important to avoid
ethnocentrism when listening to speeches. When you listen to a speaker from a
different cultural background, be on guard against the temptation to judge the
speaker on the basis of his or her appearance or manner of delivery. No matter
what the cultural background of the speaker, you should listen to her or him as
attentively as you would want your audience to listen to you.
Key Terms
channel
listener
frame of
reference
feedback
interference
situation
ethnocentrism
stage fright
adrenaline
positive
nervousness
visualization
critical thinking
speaker
message
Review Questions
After reading this chapter, you should be
able to answer the following questions:
In what ways is public speaking likely to
make a difference in your life?
How is public speaking similar to everyday
conversation?
How is public speaking different from
everyday conversation?
Why is it normal—even desirable—to be
nervous at the start of a speech?
How can you control your nervousness and
make it work for you in your speeches?
What are the seven elements of the speech
communication process? How do they interact to determine the success or failure
of a speech?
What is ethnocentrism? Why do public
speakers need to avoid ethnocentrism when addressing audiences with diverse
cultural, racial, or ethnic backgrounds?
