Leading Your Audience
A Systematic Approach to
Public Speaking
By Laura Arnett Smith
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LEADING
YOUR AUDIENCE
A SYST E M ATIC A PPROA CH TO PUBLIC SPEA KING
By Laura Arnett Smith
University of Tennessee
Bassim Hamadeh, Publisher
Christopher Foster, Vice President
Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions
Jessica Knott, Managing Editor
Stephen Milano, Creative Director
Kevin Fahey, Cognella Marketing Program Manager
Zina Craft, Acquisitions Editor
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Brian Fahey, Licensing Associate
Copyright © 2012 by University Readers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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First published in the United States of America in 2012 by University Readers, Inc.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
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Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-60927-669-0
Contents
Chapter 1: Getting Started
1
Expectations
2
Importance of Public Speaking
3
Impacts of Technology
4
Spoken Word vs. Written Words
5
Communication Contexts
6
Public Speaking vs. Other Communication Contexts
6
Speech Anxiety
7
Causes for Speech Anxiety
8
Effects of Speech Anxiety
9
Ways to Control Speech Anxiety
9
Chapter 2: The Speech Process
The Communication Process
Defining Communications
The Speaker's Role
13
14
14
17
Ethical Speaking
17
Developing Credibility
18
The Listener's Role
19
Cognitive Listening
20
Barriers to Effective Listening
20
Improving Listening
22
Active Listening
23
The Speech-Making Process
26
Steps in the Speech-Making Process
27
Chapter 3: Delivery
29
Methods of Delivery
30
Voice Usage
32
Nonverbal Movement
34
Using the Lectern/Podium
36
Using a Microphone
37
Practicing Delivery
37
Personal Appearance
38
Chapter 4: Topic Development/Informative Speaking
Selecting a Topic
39
40
General Purpose
41
Specific Purpose
42
Central Idea
44
Informative Speaking
45
Types of Informative Speeches
45
Guidelines for Effective Informative Speaking
46
Chapter 5: Audience Analysis and Adaptation
49
Audience Centeredness
50
Audience Relevance and Interest
51
Examining Your Audience
52
Audience Factors
52
Gathering Audience Information
57
Preparing for the Setting
60
Audience Adaptation
61
Chapter 6: Speech Support
Types of Sources
63
64
Source Criteria
67
Finding Sources
69
Evaluating Sources
72
Types of Supporting Material
74
Citing Supporting Material
77
Why to Cite
77
When to Cite
78
How to Cite
79
Chapter 7: Organizing and Outlining
87
Importance of Verbal Organization
88
Organizing the Body of the Speech
88
Main Points
88
Organizational Patterns
91
Inserting Supporting Material
93
Connectives
94
Constructing the Introduction and Conclusion
97
Introduction Components
97
Conclusion Components
100
Guidelines for Introductions and Conclusions
101
Outlining the Speech
102
The Preparation Outline
102
The Speaking Outline
103
Chapter 8: Finishing Touches
Using Presentation Aids
105
106
Choosing Types of Presentation Aids
107
Preparing Presentation Aids
111
Using Presentation Aids
113
Rehearsing Your Speech
115
Addressing Audience Questions
117
Chapter 9: Persuasive Speaking
Understanding Persuasion
Influencing Others
Types of Persuasive Speeches
Organizational Patterns
Logos/Logical Appeal
119
120
121
123
125
128
Constructing Arguments
128
Answering Opposing Arguments
130
Reasoning
131
Fallacies
133
Ethos/Credibility
Building Trust
Pathos/Emotional Appeal
Managing Emotions
Chapter 10: Language Use
Clear Language
136
136
137
138
141
142
Meanings of Words
142
Concrete vs. Abstract Words
143
Comparisons
143
Memorable Language
144
Imagery
145
Description
145
Intense language
145
Rhythmic Devices
146
Guidelines for Using Language
147
Chapter 11: Special-Occasion Speaking
149
Guidelines for All Special-Occasion Speeches
150
Speeches of Introduction
152
Speech of Introduction Guidelines
Commemorative Speeches
Commemorative Speech Guidelines
After-Dinner Speeches
After-Dinner Speech Guidelines
152
154
154
155
156
Speeches of Presentation
157
Speeches of Acceptance
157
Assignments, Activities, and Evaluation Forms
159
Personal Data Sheet
161
Attitude Toward Speaking Scale
163
Ethical Listening Guidelines Class Activity
165
Listening Types Inventory
167
Delivery Class Activity
169
Self-Introduction Speech Assignment
171
Self-Introduction Speech Evaluation
173
Topic Selection/Brainstorming Activity
175
Topic Sheet—Informative Speech
177
Audience Analysis Class Activity
179
Impromptu Speech #1 Assignment
181
Impromptu Speech #1 Evaluation
183
Research Assignment: Part I
185
Research Assignment: Part II
187
Research Assignment: Part III
189
Source Citation Activity
191
Patterns of Organization Activity
193
Impromptu Speech #2 Assignment
195
Impromptu Speech #2 Evaluation
197
Choosing Visual Aids Activity
199
Informative Speech Evaluation
201
Informative Speech Self-Evaluation
203
Topic Sheet—Persuasive Speech
205
Reasoning Activity
207
Fallacy Activity
209
Language Activity
211
Persuasive Video Evaluation
213
Persuasive Speech Evaluation
215
Visual Aid Evaluation
217
Persuasive Speech Self-Evaluation
219
Topic Sheet—Special Occasion Speech
221
Special Occasion Speech Evaluation
223
Peer Evaluations
225
Appendix A: Sample Speech Outlines
241
Informative Sample Preparation Outlines
Causes of Endangerment of the Giant Panda in Southwest China
244
Emily Eibl | Object speech/Topical pattern
Saving Energy in the Home: Easy and Affordable
247
Laine Moody | Process speech/Topical pattern
What Led to the Rwandan Genocide?
251
Erin Cagney | Event speech/Chronological pattern
A Growing Disease: Autism
255
Hagen Sims | Concept speech/Topical pattern
The Five Pillars of Islam
258
James Burke | Concept speech/Topical pattern
Persuasive Sample Preparation Outlines
A Danger We Cannot Ignore
261
Cody McMillan | Claim of fact/Topical
The Ideal Diet
265
James Burke | Claim of value/Topical
A National Epidemic: Prescribing Narcotics
269
Alex Thomason | Claim of policy change/Monroe’s Motivational Sequence
Liberty in North Korea
274
June Im | Claim of action/Monroe’s Motivational Sequence
Appendix B: APA Tutorial
279
Appendix C: Reference List
283
Chapter One
Getting Started
•
•
•
•
•
Importance of Public Speaking
Impacts of Technology
Spoken Word vs. Written Word
Communication Contexts
Public Speaking vs. Other Communication Contexts
• Speech Anxiety
- Causes of Speech Anxiety
- Effects of Speech Anxiety
- Ways to Control Speech Anxiety
» Before the Speech
» During the Speech
Chapter One | 1
2 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
The art of communication is the
language of leadership.
-James C. Humes
Expectations
T
his text is designed to prepare you to lead as a public speaker in the
classroom and beyond. We seek to increase your understanding of the
principles and processes of communicating effectively in public situations. It is
also designed to enhance the development of your own public speaking skills.
We plan to do this through a combination of speaking, listening, discussion,
writing, and reading assignments on your own and with others. The course assignments are designed to build your skills and knowledge of public speaking
as we progress through the semester. In addition, you will learn by observing
others engaged in public speaking. In this chapter we seek to provide you with
what to consider as you begin this journey.
In order to best advance your speaking skills, we have organized the course
to maximize your speaking opportunities. You will learn best through frequent
opportunities to speak. By participating in the public speaking process, you
will begin to develop and strengthen basic speaking skills, develop a positive
attitude toward public speaking, and build confidence in your public speaking
skills. When you successfully complete the course, you will have a basic understanding of the public speaking process and a clear understanding of your
own speaking strengths and weaknesses so that you can continue to grow as a
speaker.
Goals of the Course:
• To develop an understanding of the dynamics of the communication and
speech-making process
• To effectively prepare speeches
• To improve skills in delivering speeches
• To successfully analyze the audience
• To build listening skills to effectively evaluate messages
• To understand how to speak ethically and build credibility
• To increase confidence in public speaking
• To foster leadership abilities
Expect to:
• Build skills. Improvement in the previously mentioned skills is the main
goal of the course. You bring a certain skill set into this course that is different from others’. You should focus on strengthening your weaknesses
and excelling in your strengths. You will have class time to practice some
of these skills, but in order to improve, you will need to practice the skills
outside of class as well.
• Be challenged. Unlike other courses you take, this course in public
speaking is a skills course. This makes it difficult because of the time
demands required and the difference in determining success. You are
Chapter One: Getting Started | 3
•
•
•
•
•
not just learning information and regurgitating it on a test, as with other
types of courses. You will be doing “double duty,” meaning you will not
only learn the material but you will also show that you can put it to
use in your own speeches. You will create speeches from the ground up
using a formula.
Work hard. Students who have taken the course before say that they
spent more time working on this course than any other. As mentioned
before, in addition to learning the material, you will be modeling others,
completing assignments to practice what you have learned, working with
others to learn and practice, preparing your presentation on your own,
and delivering the speeches. You cannot fake preparation. Like anything
else worth doing, you have to put effort and time into improving.
Follow a formula. To make the learning process easier, this course is
designed to provide a recipe for you to follow through each step. It will
supply you with the ingredients to construct an effective speech and give
you the principles to add your own touches later when that experience
comes.
Gain confidence. This course gives you the opportunity to learn techniques to manage your anxiety and a platform on which to use them.
Students who work hard have found that their confidence levels soar and
anxiety levels decrease.
Never expect perfection. Do not make the mistake of assuming that the
goal is a perfect speech. There has never been a perfect speech or speaker.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech is phenomenal but still
not perfect. As mentioned before, if you follow the formula given, you
will be on your way to an effective speech.
Never be compared to others. Since every student brings a separate skill
set to the course, you will not be compared to others. As explained before,
you are looking to improve your skills from the time you begin the course
until the end. Not everyone improves at the same pace just as everyone
does not have the same strengths and weaknesses. Do not focus on how
you match up with others; focus on progressing over time.
NOTES
Importance of Public Speaking
Public speaking is a valuable life skill. The skills that you learn in order to speak
in public will help you in many areas of life. In other courses, you may question when in life you will ever use the information. No matter what your area
of study, communication skills, will be necessary for success in life. Consider
applying for a job. Employers do not hire based solely on a résumé; they want
to interview you where they can observe your verbal and nonverbal communication. Employers have been found to regard effective communication skills
as more important than other skills when hiring an employee across several
different career fields.
The way we communicate
with others and with ourselves
ultimately determines the quality
of our lives.
-Anthony Robbins
4 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
Whether or not we want to admit it, we are judged in life by how well we
communicate. Think about areas of your life that would benefit from acquiring
these communication skills. Not only will it help you get that job and keep it,
but it will help you now in your other classes. Consider how these skills can
help you cultivate relationships in your life with friends, family, instructors,
coworkers, future children, and significant others. You will be put in leadership
positions in the future where you will be expected to use these skills to teach
or influence others. The following are the major advantages to learning public
speaking skills:
•
•
•
•
•
•
assisting with career advancement in several job fields;
acquiring effective leadership skills;
learning critical thinking skills;
increasing success in other classes;
improving relationships;
gaining self-confidence.
Impacts of Technology
Public speaking has a very long history. Our basic ideas about oratory and rhetoric can be traced to the Greeks and Romans almost
three thousand years ago with philosophers such as
Aristotle, Cicero, Plato, Isocrates, and Quintilian. In
society, oratory was a crucial skill for success in public
and private life. This tradition is continuously refined
in the midst of our constant technological change.
In the past, a public address took place, in a
coliseum or town square where listeners could hear
and see the message instantly. Technology in today’s
civilization has created new opportunities, as well as
new challenges, for speakers.
The new opportunities that information technology has provided speakers cover a wide range of issues. First, speakers now have much greater access
to information that aids in speech preparation. In fact, this course includes a
section relating to research services that are designed to assist you in learning
about search engines, sources of information, and the quality of the information available through information technology. Second, speakers have a greater
number of ways of presenting information to members of the audience as a
result of advances in information technology. For example, you will have access to PowerPoint presentation software, the Web, and audio/video equipment
when delivering your presentations.
The in-person interaction our ancestors relied upon has diminished in
our current technological society. While communicating is as immediate
as texting, e-mailing, or sending a Twitter message, the loss of face-to-face
Chapter One: Getting Started | 5
interaction can reduce the impact of the message being sent. Even mediums
such as video conferencing or Skype, which allow for video chatting, fail to
convey the full meaning the way that the instant method of face-to-face allows.
Our technological lifestyle provides decreasing opportunities to gain experience giving or receiving verbal, in-person messages. In addition, technology
has created a culture that allows for greater toleration of misunderstandings in
communication. The written word does not allow the writer to be assured that
his or her message will be interpreted by the receiver as the writer would like
it to be. Phones attempt to autocorrect our texts. E-mails can include words
in all caps to imply importance or shouting or phrases that indicate sarcasm
when none was intended. Television personalities at times have had to give a
statement to clarify what they meant by something they said. Increasing access
to video means that anything you say can be edited or taken out of context for
future audiences to misinterpret.
Consider who will be evaluating your message, not only the first time it is
given, but in the future. For example, a presidential candidate must not only
tailor the message to the audience that is sitting in front of him or her but
must consider the repercussions of how the content will be received to a wider
audience that will see it later on a news broadcast or on video. This forces many
politicians to deliver vague messages that will appeal to a mass audience of
individuals who will vote in the future.
Spoken Word vs. Written Word
It is a mistake to envision the speech process as similar to the familiar process
of writing a paper. For example, when you read a paper and do not understand
something, you can go back and read it again or refer to an earlier portion
of the paper. In a speech, however, your audience does not have that luxury.
They only hear it once and they are hearing it for the first time. They cannot
pause you or rewind you, and they do not have your outline in front of them.
Therefore, preparing a speech is much different from writing a paper in the
following ways:
• Spoken language should be more redundant. In a paper, it is often appropriate to find different ways to say something, and to use synonyms
for words that are used repeatedly. In a speech, however, you should use
the same terms for your topic, main points, and so on so the audience can
identify with them. Research suggests that we need to hear something
several times before we begin to identify with it and remember it. You do
not want to confuse your audience with different terms.
• Spoken language should be less complex. In a paper, many students try
to use long, technical terms to give it an intelligent voice. In a speech,
you must use the shortest, clearest terms when attempting to explain a
concept. If your audience has to stop and dwell on the meaning of an
NOTES
6 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
unfamiliar term, they are bound to miss some information along the way.
Chapter 4 will give you more information on making the information
clear.
• Spoken language should reduce explanations. In papers, we sometimes
attempt to draw out information and explain the same concept in many
ways, extending the length of the paper. In a speech, the opposite should
be true. Why would you take three or four sentences to explain what we
can get across in one sentence? As a speaker, you want to get to the point
quickly, be clear, and move on.
Communication Contexts
We communicate in many different areas of our life. A communication context
refers to the environment in which human communication takes place. Each of
these contexts differs in terms of the number of people engaging in communication, the setting, the roles that people are expected to play, and a number of
other factors. Communication contexts are varied, as outlined below:
• Interpersonal Communication requires two people (dyad) in a conversation.
• Intrapersonal Communication involves sending messages to ourselves
and developing them for later communication in another context. Many
communication scholars believe there must be another participant and
interaction to be considered communication.
• Small Group Communication requires three or more people up to usually ten or twelve put together to complete a task. The maximum number
depends upon how many would be too many to interact in a meaningful
way.
• Organizational Communication is in a more professional setting within
an establishment composed of interdependent groups to reach a common goal.
• Mass Communication entails broadcasting messages, usually electronically, to a large, anonymous audience. This can include a television
broadcast, radio transmission, or podcast.
• Public Communication occurs when a single person or a small number
of people address a larger group of people in such forms as a speech,
lecture, report, or performance.
Public Speaking vs. Other Communication Contexts
Public communication differs greatly from other communication contexts in
several ways. The major differences for you to note, as a speaker, include:
Chapter One: Getting Started | 7
• Planning/preparation. The person delivering the speech must engage
in much more planning and preparation for the event than normally occurs in other communication contexts. For example, we do not normally
prepare and practice for the conversations we have with family or friends.
Imagine that you know you will see your friend later today. Would you
write down everything you want to say to him or her on a note card and
use it to have a conversation with that person? Of course you would not
since this would be inappropriate behavior. However, if you get up to
deliver a speech and you are not prepared with notes, you will be seen as
even more ridiculous.
• Degree of formality. Presentations tend to be viewed as more formal
occasions than our day-to-day conversations. Both verbal and nonverbal
language tends to be more formal in a public speech. For example, you would not use slang terms or slouch when delivering a speech whereas you might when talking one-on-one with
a friend. The reason for speaking or the topic could also make
the situation more formal.
• Communication rules. Many of the rules we use to guide
conversation do not apply in public speaking situations. For example, we expect in conversation that people take turns making
contributions to the discussion. In public speaking situations,
this type of turn taking would be considered inappropriate. It
is not expected for you to have someone verbally interrupt you
during your speech. In addition, there are communication rules
for public speaking that are not appropriate for other contexts.
For example, after a speech the audience tends to applaud. Try applauding after a friend tells you about his or her weekend and see what reaction
you receive.
Speech Anxiety
The anxiety that we experience when we think about or engage in public speaking is referred to as speech anxiety. It is researched as a form of communication apprehension, which may be thought of as the anxiety people experience
when they think about or engage in communication.
People experience communication apprehension in a variety of contexts
or situations, such as the ones previously mentioned in the chapter. We must
study speech anxiety separately from communication apprehension since research shows that, while people may feel nervous in communication contexts
such as interpersonal communication or communication in a small group, they
experience higher levels of nervousness in a public context.
Interestingly, there appear to be different types of speech anxiety. We can
think about speech anxiety as a trait or as a state. Traits may be thought of
as long-term, enduring characteristics that individuals possess. For example,
NOTES
8 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
adaptiveness is considered a trait important to skillful communication. The
extent to which a person is able to adapt to changing circumstances tends to be
fairly consistent. Thus, the trait view suggests that the level of speech anxiety
a person experiences reflects a long-term, enduring quality of that individual
when engaging in public speaking. Speech anxiety, as a state, suggests that
anxiousness is brought about by particular situations. From this view a person
may feel comfortable talking with peers prior to a speech. However, once the
person begins to participate in public speaking, he or she will begin to experience some measure of apprehension.
Causes of Speech Anxiety
Anxiety is a thin stream of fear
trickling through the mind. If
encouraged, it cuts a channel
into which all other thoughts are
drained.
-Arthur Somers Roche
Speech anxiety is a common occurrence. In fact, for many people in the United
States, public speaking is their single greatest fear, even greater than death! To
understand the reasons for this, we must look at the underlying factors. The
following are the most common causes of state speech anxiety:
• Number of audience members. For some speakers, the more people
in the audience, the more nervous they become. We have grown accustomed to believing that a larger audience equals greater importance, and
therefore, we feel more pressure. For example, you may be less nervous
speaking in front of a small class of twenty students and more nervous
in front of a large lecture class of one hundred and twenty. Why do you
think this occurs?
• Speaker’s familiarity with audience members. How well a speaker
knows the audience members has a large impact on the speaker’s anxiety
level. While some feel more comfortable in front of an audience filled
with strangers; others are less nervous when they speak to individuals
they know very well. The good news is that, in this course, your classmates will provide a balance between the two extremes. You will get to
know one another as acquaintances but not to the degree to which you
know your close friends and family who know a lot about you, providing
you with a more comfortable start to this process. Which type of audience do you prefer?
• Formality of the setting. Regardless of who is in the audience, the location of where a speech is delivered from can affect the level of nervousness you experience when speaking. For example, most speakers would
be more nervous on a stage, in an auditorium, and under a spotlight than
they would be in a small classroom setting. In addition, using a lectern or
podium sometimes lessens anxiety for speakers who are intimidated by
standing in front of the audience without a barrier.
• Past experiences of the speaker. While having a number of positive
speaking experiences allows you to build skills and aid in decreasing
anxiety, a negative speaking experience in your past can cause your
level of apprehension to be higher than average. You may have delivered
a speech in your seventh grade class where you dropped your notes or
Chapter One: Getting Started | 9
your voice changed, creating a really bad experience for you. For every
speaking event after, you may have experienced negative thoughts and a
high level of anxiety even thinking about speaking in public. Many times,
high anxiety could exist because of a lack of experience. If you do not
remember ever speaking in front of an audience, you may not know what
to expect. This may cause you to expect the worst from hearing about
others’ experiences.
• Speaker’s fear of judgment or failure. Saving face is a very important
motivator for most people. You can probably admit that you do not want
to be judged negatively by others. This cause for anxiety is mainly from
a lack of self-confidence. Sometimes it comes from an irrational thought
or because of a negative past experience, as mentioned above. For many,
the fear not only comes from being judged by others negatively but from
the pressure of speaking to earn a grade in class.
Effects of Speech Anxiety
Since we know a number of factors contribute to a speaker’s level of anxiety, we
need to look at what happens to and in people when they experience anxiety
while speaking. A variety of things, both physiological and mental, occur.
Some of these are visible to the audience, while others are not. Consider what
occurs when you become nervous or what you have seen in others. Effects
can range from sweating, rapid breathing, turning red, stuttering, the mind
going blank, shaking, fidgeting, swaying, speaking fast, lack of eye contact, etc.
What happens to you when you speak? For many
people, the anxiety they feel is very pronounced,
and the symptoms of anxiety are more readily observable. For others, public speaking brings about
a moderate level of anxiety. What we can observe
consistently is that nervousness is released by the
body differently in different speakers. What occurs in your body may be much different than in
someone else’s.
The reason for many of these reactions is our
body’s response to anxiety in the form of adrenaline. For many people, public speaking evokes a
fight-or-flight response. Our mind sends a message to our body that we are
in an emergency situation, and the body responds with surges of adrenaline.
The next section will discuss how to use this necessary response to propel you
through your speech.
Ways to Control Speech Anxiety
A moderate level of anxiety is desirable when engaging in public speaking.
Your goal is not to rid your body of anxiety. The anxiety that is experienced
NOTES
10 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
when delivering a speech is a body’s way of preparing you to perform well.
The physiological changes that place us in this heightened state tend to make
the individual more alert and physically prepared to perform. Regrettably, our
body can go too far in preparing us to perform well. When this occurs, the
speaker is experiencing a level of apprehension that can negatively impact his/
her performance. Your goal instead is to learn to manage this nervousness to
keep it from debilitating you. The following techniques that have been shown
to control speech anxiety are based on different ways of attacking the causes of
the anxiety:
Before the Speech
Only the prepared speaker
deserves to be confident.
-Dale Carnegie
• Be prepared. The most effective way to manage your nervousness is to
start early and to prepare properly. The more time and effort you put
into the speech, the better you will feel about it. Nothing substitutes for
effective preparation. Not only will you feel less anxious; you will also be
much more credible as a speaker.
• Think positively. For many, a lack of self-confidence is a problem that
leads to a higher level of speech anxiety. The goal is to change how the
individual perceives himself/herself when engaging in public speaking.
We do not realize how powerful our mind is. Since speech anxiety causes
us to have more negative thoughts than positive ones, we must find a way
to “tip the scale.” Visualization is a method of managing nervousness that
involves the speaker “placing” himself/herself in a hypothetical public
speaking situation before the speech. The goal of this method is to vividly
imagine delivering a very effective speech. Sports psychologists work
with athletes using this method. For example, a basketball player will be
asked to sit in the corner of the gym and close his or her eyes without a
ball and imagine shooting a free throw. The person is asked to imagine
standing at the free throw line, going through the routine, and seeing in
the mind the act of shooting and the ball going over the front of the rim.
The person will repeat this mental act over and over again. Before your
speech, you should imagine yourself going through the speech you have
prepared, in the setting it will be delivered, and performing at a high
level. Repeatedly visualizing positive performance does appear to reduce
fears of public speaking, because the positive image begins to replace the
negative images involved with public speaking. Keep in mind that repeatedly visualizing a negative experience may lead to poor performance.
Therefore, it is essential to visualize upcoming speaking experiences in
a positive fashion.
• Determine to communicate, not perform. Concentrate on getting your
message out. If you do, you will not have time to think about your nervousness. Some believe that speaking is a form of performance; however,
most speakers find that this creates additional pressure and they are un-
Chapter One: Getting Started | 11
•
•
•
•
able to be conversational. This is not a theater course. You do not need to
perform; you need to communicate. Be yourself!
Do not expect perfection. Expect that you will communicate well despite any occasional mistake. As discussed above, if you prepare well, you
will accomplish your speaking goals and get your message across. Do not
put unnecessary pressure on yourself when you are planning well and
working hard.
Sleep and eat well. You should prepare yourself not only mentally for
your speeches, but you should also prepare yourself physically. Recent
studies have shown that our brains completely rejuvenate after a full
night’s sleep, aiding in retention and recall. Therefore, you will remember
more if you sleep instead of staying up late and cramming information
in your brain the night before the speech. Get into a routine where you
have a set bedtime and stick to it. Get a full night’s sleep (seven to nine
hours) the night before. Sleep in an environment that is dark, has cool
temperatures, and is quiet without distractions. Try to eat around the
same time every night and avoid caffeine and alcohol. Make sure you eat
before your speech so you do not become lightheaded.
Use relaxation techniques. The goal is to address the physiological symptoms of speech anxiety such as increased heart rate, nervous stomach,
and so on. There are physiological approaches to controlling nervousness
that you can incorporate into your routine. Deep breathing slowly before
speaking will help relieve stress. Breathe in slowly through your nose and
fill your lungs with air; then exhale slowly through your mouth. You can
also clench and relax the muscles in your body. Clench your fists, tighten
or tense your arms, toes, calves, and thighs, and then relax them.
Gain more experience. If anxiety is brought about because the individual
does not feel that he or she knows how to engage in public speaking, training designed to bring about effective public speaking skills will enable the
speaker to manage speech anxiety. A great way to reduce your anxiety
is to simply continue to speak in public. By enrolling in this course, you
are engaging in skills training. As a method of managing nervousness,
training requires the individual to gain additional experience as a speaker.
People often experience nervousness because they perceive that they do
not possess the skills necessary to perform well. You will begin to experience decreasing levels of nervousness as you build your speaking skills
over the course of the semester. After the course, the more you place yourself in these situations and leadership roles, the less nervous you will be.
NOTES
During the speech
• Think about speaking to one person. If you envision the audience as
only one person, and your speech as a conversation, it will put you more
at ease. If you think about it, every audience member has only one set of
When I'm talking to a large
audience, I imagine that I'm
talking to a single person.
-Red Barber
12 | Leading Your Audience
NOTES
•
•
•
•
thoughts, values, and judgments that he or she does not share with others
in the audience. So, in reality, you are speaking only to one individual.
Remember that most nervousness is not visible. Do not worry that the
audience will readily pick up signs of nervousness. The only person in
the room thinking about your nervousness is you. Your audience is not
waiting for you to shake, turn red, or sweat—they are waiting to receive
your message.
Be conversational. Talk with your audience—not at them. Try to use
gestures and facial expressions that you would use in an interpersonal
conversation. If you think about speaking as a conversation, it will seem
more routine and less out of the ordinary. To do this, you need to be
yourself. Chapter 3 will teach you how to be conversational.
Pause and breathe. When speakers become anxious, they often speak
at a faster rate, resulting in increased nervousness. Silently pausing and
breathing will allow you to slow your rate of delivery, calming your nerves
more easily. Rate of speaking and pauses will be discussed in chapter 3.
Make adjustments without fear. Remember that the audience does not
know what you plan to do during the speech and they are hearing it for
the first time. They will be slow to pick up on any mistake. Since they
do not know exactly what you planned, it is easier to make adjustments
during the speech without jeopardizing your objectives.
Regardless of the combination of techniques you choose to manage your
nervousness before and during your speech, find a method that works for you.
Try different techniques for each speech and track your progress.