Chapter 1

Chapter 1:
Why Public Speaking Matters Today

1.1 - Why is Public Speaking Important?

Learning Objectives:

1. Explore three types of public speaking in everyday life: informative, persuasive, and entertaining.

2. Understand the benefits of taking a course in public speaking.

3. Explain the benefits people get from engaging in public speaking.

3 Types of Public Speaking

1. Informative public speaking is the delivery of knowledge or information.

   1. reasons include giving instruction, describing events or activities, and reporting the outcome of a process or event.

   2. people who whose informative speaking are teachers, physicians, safety experts, and other knowledgeable people.

3 Types of Public Speaking

2. Persuasive public speaking is used to convince, motivate, or change an audience.

   1. Persuasive speakers seek to convince, motivate, or persuade the audience to do or believe something.

   2. Elected officials, salespeople, motivational speakers, and others use persuasive speaking.

   3. Persuasive speaking sometimes has the task of displacing opinions that are already in place in members of the audience.

3 Types of Public Speaking

3. Entertaining speaking is speaking done on significant occasions.

   1. Ceremonial occasions include weddings, funerals, graduations, awards, and other events.

   2. Entertaining speaking can also include after-dinner speeches and motivational speeches.

   3. The reason for entertaining speaking is to honor some person or group, and it requires as much preparation as other kinds of speaking.

Benefits from learning public speaking

1. We develop critical-thinking skills.

   1. Critical thinking is analytical thinking that leads to effective problem-solving and creative activities.

   2. Critical thinking is the careful consideration of a problem or situation, including causes, costs, and consequences.

   3. Critical thinking is a benefit not only in public speaking, but also in your entire academic and professional experience.

Benefits from learning public speaking

2. We fine-tune and develop verbal and nonverbal skills.

   1. You receive feedback about your effective strategies and word choices.

   2. You receive feedback about your unconscious nonverbal behaviors.

   3. You can use the knowledge to develop and refine your speech and self-presentation.

Benefits from learning public speaking

3. We learn to manage our fear of public speaking.

   1. Sometimes fear is the result of a lack of experience.

   2. Learning how to prepare a speech can reduce anxiety.

   3. Experience at speaking can reduce anxiety.

Benefits from engaging in public speaking

1. You can influence the world around you.

   1. Through speaking, you can promote change.

   2. Through speaking, you can speak out in opposition to processes and situations with which you disagree.

Benefits from engaging in public speaking

2. You can develop leadership skills.

   1. Public speaking skills can contribute to professional advancement.

   2. Powerful presentations are based on critical thinking and well-developed speaking skills.

Benefits from engaging in public speaking

3. You can become a thought leader.

   1. A thought leader contributes new ideas.

   2. A thought leader is successful when viewed as "intellectual capital."

   3. A thought leader develops speaking and writing skills.

   4. Being considered a thought leader is personally rewarding and can be financially rewarding.

1. Talk to people who are currently working in the career you hope to pursue. Of the three types of public speaking discussed in the text, which do they use most commonly in their work?
   

2. Read one of the free speeches available at http:www.vsotd.com/ What do you think the speaker was trying to accomplish? What was her or his reason for speaking?

3. What personal benefit are you most interested in receiving from a public speaking class? Why?

​Exercises 1.1

Match

Match the following.

• captivate an audience while delivering a clear message.

• the purpose is to change or reinforce beliefs, values, or behaviors.

• intentional attempt to change or reinforce beliefs, values, or behaviors.

• an individual who contributes new ideas to help society

ceremonial speaking

influential speaking

persuade

thought leader

• ceremonial speaking

• influential speaking

• persuade

• thought leader

Multiple Choice

Speaking with the purpose of sharing knowledge or information with an audience refers to what type of speaking?

• informative

• influence

• ceremonial

• after dinner

• exculpatory

Match

Match the following.

• captivate an audience while delivering a clear message.

• the purpose is to change or reinforce beliefs, values, or behaviors.

• intentional attempt to change or reinforce beliefs, values, or behaviors.

• an individual who contributes new ideas to help society

ceremonial speaking

influential speaking

persuade

thought leader

• ceremonial speaking

• influential speaking

• persuade

• thought leader

Multiple Choice

The speaking form that was originally called epideictic speaking by the ancient Greeks refers to what type of speaking?

• informative

• influence

• entertaining

• after dinner

• exculpatory

Multiple Choice

Jeremy is preparing a speech where his goal is to change his audience's beliefs about the necessity of taking the SAT in high school. What type of speech is Jeremy preparing?

• informative

• persuasive

• ceremonial

• after dinner

• exculpatory

Multiple Choice

Which of the basic skills you develop through a public speaking course will help you think through the positive and negative consequences of possible solutions and communicate these ideas to others?

• critical thinking skills

• verbal skills

• nonverbal skills

• analytical skills

• overcoming fear of public speaking

Multiple Choice

Charlotte's goal in her speech is to get her classmates to floss their teeth more often. Charlotte is delivering a persuasive speech.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Susie is delivering a speech on how to prepare a cup of coffee. Susie is delivering a persuasive speech.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Joann has been studying politics since she was in elementary school. Now as a senior in college, running for town mayor, she wants to be viewed as an individual who contributes new ideas that help various aspects of society. What is Joann hoping to be viewed as?

• politician

• thought leader

• persuader

• rhetorical thinker

• informative speaker

Open Ended

Differentiate among the three types of public speeches.

Open Ended

Discuss the importance of intellectual capital.

Open Ended

Why us public speaking still important in the 21st Century?

Open Ended

How would public speaking help you be a more effective leader?

1.2 - The Process of Public Speaking

1. Identify the three components of getting your message across to others.

2. Distinguish between the interactional models of communication and the transactional model of communication.

3. Explain the three principles discussed in the Dialogical Theory of Public Speaking.

Learning Objectives:

Getting Your Message Heard - message, skill, and passion.

1. Your message is the first, most important component.

   1. Your message must be clear and coherent in order to get attention.

   2. An ambiguous or disjointed message will be ignored.

Getting Your Message Heard - message, skill, and passion.

2. Effective communication skills are necessary to transmit your message.

   1. Poor communication skills will not serve even the most important message.

   2. Communication skills can be learned.

Getting Your Message Heard - message, skill, and passion.

3. In order to gain attention, you must communicate passion.

   1. An audience will know whether you have an emotional investment or not.

   2. Choosing an easy topic in order to simply fulfill an assignment will NOT captivate audience attention.

​If we can convey messages without words, we need to be aware of nonverbal communication too.

Getting Your Message Heard - message, skill, and passion.

4. Gaining an understanding of two communication models will help you understand your own task in public speaking.

   1. The Linear Model

   2. Another interaction model developed by Wilbur Schramm will elaborate on the Linear Model.

The Linear Model of Communication

1. Mirrored how radio and telephone technologies functioned.

   1. The source was the speaker.

   2. The channel was the telephone itself.

   3. The receiver was the listener.

   4. In some ways, the model applies to public speaking.

      1. In public speaking, the sending is the presenter.

      2. The channel is the speaker's verbal and nonverbal communication.

      3. Distractions, or noise, can interfere with an accurate understanding of the message.

Another Interactional Model
by Wilbur Schramm

1. This model elaborates on the Linear Model

   1. Encoding a message is creating it, adapting it to the receiver, and transmitting it through a channel.

   2. Decoding a message is listening, interpreting, and responding to a message.

      1. Unfamiliar vocabulary, speaking too fast or too softly, or small print can make decoding difficult.

      2. A public speaker can anticipate audience needs and adapt the speech.

Another Interactional Model
by Wilbur Schramm

C. Feedback, or responding, is the last part of decoding.
i. Direct feedback occurs when a receiver, or listener, talks directly to the source.
a. Direct feedback occurs in question-and-answer sessions that follow a speech.
b. Direct feedback can also occur if a receiver, or listener, agrees or disagrees openly with a speaker.
ii. Moderately direct feedback is often nonverbal.
a. Smiling and nodding during the speech is one example.
b. Texting or checking a watch is a kind of moderately direct feedback that has a different message.
iii. Indirect feedback generally involves a delay after a speech.
a. An example is found when a campaign speech later produces votes for or against the speaker.

Transactional Model of Public Speaking

3. Addresses simultaneous dynamics of communication.

   1. In this model, Barnlund addresses issues not represented in the Interaction Model.

      1. Barnlund attempts to address situations where multiple sources are interacting at the same time.

      2. Individuals send and receive messages at the same time.

      3. The model assumes that meaning is co-created by the people interacting.

         1. for meaning to occur, we must have shared experiences with audience.

         2. Our goal as speakers is to build upon shared fields of experience.

Dialogic Theory of Public Speaking

4. Dialogic Theory-

   1. Arnett and Arneson propose that all communication is dialogue.

      1. Dialogue is more natural than monologue.

         1. Even when there is only one speaker, dialogue occurs.

         2. Nonverbals such as nodding and frowning covey meanings.

      2. Meanings are in people, not words.

         1. People might assign different meanings to a word.

         2. To be successful, a speaker must choose language that's appropriate for the context and audience.

Dialogic Theory of Public Speaking

iii. Contexts and social situations impact perceived meanings.
a. Bahktin notes that human interactions take place according to cultural norms and rules.
b. How we choose a topic, the words, and the speaking style should depend on the context in four dimensions: physical, temporal, social- psychological, and cultural.
c. The physical dimension of context is the most obvious.
i. They physical dimension is the tangible environment.
ii. Different physical contexts, like a classroom, a church, or an auditorium, will influence your ability to adapt and interact with the audience.
iii. How a room or other context is designed can also have an impact.

Dialogic Theory of Public Speaking

d. The temporal dimension has to do with the time of day or the moment in history and how the message fits into a sequence of events.
i. A speech about campus security will be received differently in the wake of a campus shooting than if no shooting had taken place.
ii. A humorous speech presented after a speech on death and dying may be ineffective.

e. The social-psychological dimension refers to status relationships among participants.
f. The cultural dimension is important because of differences in beliefs, norms, and practices.
i. Misunderstandings occur when we don't know or understand these differences.
ii. We should attempt to understand the cultural makeup of the audience in order to reduce the risk of misunderstanding.

1. Draw the major models of communication on a piece of paper and then explain how each component is important to public speaking.

2. When thinking about your first speech in class, explain the context of your speech using DeVito's four dimensions: physical, temporal, social-psychological, and cultural. How might you address challenges posed by each one of these dimensions?

​Exercises 1.2

Match

Match the following

• The use of some form of technology that intervenes between a source and a receiver of a message.

• Any verbal or nonverbal stimulus that is meaningful to a receiver.

• Any disturbance that interferes with someone's ability to accurately receive and interpret a source's message.

• Any stimuli other than words that can potentially elicit meaning in the mind of a receiver.

• The person who takes delivery of a message.

Mediated Communication

Message

Noise

Nonverbal Communication

Receiver

• Mediated Communication

• Message

• Noise

• Nonverbal Communication

• Receiver

Match

Match the following

• the means by which a message is carried from one person to another.

• sensing a source's message, interpreting the source's message, and evaluating the source's message

• Theory that views public speaking as a dialogue between speaker and his or her audience

• The process a source goes through when creating a message, adapting it to the receiver, and transmitting it.

• A receiver's observable verbal and nonverbal responses to a source's message.

channel

decoding

Dialogical Theory of Public Speaking

encoding

feedback

• channel

• decoding

• Dialogical Theory of Public Speaking

• encoding

• feedback

Multiple Choice

Darlene is standing behind a podium and delivering a persuasive speech. In the traditional Linear Model, what position does Darlene represent?

• source

• message

• channel

• receiver

• feedback

Multiple Choice

What is a verbal or nonverbal stimulus that is meaningful to a receiver?

• source

• message

• channel

• receiver

• feedback

Multiple Choice

After listening to Charlie's speech, Jack thinks about the speech and attempts to interpret Charlie's central message. What process is Jack exhibiting?

• encoding

• decoding

• communicating

• verbal delivery

• non verbal feedback

Multiple Choice

Alice is watching a speech over the internet. What type of message is Alice attending to?

• verbal message

• nonverbal message

• mediated message

• deliberative message

• sequential message

Multiple Choice

How a person's culture, experiences, and heredity influence her or his ability to communicate with another person or persons is referred to as her or his _____________.

• interpersonal responsiveness

• interpersonal assertiveness

• field of experience

• transactional experience

• transrelational experience

Multiple Choice

Which of DeVito's four dimensions refers to the time of day and moment in history?

• physical

• temporal

• social

• psychological

• cultural

Multiple Choice

Meanings are in people, not words.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Encoding refers to the message creation function in the interactional model.

• True

• False

Open Ended

List and define the four dimensions of context in public speaking.

Open Ended

Differentiate between the transactional model and dialogical model of communication.

Open Ended

Explain the four parts of deciding and how they relate to public speaking.

Open Ended

How can public speaking be a dialogue? (Be sure to reference the different theories involved).