Elements of Public Speaking

Objectives
After completing this section you should be able to:
1. Identify the purposes of Public Speaking
2. Understand how an audience can affect a
speaker
3. Determine a speaker’s credibility
4. Describe how a speaker would adapt to an
audience
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 Introduction
• Public speaking is a very important communication
skill

• Three major elements in the speaking process

speaker/ sender

Speech/ message

Listeners/ receivers of a message

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 Purposes of Public Speaking
• Informing an audience

• Persuading an audience

• Entertaining an audience

• Celebrating an occasion with an audience

• Inspiring an audience

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 How an audience affects a speaker
• The best way to give a speech is to talk fast and sit down
• I never know what to do with my hands when I speak
• I just write an essay and read it as a speech
• I look at the top of the audience’s heads while speaking
These are comments made by untrained speakers.
Some people assume that as long as you can talk,
you can give an effective speech
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 What to do to remove fright?
• Prepare to speak

• Arrive early

• Get acquainted with the room

• Talk to people- audience to be...get familiar

• Feel relaxed

• Reduce anxiety

• Know that you can do your best as a speaker

 Which of the following would you like to
hear in a speech?
As a listener, there are things you would like to hear in a
speech. They are called Speech openers/closures.
As a speaker, will you provide them to your audience?
• Jokes
• Stories
• Statistics
• Startling facts
• Quotations
• Reasoned arguments
• Rhetorical question
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 Preparation and Delivery
• Analyze your audience and adapt your message
• Select a topic and narrow your purpose for a speech
• Collect and evaluate evidence you will use in the
speech
• Develop support materials you will use in the
speech
• Organise your material and outline the speech
• Select and develop specific language strategies
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 Preparation and Delivery cont...
• Create your introduction and conclusion
• Practice your speech out aloud
• Select the most appropriate delivery method
• Present your speech
• Adapt to feedback during the speech
• Revise future speeches based on listener critiques
NB: Preparing and delivering an effective speech is
hard work but very satisfying
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 Speaker’s Credibility
Credibility refers to how believable the speaker
seems.
Checklist for determining speaker credibility
Person’s background, experiences
Actual presentation of the speech
If you know that the person is an authority
Speaker appears to know what he/ she is talking
about
An enthusiastic delivery by the speaker/ boring
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Thank you for listening

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