Chapter 1

UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING

Prepared by:
Bautista, Donna Marie
Beltran, Irish Crystal
Exconde, Ezekiel
Mora, Patricia

Objectives
To define public speaking
To understand that public speaking is the act of
creating meaning with your listeners
To identify some tips for more effective presentations

PUBLIC SPEAKING means

1: the act or process of making speeches in public
2: the art of effective oral communication with an
audience

Public Speaking among many Fears

Fears of PUBLIC SPEAKING

Being judged harshly
Insecurities exposed
Perfectionism
Rejection anxiety
Failure
Humiliation

PUBLIC SPEAKING seeks to

Educate
Entertain
Persuade
Demonstrate
Commemorate
Inspire
Tell a story
In essence, to connect people across communities.

We are speakers
In class
At work
At home

But,

Not all oral

communication
in a group setting

What are Speakers?

Public speaking is an event in which a group of people
agree that one person the speaker - will direct the
event.
Basically, speakers create meaning that is transmitted
to listeners.

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Theoretical Foundations of PUBLIC

SPEAKING
1. Our ancient
oral traditions

Public speaking existed in preliterate societies.

Public speaking still finds its essence in the sounds
made by the human voice.
Speech is a medium characterized by immediacy and
concreteness.
Human beings are innately storytellers.

2. Our rhetorical
heritage

Public speakers are, above all, decision makers.

Speech influences people by appealing to their
rationality, but effective speakers view rationality as
more than logic.
Speech has an ethical dimension.

Aristotles Rhetoric
Three Genres of Speaking:
Forensic speaking
Deliberative speaking
Epideictic or ceremonial speaking

Three Categories of Persuasive Appeals:

Logos
Pathos
Ethos

Theoretical Foundations of
PUBLIC SPEAKING
3. Information
transmission
theories

Speech is a process and can be studied scientifically.

Public speakers are information managers.
Communication is impossible without a shared code.
Receivers are not passive recipients of speech; they
bring their own filters to the decoding process.
Communication is never complete until feedback has
been received and interpreted.

A Two-Way Communication
Model

Theoretical Foundations of
PUBLIC SPEAKING
4. Dialogic
perspectives
on communication

Speakers may use communication to advance mutual

understanding.
Empathy and consensus are built over time and start
with finding common ground, which then expands to
authentic speaking and listening.
Stand your ground about important principles and be
receptive to other perspectives at the same time.

PUBLIC SPEAKING as MeaningCentered

Communication is more than information
transmission and reception.
Giving a speech becomes a matter of selecting
ideas, packaging them, shipping them, and
verifying their receipt.

PUBLIC SPEAKING as MeaningCentered

Communication is the joint creation of
meaning.
Its useful to be able to upload a page of content
that can be accessed by others on the web, but its
much more useful to be able to collaboratively
create web content, change it, and be changed by
it for mutual benefit.

Meaning is social.
No individual, sender or receiver, can control the true
meaning of a statement.
But neither can a single receiver unilaterally control
what a statement or an action really means to others.

Meaning is contextual.
Words or messages alone cannot tell us the true
meaning of the communication.
Words take their meanings not just from a dictionary
but from all that surrounds them as they are uttered.

Ultimately, meaning is negotiated

by discourse communities.
When the true meaning of a message is contested,
appeals to the words themselves, to the speakers
intentions, or to the listeners response have all been
shown to be inadequate.
Groups work out meanings over time.

Three Familiar Communicative

Resources
1. Conversation Skills
Speaking in a comfortable and confident manner
Listening to and considering the perspective of
others
Adapting constantly to feedback

Three Familiar Communicative

Resources
2. Writing Skills
Experiment with alternative forms and play them
out in imagination
Attention to language (word choices)
Order of ideas / Unity of the speech

Three Familiar Communicative

Resources
3. Performance Skills
Physical qualities

(Tone of voice, Gestures, Movement)

Drama and Virtuosity

Knowledge of how to use setting and timing
The capacity to turn a collection of individuals into
a cohesive group

Three Communication Resources

Public Speaking
requires the ability
to balance all three
qualities of
conversation,
writing, and
performance to
earn the undivided
attention of an
audience.

Things to Consider
Consider the demands of the situation and the
expectations of the audience.
o We consider the situation and respond accordingly.

Consider your personality and distinctive style.

o Speakers differ even when speaking on the same
occasion and topic.

Role of Consciousness in Skill

Learning
The Four Stages of Learning
Skills
Unconscious
incompetence

Unconscious competence

Conscious incompetence

Conscious competence

Role of Consciousness in Skill

Learning
Stage 1. Unconscious Incompetence
In this stage, people are not aware that they are
making errors.
They may even be unaware that some particular skill
needs to be learned.

Stage 2: Conscious incompetence

People in this stage have come to the realization that
they are doing something ineptly and need to improve.

Role of Consciousness in Skill

Learning
Stage 3: Conscious competence
People have worked to improve in an area in which
they felt incompetent but must now consciously try
to perform competently.

Stage 4: Unconscious competence

People in this stage have integrated the learned
skills to the extent that competence comes
naturally.
Speakers at this level can do more than merely talk.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Misconceptions
1. GOOD SPEAKERS ARE BORN, NOT MADE
While it may seem that some people are born better
speakers, in fact they are people who have already
learned a number of speech skills or who happen to
learn speech related skills quickly.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Misconceptions
2. GOOD SPEAKING SHOULD BE EASY RIGHT AWAY
Skillful communicators can make public speaking look
easy, but it takes workand lots of it.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Misconceptions
3. SPEAKING WILL ALWAYS BE AS DIFFICULT AS IT IS
WHEN YOU ARE FIRST LEARNING IT
Learning a skill requires effort and attention, but it
becomes easier once mastered.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Misconceptions
4. THERE ARE SIMPLE FORMULAS FOR EFFECTIVE
SPEAKING
The situation differs from case to case. No one can give
an all-purpose formula for preparing or delivering a
speech.

Five Steps of PUBLIC SPEAKING

Initial decisions and analysis

1. PLAN
Research for resources and
2.
INVESTIGAT materials
Development of speech
E
3.
materials
COMPOSE Preparation for oral
4.
performance
PRACTICE
Culmination of work
5. PRESENT

Sources:
Communication Model. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2015, from
http://pirate.shu.edu/~yatesdan/Tutorial.htm
Ingraham, C. (2014). Americas top fears: Public speaking, heights and
bugs. Retrieved from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/30/clowns
-are-twice-as-scary-to-democrats-as-they-are-to-republicans/
Proctor, T. Public Speaking: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Sprague, J., Stuart, D., and Bodary, D. (2013). The Speakers Handbook
(10e)