During a live remote presentation, the audience is composed of independent receivers in various locations with their own set of distractions. What can we do as speakers to bring a sense of unity to our remote audiences? The idea of establishing common  ground discussed earlier in this textbook becomes an important tool not  only to bond the speaker and the audience, but to help bond the audience members to  each other.

More streamlined visual aid options. Most video conferencing applications also have a  “screen share” or “file sharing” option. If used correctly, this function can streamline the  process of sharing presentation aids. Anything a speaker has on their desktop, hard  drive, or personal device can usually be shared easily with their audience.

English Language Learners may have a difficult time with the idea of outlining because in many cultures, discourse patterns are not linear, which means that structuring may be difficult for EAL students that come from these cultures. As educator Tan Huynh states, “Many of my Asian students come from schools who practice a traditional approach to learning English that focuses on learning grammar rules.  They were not asked to create language – just to memorize it.”

Non-native speakers of English may be doubly worried about public speaking. Not only are they dealing with all of the anxiety and stress that goes along with public speaking, but in addition they may also feel anxiety about their level of fluency in English and their accent. It is important to note that having an accent does not make you a ‘bad’ speaker.

The bonus feature of doing the practice and learning this skill is you will learn to read faster. Since a lot of college work and professional preparation relies on reading the information, it would benefit you for the rest of your life to learn this valuable skill. While researching, I came across this excellent slide presentation by Sanda Jameson on Reading for College that goes into more depth about the process.

Plan where you will stand. It does not have to be behind the lectern. Practice standing with good posture; know where you will keep your hands and be sure your gestures are not hidden by the podium. You might be a speaker who does not stay behind the podium, but you should still check it out. Every morsel of familiarity will contribute to your confidence in speaking.

Language in a speech should be appropriate to the speaker and the speaker’s background and personality, to the context, to the audience, and to the topic. Let’s say that you’re an engineering student. If you’re giving a presentation in an engineering class, you can use language that other engineering students will know.

Unfortunately, we habitually use language for exclusion rather than inclusion. We can push people away with our word choices rather than bringing them together. Below are some examples of language that can exclude members of your audience from understanding what you are saying.

Denotative is the specific meaning associated with a word. We sometimes refer to denotative as dictionary definitions. Connotative, on the other hand, is the idea associated with a word at a cultural or personal level. It’s the way a specific listener interprets a word.

Special occasion speaking is the most varied type of speaking to cover; however, there are some general rules to keep in mind regardless of what type you are engaged in. Remember that using good, evocative language is key, and that it’s important that you deliver your speech in a way that both conveys the proper emotion for the occasion as well as allows you to give the speech exactly as you wrote it.

Basically, knowing your speech well allows you to incorporate the emotion that a special occasion speech is meant to convey, something that is hard to do when you read the entirety of your speech. In this way your audience will sense the pride you feel for a graduating class during a commencement speech, the sorrow you feel for the deceased during a eulogy, or the gratitude you have when accepting an award.

The goal of a special occasion speech is to stir an audience’s emotions and make them feel a certain way in response to the situation or occasion.  The general purpose of a special occasion speech might be “to inspire,” “to celebrate,” “to honor,” or “to entertain.”

Sometimes the speaking opportunities that life brings our way have nothing to do with specifically informing or persuading an audience; instead, we are asked to speak during special occasions in our lives. Whether you are standing up to give a speech at an awards ceremony or a toast at a wedding, knowing how to deliver speeches in a variety of different contexts is the nature of special occasion speaking.

Although it is not a perfect or literal analogy, we can think of correct reasoning like building a house. To build a house, a person need materials (premises and facts) a blueprint (logical method), and knowledge of building trades (critical thinking ability). If you put them out in a field with drywall, nails, wiring, fixtures, pipes, wood and other materials and handed them a blueprint, they would need knowledge of construction principles, plumbing, and reading plans (and some helpers), or no building is going up.

n February 14, 2018, 17 people lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when a former student entered the school armed with a semi-automatic rifle and opened fire. It was one of the most deadly mass shootings of the far too many shootings that have occurred in U.S. Schools.

Lisa Schreiber, Phd., (2011) writes: Without a doubt, information plays a vital role in our everyday lives. In the dictionary, the term “inform” has several meanings, including to impart knowledge; to animate or inspire; to give information or enlightenment;

Similarly, each instructor will need to decide when to use the introduction/conclusion chapters. The concepts are relatively easy to understand and are easily integrated into a tribute. Therefore, they are included in Unit 1’s readings.

Understanding why Special Occasion Speeches are given is helpful. As you read, consider why you would give this speech in your own life. Your time as a student may require less formal Special Occasion speeches such as introducing yourself on the first day of class or more formal situations like representing the Student Senate at a public hearing on college funding.

Sample Speeches have been recorded and shared with the students’ written permission. Highlighted speeches include sample outlines, sample student self-critiques, and other resources. This PressBook will continue to update and more samples will be added.

The second part highlights the three public speaking units.  Finally, the book ends with a resource section. The book was originally created to complement an OER book called The Public Speaking Project. Unfortunately, due to a number of unfortunate circumstances, this book is no longer able to be updated. Therefore, I have merged chapters and additional educational resources from a number of credible, well-thought-out OER textbooks in Public Speaking into this OER book. I will continue to update and adapt this book to best meet an introductory college student’s needs in learning public speaking.

The most common type of outline organizations for speeches with propositions of policy is problem-solution or problem-cause-solution. Typically, we don’t feel any motivation to change unless we are convinced that some harm, problem, need, or deficiency exists, and even more, that it affects us personally. Therefore, the organization of a speech about policy needs to first explain the problem and its cause, followed by the solution in the form of 3-5 pro-arguments.

A persuasive speech shares with an informational speech the same four elements for a strongly structured speech: introduction, body, conclusion, and connectors. Like informative speeches, preparation requires thoughtful attention to the given circumstances of the speech occasion, as well as audience analysis in terms of demographic and psychographic features. That said, there are some elements unique to a persuasive speech.

It makes sense that if a speaker wants to affect the audience’s beliefs or actions, then the speaker must be perfectly clear about their expectations. If you were listening to a persuasive speech call for your audience to support animals, wouldn’t you want to know exactly what “support” the speaker was talking about? Giving money to charities? Volunteering at an animal shelter? Writing state legislators and urging them to change laws? Your job as a persuasive speaker is to be clear about what you want to create, reinforce, or change in your audience.

Logos is the second key element in Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric. Related to our word “logic,” the Greek term logos in persuasion means presenting ideas that appeal to logic or reason. Logos in a speech pertain to arguments that the audience would find acceptable. Imagine a speech, for example, which has the goal of persuading an audience to adopt healthier eating habits. Would the speech be effective if the arguments focused on how expensive organic foods are? Of course not.

Although a persuasive speech involves information—even as much as an informative speech—the key difference is that a persuasive speech is designed for “creating, reinforcing, or changing people’s beliefs or actions” (Lucas, 2015. p. 306).

STATEMENT OF SEVEN REPUBLICAN SENATORS We are Republicans. But we are Americans first. It is as Americans that we express our concern with the growing confusion that threatens the security and stability of our country. Democrats and Republicans alike have contributed to that confusion.

Yet to displace it with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to the nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.

The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guiltypeople whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases, such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case, the Gold case, to cause nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the unproved, sensational accusations.

It is ironical that we senators can in debate in the- Senate, directly or indirectly, by any form of words, impute to any American who is not a senator any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming an American-and without that non-senator American having any legal redress against us-yet if we say the same thing in theSenate about our colleagues we can be stopped on the grounds of being out of order.

Public Speaking as Performance: Practicing Public Speaking in the Theatre & Performance Classroom, written by theatre educators, presents the essential elements of speechwriting with the skills that actors use to com

Presenting image content in Public Speaking As you explored on the previous page, when making a speech, you have options for making your visual content accessible. For example, you can make your visuals fully accessible and distribute them to those who need them ahead of time. You can be sure to explain any image content you include by offering more detailed oral descriptions of important elements. Always be sure to be cognizant that your presentation images are clear and necessary.

Images We have come to expect a lot of visual content across various kinds of content, especially online and as part of presentations. Including images requires us to think consciously about the function of each image and how to best make it accessible.

Minimize background noise that can be distracting for individuals with sensory sensitivities or auditory processing issues. In a video speech make sure that your voice can be clearly heard.

Designing environments and digital interfaces that reduce sensory stimuli for individuals with sensory processing disorders.

For example, video captions benefit not only the deaf community but anyone in a noisy environment where they cannot play audio. Clear, large fonts that help individuals with visual impairments are also easier for everyone to read. Well-designed accessible environments, such as curb cuts or ramps, make it easier for parents with strollers, travelers with luggage, or anyone pushing a cart, as well as wheelchairs.

Accessibility is a fundamental principle in design and development, essential for creating a more inclusive and equitable world. People interact with the world in diverse ways, often influenced by varying physical, sensory, cognitive, and situational conditions.

Emotions such as passion, vulnerability, excitement, and fear are particularly powerful.  Researchers at Ohio State have a word for that sense of being carried away into the world of a story. They call it transportation.  Their research demonstrated that people can get so immersed in a story they hardly notice the world around them. Audiences can be transported by stories as facts and stories as fiction.  Narrative transportation theory proposes that when people lose themselves, their intentions and attitudes may change to align with the characters in the story. As speakers, we can harness this power. Sometimes that means telling our own stories, sometimes, it means telling the stories of others, and other times, it means telling a hypothetical story.

Professional speakers, college students, politicians, business leaders, and teachers are all beginning to understand the benefits of telling stories in speeches. Increasingly, business leaders are encouraged to move away from the old model of sharing the vision and the mission to a new model of telling the story of the business. Academic literature points out that teachers who use stories can help students understand and recall information. For years, politicians have been coached to include a story in their speeches. They do it because it works, and it is bound in science.

Robert Frost was often skeptical about projects for human improvement, yet I do not think he would disdain this hope. As he wrote during the uncertain days of the Second War: Take human nature altogether since time began . . .And it must be a little more in favor of man,Say a fraction of one percent at the very least . . .Our hold on this planet wouldn’t have so increased.

This day devoted to the memory of Robert Frost offers an opportunity for reflection which is prized by politicians as well as by others, and even by poets, for Robert Frost was one of the granite figures of our time in America. He was supremely two things: an artist and an American. A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.