Speaking in Public with Confidence

(Book 8 in the Series ‘Fundamentals of Effective Communication’)

Copyright 2014 Anil Pathak

Published by Communication Analytics, Singapore

This is a sample portion of the book. To buy the complete book, please visit

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/13861

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Preparing a Speech

Chapter Two: Delivering a Speech

Chapter Three: Examples of Speech Outlines

Chapter Four: Exercises and Group Tasks

About the Author

Other books in this series

Chapter One

Preparing a Speech

Public Speaking is a useful and valuable art, although it is often undervalued. Most

professionals need to engage themselves in public speaking in meetings, public functions, and

other events. Some of the public speaking needs to be done without much preparation, while

more formal speeches need to be carefully and thoughtfully orgnised. To study the kinds of

preparation needed for public speaking, we need to first understand two different kinds of

speeches: Informative and Persuasive.

Informative and Persuasive Speech

The fundamental difference in these two types of speeches is in the objective of the speaker.

While the informative speech is aimed at enhancing information and knowledge of the audience

about a particular topic, the persuasive speech is aimed at transforming attitude or behaviour of

the audience. Here are two examples:

1. A student giving a speech on petroleum products is likely to use an informative organisation.

On the other hand, a salesman selling a diesel car is likely to prepare a persuasive speech.

The aim of the student is to contribute to the audience’s knowledge about petroleum

products. Although the salesman will also contribute to her audience’s knowledge, she is

more interested in the action her audience will take. She would like her audience to buy the

diesel car.

2. A father asks his young son to provide him information about mobile phones and their

operating systems. The son gives a five-minute informative speech explaining to his father

the differences among Android, Windows, and Apple systems. The sales executive tries to

impress upon the father that the Apple system and products are better than others. He is

successful in persuading the father to buy an Apple phone. The father was in a better position

to understand the salesman because of the information provided by his son.

Choosing the Topic

If you have freedom to choose your topic, follow these guidelines for selecting a topic:

1. Choose a topic with which you are comfortable and which is interesting for you.

2. Choose a topic that is significant for you.

3. Choose a topic that will allow you to convey a single important point or message to your

audience.

4. Choose a topic that can be covered within the time limit.

Analysing Your Audience

Before you begin to plan your speech, try to find information about your audience. Try to

especially find about their past experiences, their background, educational level, and cultural

experiences. Also try to estimate their expectations from your speech, what they might like to

hear, what they might be surprised to hear, and what information may be new and useful to them.

The more you know and think about your audience, the easier would be your speech planning.

Here are some useful questions speakers should ask and answer before planning their speech:

1. What age group do the people in the audience belong to?

2. Are there significant cultural differences within the audience?

3. What is the educational level of the audience?

4. What is the proportion of males to females in the audience?

5. What are the audience's beliefs, and attitudes, towards the topic?

6. How many people will be there in the audience?

Developing an Outline

To develop an outline, you need to write a purpose statement for your topic. A purpose

statement allows you to limit your topic and keep your speech focused. It also allows you to

organise your speech and keep it to the time limit. Here are two examples of a purpose statement.

Topic: The Human Brain

General Purpose: To inform my audience how the human brain functions

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience how the right brain is related to language

development

Note that the General Purpose statement above is rather too broad. A speech organised

around this statement will be quite long and it will probably take several hours to accomplish this

purpose. If the speaker wishes to deliver a short speech, he/she should organise it around the

Specific Purpose. Below is a second example that will demonstrate the utility of the Specific

Purpose.

Topic: Green Technologies

General Purpose: To inform my audience about the various forms of environment- friendly

technologies

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to use fuel-efficient cars

Once you have identified your specific purpose, try to find information points that would

help you achieve this specific purpose. You should not overload your speech with information,

content, or examples. For a short speech, try to keep the content of your speech limited to two or

three points. See Chapter Three for examples of speech outlines.

Organising the Content

There are six basic organizational patterns or methods of organising your speech. Choose

the one that is most appropriate for your topic, your subject matter, speech purpose, and

audience.

1. Cause and Effect

In this speech pattern, you provide a brief introduction to the topic, then discuss the reasons or

causes behind the event or phenomenon. Finally, you discuss the effects of the event or

phenomenon.

Example:

Topic: Cosmetic Surgery

Introduction: What is Cosmetic Surgery?

Causes: Why people choose to undergo Cosmetic Surgery

Aging

Concern about appearance

Celebrity status

A deformity

Effects: Effects of Cosmetic Surgery

Surgery risks

Anesthesia risks

Psychological risks

2. Problem and Solution

This speech pattern is suitable when you wish to discuss a problem or an issue with your

audience and you are able to provide a remedy or solution.

Example:

Topic: Transportation Problems Description of the problem

Increasing traffic congestion

Increasing pollution

Accidents

Traffic-related stress

Solutions

Bicycle riding :No pollution

Carpooling: Reduced pollution; Socialising

Walking to work: Good exercise; Not practical for everybody

3. Logical

Some topics are informative and easily lend themselves to a logical structure. In this pattern, the

speech usually deals with three or more aspects of the topic. The speaker would normally

provide a preview at the beginning of the speech where the main aspects of the topic would be

mentioned.

Example:

Topic: Brunei: Social and Economic Systems

i. Brunei has very good economic stability.

ii. Brunei has an array of religious and cultural activities.

iii. Brunei has an accessible system of higher education.

Figure 1: Organisation Patterns for Informative Speech

This is a sample portion of the book. To buy the complete book, please visit

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Organisation of a Persuasive Speech

As we noted in the beginning, the purpose and organisation of a persuasive speech is

different from an informative speech. One way to organise your persuasive speech is to use the

five steps as given in Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. The five steps are:

1. Gain attention.

2. Show the need for change.

3. Provide a solution.

4. Intensify the need for solution.

5. Urge the audience to take action.

Let us discuss each step of this sequence.

Step One: Get Attention

You can get the attention of your audience using certain ways. Whichever way you choose,

the opening must be directly related to your topic and the purpose of your speech. You may

narrate an anecdote or make a humorous or sarcastic remark to attract the attention of your

audience. Another strategy to get attention is to provide a shocking piece of statistics related to

your topic. Alternatively, you could ask a rhetorical qu

estion or an open question to the audience. Here are some examples:

1. Seven out of ten accidents at the workplace happen because the workers ignore the

safety rules.

2. Do you agree with me that if comfort is the only value in our lives, we should

probably choose to stay in a coffin?

3. Wouldn’t it be nice if all of us could spell the word ‘outrageous’? That would be

outrageous!

Figure 2: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

Step Two: Establish the Need

At the next step, you must convince your audience that there is a problem and the problem is

serious and significant. You need to take the audience out of their comfort zone and show them

that the situation needs improvement. Your goal at this step is to establish the need for change.

You can achieve this goal in the following ways:

Use statistics to support your statements.

Explain the consequences of not effecting a change.

Show your audience how the problem can grow worse and can directly affect them.

Here are some examples:

1. Seven hundred sixty two workers have died in the last three years. They died because

either they or someone else violated a safety rule. I would like to make sure that none

of us will ever be a part of this tragic statistics.

2. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,

causing more than 400,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more

than fifty billion in direct medical costs. More than five million children living today

will die prematurely because of a decision they will make as adolescents---the

decision to smoke cigarettes.

3. At present, 11 per cent of the global population -approximately 783 million people-

remains without access to an improved source of clean water and, at the current

pace, 605 million people will still lack coverage in 2017.

This is a sample portion of the book. To buy the complete book, please visit

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/13861

Figure 5: Body Language

Your facial expression should be one of confidence and credibility. Some speakers tend to

smile throughout, which may indicate lack of credibility.

Gestures: While natural gestures, used selectively, can indicate the speaker’s confidence and

sincerity, speakers should not add gestures artificially. Artificially added gestures may make the

speech appear amateurish and the speaker may lose some of the impact. It is essential to try to

strike a balance between gestures and other forms of body language-facial expressions, posture,

and positioning.

Posture and Positioning: The speaker’s posture (the way the speaker stands) and movement

can add impact to the speech. It is necessary to avoid distracting mannerisms. Mannerisms such

as slouching as you speak shifting your weight from one foot to the other, or leaning on the

lectern can distract your audience and can distort your message. When you practice your speech

delivery, ask your friend or group mate to highlight your most distracting physical mannerism. It

might be a tendency to play with your hair or it might be playing with your keys or coins in your

pocket.

Our body language indirectly indicates how we feel about our message. This can go for or

against us depending on how meaningfully we use our body language.

Finally, a speaker should remember that professional appearance adds to the credibility of

your speech. Professional appearance is an important aspect of your speaking skills and it

encourages the audience to listen to the speech. Remember that the audience has already formed

a first impression about the speaker even before the speech begins.

.

Chapter Three

Examples of Speech Outlines

Speech Outline of an Informative Speech

Topic: The Titanic

General Purpose: To inform my audience about the tragedy of Titanic

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the link between the tragedy and the movie

Titanic.

Thesis (Central Idea): The movie Titanic shows a number of realities behind the tragedy.

However, the love story between Jack and Rose is fiction.

Introduction: On its journey, the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sunk. Many

lives were lost because enough lifeboats were not available. Ask the audience: How many of you

have seen the movie ‘Titanic’?

Body:

1. Description of the ship

2. Sinking of the Ship

3. Movie

4. The parts which are ‘real’ – based on facts

5. The part (love story) which is fictional.

Conclusion:

From the disaster to the movie, the sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most

remarkable tragedies in history.

Speech Outline of a Persuasive Speech

Topic: Courtesy in Everyday Life

General Purpose: To persuade my audience to show courtesy in everyday lives

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to engage in acts of courtesy while dealing with

family members, colleagues, and members of public

Thesis (Central Idea): Simple acts of kindness and courtesy go a long way. Also the acts have a

positive chain reaction and thus a simple act of courtesy can enhance kindness in society.

1. Get Attention: Ask the audience questions such as: How many times have you stopped to

help a passerby? How many times did your thank the waiter in a restaurant for a great

service?

2. Establish the Need: Discuss the grim situation in the world today. Describe stress,

tensions in everyday life.

3. Solution: (1) Show (with 3 examples) how courtesy can reduce tension and stress. (2)

Show how the acts of courtesy are reciprocated by the receivers. Show how a person

who is offered kindness may also be kind to others.

4. Visualization: Ask the audience to imagine a world without stress and tensions. Ask the

audience to imagine a world without wars, acts of terror, and acts of violence.

5. Action: We are going to play a little game. I am going to distribute some stickers. Each

sticker has a suggestion for an act of courtesy. Take the sticker that you receive home

and try out the act of courtesy sometime today. Today is the best day to make a start to

include some courtesy in our life.

This is a sample portion of the book. To buy the complete book, please visit

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/13861

About the Author

Anil Pathak has taught Communication courses in universities in India, Bahrain, Singapore, and

Brunei for three decades. He has a doctorate in communication skills development, and is the

author of ‘Communication Fundamentals’, ‘Communication and Leadership’, and ‘Eight Steps

to Flexible Learning’.

Other books in this series

Fundamentals of Effective Communication Series

The Communication Process

Listening with Empathy

Perception

Self-Concept and Communication

Communication as a Transaction

Collaboration and Group Dynamics

Managing Conversations