Week 1

Part 1

An Invitation to Public Speaking

Welcome to public speaking! If talking in front of people is something that comes naturally to you, then we’d like to help you develop skills to do it more effectively. If you are one of the majority for whom public speaking is a dreaded aspect of life, then we’ll ease you into the process and help you develop some confidence as well.

Before we jump into public speaking as a skill, we need to understand some of the underlying issues and concepts that make something we do on a regular basis, talking to people, so difficult. Let’s start by taking a look at why public speaking is so important, how communication functions, figure out what causes our apprehension, and what we can do about it. We’ll close out this portion of the text with a discussion about our ethical responsibilities as speakers.

Week 1

Part 2

Structuring Your Speech

Now that we’ve laid the ground work for how public speaking functions and what we can do to become better speakers, we need to understand the basic architecture of a public speech. The next few lectures will address structure, introductions and conclusions, main points, and transitions.

Pay close attention to these lectures. You may even want to revisit them throughout the semester as they are the building blocks for all speeches. Even when professionals develop speeches, they rely on this framework for their ideas. Listen closely the next time you are watching an effective speech. You should be able to start picking out each of these elements. Effective speakers get better at masking them, but their presence is essential to effective speaking.

Remember, you’ll be expected to demonstrate your command of these elements of structure in every speech you give this semester.