PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS: THE ULTIMATE LANGUAGE CHALLENGE

PREPARED BY GROUP 9:

NORSHIDA (L)

CLINTON

MOON ZAPPA

INTRODUCTION

What is public speaking?

O’Hair and Wiemann has defined public speaking as a powerful form of communication that includes a speaker who has a reason for speaking, an audience that gives the speaker attention, and a message that is meant to accomplish a specific purpose. Gamble & Gamble in 2008 stated that public speaking is the act of preparing, staging, and delivering a presentation to an audience. Slagell (2019) noted that public speaking as a communication practice of a speaker sharing his or her ideas with an audience primarily through speech. Public speaking is a technique to communicate a message or idea in front of people in order to make them understand the information or to alter someone’s opinion and view (Astuti, 2011).

According to Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary (2008), public is relating to or involving people in general, rather than being limited to a particular group of people, and speaking is to say words, to use the voice, or to have a conversation with someone. Steele (2010) attains that public speaking is the process of speaking to a few or many people with the purpose of informing, motivating, persuading, educating or entertaining the listeners. According to Merriam-Webster, public speaking is also synonym to oratory, the act or process of making speeches in public, and also can be defined as the art of effective oral communication with an audience.

The history of public speaking

Public speaking is not just revolving around speaking, but public speaking includes many aspects such as pick a topic to writing a speech, involve with answering questions from audience. Since the purpose of public speaking s to transmit information, to tell a story, to motivate people, to act up or even can be the combination of all these, public speaking can be formal, face-to-face speech to either a single person or group of listeners. There are five basic elements of public speaking which are communicator, message, medium, audience and effect and it is believed that it plays a large role in the professional world where most of the jobs we have in this world involve some form of public speaking.

It all started with the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle back in the 300s BC. Aristotle discovered that in order to rally the citizens into conformity, one needed to persuade people. This is what he called rhetoric, and it is defined as the means of persuasion in reference to any subject or better defined as the capacity to persuade people. He broke rhetoric down into three strategies which are known as Ethos, Logos and Pathos. Ethos is used when the source is credible and the speaker can show authority over the subject matter. Logos is used when there are facts to support the argument requiring that the audience use logic and deduction to decide on the strengths of the speaker's argument. Pathos is used for emotional appeals to gain audience acceptance.

Aristotle and Quintilian are among the most famous ancient scholars to give public speaking definitive rules and models. Quintilian had published a twelve-volume textbook on rhetoric and still many of these references are used until today by politicians. He argued that public speaking was inherently moral and stated that the ideal orator is a good man speaking well.

Public Speaking Skills and the Reality

Public speaking, known as oration or oratory, is basically the process of communicating information to a live audience. The type of information transferred is normally structured to inform, persuade, and to entertain. It may seems that public speaking is such a fun thing to do to connect with people especially to audience, but in real, there are many people fear they may suffer from a public speaking weaknesses and believe they lack the will to master the skill. No matter how much we denied it, public speaking is always one of the most important and in the same time the most feared forms of communication.

Speech anxiety or better known as “glassophobia” is the most common fear that people have all over the world. The most basic situation we have is where a student feels comfortable to sit at the back of the classroom and avoids raising up his or her hand to dodge such situations such as to answer questions pose by the teacher. In the working world too it is very common to see how people avoid speaking up their opinions or views and keeping silent when been ask. In reality, public speaking skills are vital skills for one’s to possess and to hone. We used it in every day interactions between the employers and employees, friends, people surrounding us, and it is definitely can have an enormous impact towards our career path and also in the level of success in one’s industry they involve.

MAIN CONTENTS

The importance of public speaking skills

Communication is the backbone of our society. It allows us to form connections, influence decisions, and motivate change. Without communication skills, the ability to progress in the working world and in life, itself, would be nearly impossible. There are three importances of public speaking skills to the people:

To Win Over Your Crowd

No matter how large or small the crowd in front of you, no matter who you audiences are, be it a social gathering, business meeting or a conference, being able to speak publicly is a very important asset for one’s to possess. With public speaking skills and experience, speakers will be able to captivate the interest of the listeners and keeping them focus and stay interested in order to deliver the message.

To Motivate Others

In order to make a change, public speakers motivate their listeners. It could be to stop or start something, try something new, or reach their goals. Public speaking is important because the speaker can influence or motivate others to go into the direction they wish, and the speaker can help to bring out the best of a person.

To Inform People

Whenever you need to convey information to people, you would not want to deliver them in a boring way. Delivering information means that you want people to listen to you, attentively. And of course this is definitely can be done with public speaking skills. By using great public speaking skills, we should be able to manage the audience to listen and more likely to understand the whole information smoothly.

Essentially, public speaking is a presentation given, live before a crowd of people where it covers a wide range of topics. Importance of public speaking comes in handy at every important event of our lives. It is essential to learn the art of public speaking to enrich our working lives, and also our every day. In time, it is normal for that people to feel nervous while addressing audience or while speaking in public due to public speaking anxiety. But then, being confidence is always the fundamental key to be a good speaker.

Notable Public Speakers

Becoming a great leader and establishing better skills takes time. Learn and watch other great leaders; consider their routines and the steps they took to get where they are. You can even learn how to be a great leader by listening to those who have been led by great leaders. What did they appreciate about that leader? What did that leader do to inspire them?

Jane Goodall

Originally, Goodall had a stark fear of public speaking. This is a good example of where rigorous work and practice can take you. What makes her presentations so interesting? She is extremely creative in her use of all kinds of props including sound props, such as chimpanzee greetings. Her presentations also capitalize on storytelling to convey the message in a more powerful and memorable manner. She uses a varying tone that captures audience attention; varying from entertaining to more serious, Goodall is extremely well equipped to keep the audience on their toes.

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”

What made his speech so memorable? It is because of his speech content is extremely thorough, and researched. He composed his speech by went over sections of the Bible, the United States’ Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address. He also let the content of his speech shine through in his attention-grabbing delivery. The organization of his voice, his posture, and his facial expression represents the perfect harmony that would grant his speech the necessary power and impact. His speech is considered one of the greatest pieces of oratory in American history. The greatest public speeches in the world where it motivated people during dark times, gave hope in times of despair, provided courage and inspired millions, and changed the course of history.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work to increase the accessibility towards female education. Being a Pakistani lady, she had faced discrimination in receiving education; she used it to influence the people to start giving equal opportunity to everyone especially women. Her speeches are striking in vocal power, and purposefully soft and determined. During her speech, she uses hand movements to highlight her pace and intonation. Her sense of purpose is extremely apparent in the way she delivers her speech, striking the audience to take action. Her message resonates with many people who cherish insolence in the face of injustice.

The benefits of public speaking

Public speaking attracts opportunities

Someone with your expertise is needed to lead the pitch for an important client meeting; A demonstration is required at a festival for creatives about what your brand is doing; A radio or TV station wants to cover a story you’re connected to. These opportunities come into our line of sight all the time – but how often your instant reaction is a thought of ‘how do I get out of this?’ or ‘what excuse can I make to not do this?’ Opportunities arise around public speaking all of the time, and require to be fulfilled by people who relish the opportunities. By pushing yourself to be more open to opportunities that come your way around public speaking, you’ll be rich in opportunity.

Public speaking can change your mindset

Practice public speaking by doing a small presentation in front of your immediate team at work, or even a group of friends. Then, try a larger group, maybe at a family occasion or in front of your board of directors. Small steps, often, lead to big changes over time. By making public speaking goals small, achievable and manageable, you’ll make progress before you even know it. Changing your mindset over time from “I can’t do this” to “I can, and I will”; the more you push the parameters, the more you’ll surprise yourself. Before you know it, you’ll be operating with a totally different mindset.

Public speaking creates confidence

If you feel that you’re particularly under-confident, just wait for the rush of competence, control and power that occurs after you deliver a public speech, however big or small. The confidence can absolutely carry over to other aspects of our daily lives that are not related to communication or public speaking. You’ll stand taller, be more assured and far more positive.

The skill of public speaking is lucrative

Do you feel that you’re not a good sales person? This isn’t just about working in retail or customer service – all of us need to ‘sell’ in one way or another in our lives. Whether it’s a pitch to a client, a job interview or a friendly debate with a friend, it’s all about ‘selling’ your point. Public speaking offers a masterclass in how to ‘sell-in’ your ideas to groups of people. Convincing people of the benefits or drawbacks to something. Demonstrating the value of a product or idea. Sharing the power of a piece of research you’ve just worked on. The skill of public speaking is directly linked to the skill of being able to pitch, sell and convince people. A great skill to have.

How to nurture excellent public speaking skills

Prepare Well To Diminish Nerves:

Feeling nervous is normal. The best way to overcome this feeling, however, is to be as prepared as you can be. If you have re-read and rehearse your notes a hundred times, then you have no need for a fear of public speaking.

Know Your Audience:

Get to know who it is you are addressing because the speech is about them and not you. Find out as much as you can about the crowd so that you can choose your vocabulary wisely to engage the audience, work out how much information you feed them and decide how to organize the speech (with kids, for example, you'll need to keep injecting fun activities in between chunks of detail if you want to keep them hooked throughout.

Go With The Flow:

While you should know your audience and should, therefore, have an idea of how they will respond to your speech, it's wise to try to feel their response and work with the feedback and vibes they give. If it means forgetting your cue cards and going off on a tangent because that is how the speech evolves, then go with the flow if you are confident to do so.

Let Your Personality Shine Through:

Be yourself, during your speech, as otherwise, you will be too focused on trying to maintain your alter ego or persona. You will have better credibility if your personality shines through while you address the crowd and your audience feels it can trust you.

Public speaking techniques

Some good techniques can lead to a good public speaking. These techniques can make sure the whole public speaking going smooth and organized. The first technique that can be done is think before speak. This can avoid someone to say something ridiculous because sometimes words are moving faster than brain. The things that can be think about are the speech in everyday life. Focus on the vocabulary that had been used in every day and try to use another vocabulary or phrases so the speech will sounds professionally.

The second technique is power pose. Posture is an important part of confidence. The whole shoulders back, chest out and chin up. It seems weird to think that posture can affect how someone’s feel, but the studies show it really does.

The last but not least technique is practice. In everyday speech, someone may feel that the thoughts out coherently at times. Try to deliver the topic every day for many times before the public speaking day to make it goes smoother. As per proverb says, “Practice makes perfect”.

Common public speaking problems and solutions

It can’t be denied that not everyone has the ability to do public speaking. Even though many people routinely do public speaking for work or school, people may still experience fear at the idea of having to stand in front of others and talk. The most common problem of public speaking is lack of confidence. If the speaker doesn’t have confidence in himself/herself, it will turn away the audience. Whenever the speaker obviously looks nervous, audience will likely to focus on negative vocal and visual cues. The solution for this problem is, allowing time to prepare and practice beforehand can help the speaker gains the sense of control necessary for the audience to trust and believe the message.

Another common problem is lack of attention to audience. Make sure the speaker knows the audience, if not; the public speaking will be unsuccessful. Research the audience’s demographic is essential to shape the public speaking’s tone and content. Failing to relate the material to the audience, to maintain eye contact and to read audience’s expressions can negatively affect how speaker’s speech will be interpreted.

The last common problem is lack of preparedness. Speaker tends to prepare everything during last minute. It is supposed to be prepared earlier and speaker needs to practice the public speaking in full before delivery. Saying the words helps speaker hear where the rushing words are, where to improve word flow and voice intonation and how to project enthusiasm. Rehearsal also improves familiarity with the material, enabling speaker to fieldquestions and maintain credibility.

CONCLUSION

n conclusion, there are a lot of information that needs to be focused on public speaking; from what is public speaking, the importance of public speaking, the benefits of public speaking, how to nurture excellent public speaking skills, public speaking techniques and lastly the common problems and solution of public speaking. This information may help the speaker to be ready to create public speaking of his/her own. Not only the speaker can gain confidence, but also the speaker can get many benefits to speak in public whether the speaker is individual or a business.

REFERENCES

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