This is the note I take when I take the class “Introduction to Public Speaking“ in couresera. This is our discussing community in Google. We have weekly discussion and share our presentation with each other.
1.1 Overview
If all my talents and powers were taken from inscrutable Providence, and I had my choice of keeping but one. I would unhesitatingly ask to be allowed to keep the power of speaking for through it, I would quickly regain the rest. by: Daniel Webster, American senator in the late 18th century
reason to learn
funny
speech is power
learning
analyzing
practicing
engaging with peer
1.2 Speaking Situation
The speaker responds to a set of constraints:
- Topic
- Audience
- Occasion
- Setting
- Speaker’s credibility
- All of this are shifting and flexible, so there is no single form of successful speaking. There is no Esperanto of public speaking.
core skills:
Designing clear presentations
Delivering them in an engaging way
1.4 The rhetorical tradition
the art of winning the soul by discourse –Plato
The faculty of discovering in any paticulat case the available means of persuasion –Aristotle
The good person speaking well –Quintilian
a “powerful instrument of erro and deceit” –John Locke
Rhetoric is communication that attempts to coordinate social action… Its goal is to influence human choices on specific matters that require immediate attention. –Gerard Hauser
the art of public speaking
- instruction
- study principals of argumentation arrangement, style
- imitation
- find someone that you think is a good speaker and you share some traits with. To studying them and cracking open what they are doing in their speech, so that you can borrow some of it or adape what they are doing to your speech repertoire. identify and imitate the best practices of skilled speakers
- practice
- internalize those ideas and develop your personal style
Canons of rhetoric
invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery
Literacy and Orality
A speech is not an essay on its hind legs. –James A. Winans
Writing visual, learned invented not ubiquitous
Speaking oral and aural, acquired
there are probably about 7000 language exist today, over half of those 7000 language are unwritten.
Differences in vocabulary clause construction and vocal variety
| differences | colloquial conversational speech | literary, writting |
|---|---|---|
| vocabulary | colloquial vocabulary | much bigger, deliberate choice |
| clause construction | speak in more casual way, intonation unit, pause, | the manuscript is bound by form of grammatical rules, comma, semicolon and the period |
| tools | army of phonetic cues(sound -> meaning) | reading script would be monotone, not natual, visual signifiers(like italics and boldface) are gone |
| pace | speaker control take charge of the speed | reader control the pace of reading |
1.8Performance and Communication Orientation
| Performance Orientation | Communication Orientation |
|---|---|
| Literary, full manuscript | Oral, minimal outline |
| Completely read or memorized | Practiced but interactive |
| Speaking at the audience | Speaking with the audience |
| More nerve-racking | Less, more flexible |
Example analysis
Robert Reich, very mature communication, interactive “let me..”, “this is true..”, “I assume, some of you..”, “is that true”, pause.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, monotone, intonation is stable,
Elizabeth Warren, reading and when she explain communication “think about it”
Bobby Jindal more performance orintation, formal, and serious, less communication
1.9 Practicing your speech
We are isolating, honing certain specific public speaking skills.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets oppotunity.
Three things keep in mind
- Don’t restart
- Replicate your mobility, to add your repertoire of speech, movements and gestures(more natural )
- Speak at volume, speak as loud as you can
1.10 The introductory speech
In 1-4 minutes tell us:
- Who you are and where you live.
- Why you signed up for the course and what types of presentations you want to work on.
- Who do you think is an effective speaker? Please give one solid reason for why you think this person is so effective.