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The Basics of Public Speaking

 Over the next 16 weeks, we will be working to make you the best listener, organizer of thoughts, and the best speaker you can be. We also will be getting some help from our friends at TED talks. (Note the order.)


Here are some of the ways we will work on this:

1. Discover your authentic voice
2. Develop your curiosity about the world
3. Practice your creative practice every day
4. Sharpen your listening skills
5. Identify how to best develop these skills in demonstrating your self-expression orally.

Okay, no matter what you speaking about (or writing about) you need to start with these things in mind:
  • Audience
  • Occasion
  • Purpose 
Think about the basics of journalism. It is all the same. Think about it in in this order:

  • What is the "problem"? (Purpose of the speech)
  • Who is hearing the speech (Audience and their specific needs)
  • Why are we speaking? (The occasion of the speech the exigency and context)
  • Where/When (Logistics - where does this speech take place?) 
  • How (Performance - the delivery of the speech may differ depending on the above answers)

Tracy

Your Freinds

Your Professors 

Your Parents

And now consider what this means in the way we understand people who are trying to persuade us.

 



We all mean to be persuasive in all of our conversations, don't we?

When does the formal idea for your speech begin? 

It begins with you - and the Greeks

NOTE: The art of oratory and the practice of rhetoric is 2600 years old. People were practicing effective speaking 600 years before the birth of Christ - and the foundations of that are STILL the same. 
How crazy is that? So, don't think these old Greek and Roman guys don't still matter. 




Ethos (Credibility)  ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.

Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough.

Kairos (Time) means persuading by the use of timing. Think of half time speeches or pre-battle speeches. 




Battle Cries GIF from Braveheart GIFs

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