Materials for this week (2010-10-26,27) Introduction to Public Speaking

This week for class, you will need to :

1.       Download the Introduction to Public Speaking (link below),

2.       Be ready to talk (in front of the whole class).

Introduction to Public Speaking

Those who should be bringing outlines this week (remember, two people from each group or else) should bring two (2) copies with them.

The text to the Introduction to Public Speaking will appear below the jump (click where it says 'czytaj więcej'  for those who have problems downloading the link.

INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC SPEAKING

"The average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy."- Jerry Seinfeld

"First, do no harm." - Hippocrates

One important difference between public and private speaking is that instead of one or a few addressees you are speaking to a larger number of people, collectively known as an audience. In private conversation the person or persons you are talking to can interact with you, asking you to repeat information or to speak more loudly or more slowly. The audience, however, cannot normally engage in this kind of immediate give and take. Thus, your audience is at your mercy. and you have a responsibility to protect them from suffering. You should anticipate potential problems and pay attention to them while speaking. The goal is to match your performance to their expectations and needs.

"Fear is the mind killer." - Frank Herbert, Dune

The purpose of practicing public speaking is not to eliminate all your  anxiety toward public speaking, but rather to allow you to keep that anxiety under control. A speaker who allows their anxiety gain control of them to the extent that they panic or become unable to speak is painful for the audience to endure. On the other hand, some level of anxiety, once brought under control and focused, is helpful in motivating and animating the speaker. A completely relaxed speaker with no anxiety whatsoever can be very boring.

"They pelted us with rocks and garbage." - David Letterman

Hostile audiences are actually very rare. They do exist, but you will not encounter them during this class. Believe it or not, almost every audience you will ever encounter wants you to do well. The speaker should repay their audience's goodwill by doing everything they can to not cause them boredom or discomfort.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" -  The Wizard of Oz

It would be nice to think that people's reactions to what you say will be based entirely on the content of what you have said. In reality, the public speaker needs to contend with what linguist Suzette Haden Elgin calls the twirk, and defines as "anything about the speaker that attracts so much attention on its own that it cancels out the content of what is said". In this class, a looser definition will be used. A twirk is anything that attracts attention toward itself and away from the content of what you are saying. Twirks can include inappropriate clothes, awkward body language, articulatory problems, excessive nervousness, speaking too loudly, too softly, too quickly or too slowly.

"I gotta be me!" - Sammy Davis Jr., somewhere in Las Vegas

Improving your public speaking skills does not mean becoming indistinguishable from other speakers or learning to sound like someone else. It does mean bringing certain variables (volume, speed and animation level among others) to within a fairly broad range of acceptable variation.

"You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure." - Nick Lowe, Cruel to be kind

After each speaking assignment in class, the students will evaluate the speaker. Speakers need to know what areas they need improvement in. Withholding that information from them by saying you enjoyed their speech is not kind and does not help them. On the other hand, criticism should be constructive. And remember, the person you are critiquing today may be critiquing you next.

"All I can do is the best I can" – Donna Fargo, Superman

Speaking in a foreign language, it is important to not set yourself unrealistic or counter-productive goals. Always speaking in perfectly formed sentences with no pauses, hesitations or self-corrections is not possible (or desirable) in any language. The use of filler words (embolalia) is a feature of all language behavior, including the most eloquent public speaking. Do not avoid filler words - use the appropriate English filler words within reason.