Why study public speaking?

1. Reasons for Public Speaking

In the course of your life, you will have to, or already have had to, deliver a number of public speeches. In order to do this successfully, you need to understand the basic principles of the oral communication that takes place in everyday life. We mostly speak to communicate a certain idea, but as you know, there may be any number of reasons why people speak. Sometimes we just want to “make conversation”, or inform others of the decisions we have made, while at other times we want to receive feedback from the listener. And as much as we sometimes hate to communicate, the decision is not optional: we have to. We need to communicate and even if we refuse to, we still communicate something.

Oral communication can take different forms: face-to-face, on the phone, and by means of the radio, television or other media. In all of these forms, there are five main elements which are always present: the speaker, the message, the audience, the effect and the occasion. We will talk in detail about the first four elements in the units that follow. Let us now consider the fifth element: the occasion.

Depending on the occasion, the speaker will adjust the formality level of his/her speech accordingly. For example, if we talk to our colleagues at work, we use language that which we use to talk to our children. Our public speeches also differ - we would speak in a different way in front of the government officials than. in front of good friends gathered at a wedding.

The main levels of formality are:

• frozen,
• formal,
• standard,
• casual,
• intimate.

2. Public Speeches in General

In public speeches, we mainly use formal or standard (also called consultative) English, unless we know the audience very well, in which case we may use some casual expressions. Frozen language (as the name suggests) is the language of texts that cannot be changed: quotations, prayers, laws, etc., whereas intimate is the language of lovers (best avoided in public, so that it cannot be misinterpreted as harassment). We should also adjust the formality level to the subject matter. A discussion of a legal system in a country calls for a more formal presentation than the description of tourist attractions in a certain town. Therefore, when preparing to speak in public, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Is the presentation academic? On a technical or medical subject? If it is to be presented in a formal setting, the formal register should be used (precise technical expressions and no slang).
2. Is the presentation to be made in a professional setting among peers? If so, the standard (consultative) register should be used with formal vocabulary and no slang or colloquialisms, unless we know the audience very well.
3. Is the presentation to be given for friends or teammates only? Then we should use casual language, which may include more informal expressions and slang.

As public speaking has become one of the core skills for the 21^st century, learning the skill has become an imperative for everybody. In the course of life, you may need to present some new technology to fellow students, prepare technical or sales presentations at work, or conduct briefings or virtual presentations, which have become more popular with the Covid-19 pandemic. You may be required to speak to groups of foreigners at conferences or show them around your home town. This all makes “presentation literacy” one of the most important skills to learn. And, like many other skills, public speaking can be learnt and improved with practice.

3. Methods of Speaking

In order to speak well it is best to decide on the method of speaking before actually preparing it. The main methods are:

• speaking from a manuscript,
• speaking from memory,
• impromptu speaking,
• extemporaneous speaking.

Speaking from a manuscript involves writing out the entire speech and then reading it. Some people, for example politicians, like this method because it allows them to choose their words carefully and they feel confident delivering the speech. However, this method should be strongly discouraged in other settings. It is definitely a dull experience, as the speaker cannot look at the audience, who in turns lose interest and switch off. In most cases, we really want to have a good rapport with the audience, and reading from your manuscript is not going to create it.

Speaking from memory has its advantages: you can write your whole speech before delivering it and thus control the wording. All you need to do later is to memorize it and then produce it in front of an audience. The obvious disadvantage is that you may forget what you have written, not to mention the fact that it takes a lot of time to prepare and memorize. Besides, you will almost certainly sound unnatural delivering the speech.