SPC 1315 / 1321
Dr. Tony DeMars
Planned Schedule
Today: Chaps 1-3, start 4-8
 Wednesday: Chaps. 4-8, impromptu
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 Outline
& note card emailed by Wed. 10pm
 Hard copy start of class Thursday, stapled
Thursday: Intro Speech
 Motivational topic
 Informative & Persuasive Speech topics
 Interview Project
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Planned Schedule
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Interview Project
 Select
a job ad
 Create or fine tune a résumé
 Email rough draft by Fri
(rtv309@yahoo.com)
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Schedule an information gathering visit
and otherwise gather research
 In
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email -- short report about the visit
Schedule an interview
Remember…
Learning to speak?
 Realizing you were saying something
wrong?
 Feeling unsure of your communication
in a group or one-on-one?
 Thinking about how well you conveyed
a message?
 Not remembering someone’s name?

Getting started
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Four parts of a proper speech:
 Research
& development -- your own work
 Submission of rough draft then final
materials
 Creation of presentation aids
 Practice sessions and evaluation
 Presentation of speech
‘Giving a Speech’
Research – not just Internet, citing sources,
learning and sharing information
 Outlines and notes --- first drafts, final drafts,
note card
 Speech organization
 Delivery
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gestures, movement, eye contact, speech
patterns, appearance
Evaluating the audience
PowerPoint? This use, vs. a speech
Questions?
Prep steps
Rough draft / final draft materials
 Research and full sentence outlines
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 APA

style for citing sources
Final draft outline required for speech
Getting Started

Fear of Public Speaking
 Rather have a root canal
 Feared more than death
 But, really?
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Benefit of good communication skills
 Ability
 Better
 Better

to be more involved in groups
chances in getting a job
ability to organize and present ideas
How to improve?
 Understanding
and practice
Some things related to Chap. 1
Course outline has sample questions
related to a broader area of each
chapter than we cover in class
 http://www.tonydemars.com
 http://faculty.tamuc.edu/ tdemars
 In each case, click on SPC Class, then
also see links on course outline

Communication Process
Similar to p. 11
 Sender / encoding (meaning) / channel /
noise / decoding / feedback
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Public Speaking
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‘Giving a Speech’
Occasions: Business presentation,
graduation speaker, after-dinner, eulogy

(‘impromptu’ for tomorrow)
‘Capital S’ Speech: podium, stage, large
audience
 Note: podium vs. lectern
 Note: accent vs. dialect
 Public Speaking: ‘an event when a group of
people agree that one person, the speaker,
will direct the event.’
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Scholarly interpretation

Scholars of preliterate societies remind us that
speech is the most fundamental tool of social
organization.
 Walter Ong special feature of oral cultures: when
the spoken word was the only form of preserving
culture, speech had to be memorable.
 Marshall MacLuhan and other media scholars
coined the term ‘secondary orality’ to describe the
rekindling of a preference for intense, visceral,
immediate kinds of communication.
Aristotle
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Three genres of speaking
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Three categories of persuasive appeals
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Forensic (like a courtroom)
Deliberative (legislature)
Epideictic / ceremonial (praise / blame)
Logos -- most fundamental: logic and intellectual
substance
Pathos -- motivational appeals
Ethos -- credibility of the speaker
Aristotle said a speaker’s character is the most
important means of persuasion he possesses.
Public Speaking is Meaning Centered
Many other factors and intellectual
evaluations, but ultimately...
 Meaning Centered

 Meaning
 Meaning
 Meaning
is social
is contextual
is negotiated in discouse
(hegemony)

Johari Window / similar to book’s four
‘stages of learning skills’
Three Communication Resources

Draw on your conversation skills
 Relaxed,
spontaneous, responsive to the
situation, expression of feelings,
compassion to others
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Draw on your writing skills
 Brainstorming,
tinkering with ideas,
attention to word choices and organization
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Draw on your performance skills
 Timing,
emotional build-up, eye contact
Common Misconceptions
Good speakers are born, not made
 Good speaking should be easy right
away
 Speaking will always be as difficult as it
is when you’re first learning it
 There are simple formulas for public
speaking
 Public speaking is mostly about
performance

Public Speaking
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Five Steps:
 Plan, Investigate, Compose, Practice, Present
 Most time? Investigate / compose / practice
 Speech nervousness? Incomplete preparation
Types of delivery: Impromptu, Memorized,
Extemporaneous
We are doing extemporaneous (that uses a full
sentence outline and note card)
Types of content: lectures, informative speeches,
persuasive speeches, ceremonial speeches,
motivational speeches...
 Our main speeches: Informative and Persuasive
Chap. 2 -- Listening
Communication Model
Sender / channel / noise / receiver /
feedback
 We spend much more time listening
than speaking
 Doing it a lot does not equate to doing it
well
 Training ourselves to be good listeners

Preparing to Listen
Remove distractions (physical / mental)
 Stop Talking
 Decide on your purpose as a listener
 Be both curious and critical
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 Show
respect for the speaker
 Be open to the speaker’s point of view
Improving Listening

Follow the structure of the speech
 Speaker
should have a good structure
 Assess speaker’s claims, ask questions at
designated time
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Provide constructive feedback
 Start
with the positive
 Make important comments first
 Be descriptive
 Offer suggestions, not orders
Improving Listening

Listen to optimize learning
 Paraphrase
 Ask
follow-up questions
 TAKE NOTES!

Listen holistically
 Listen
at multiple levels
 Listen between the lines
 Listen to silences
Listening pitfalls
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Daydreaming, doodling (surfing)
Superficial qualities of speaker as distraction
Uncritically accepting a message
Prematurely or totally rejecting a message
Planning your response or rebuttal instead of
listening
Dominating the feedback time, or withdrawn
from the process
Speech critiques
Guide you toward following these
listening issues
 Part of your grade
 Require relevant comments
 NOTICE -- the links for your speech
evaluation page and the speech critique
pages are NOT the same

Questions / Discussion
Why is listening important to public
speaking?
 What advice would you give a friend
required to give feedback to coworkers?
 What listening pitfalls do you find most
challenging?
 Does ‘multitasking’ interfere with the
communication process?
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Chap. 3 -- Ethics

Two categories of ethical theories:
 Deontological: duty based
 Teleological: consequence-based
Deontological: Judeo-Christian (the
right)
 Teleological: Utilitarian (the good)
 Every action has an ethical dimension.
 Ethical decisions are rarely clear-cut.
 Ethical decisions vary with context.
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Ethics in speaking
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Never plagiarize
Never fabricate / lie
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Don’t oversimplify
Don’t use propaganda
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Videotaped / checked with turnitin.com
Sources checked
Name-calling, glittering generalities, testimonials,
‘just plain folks,’ card stacking, bandwagon,
trasference
Be sensitive to your audience

Content and ideas
Legal issues vs. ethics
Libelous comments
 Privacy laws
 Encitement
 Hate Speech
 First Amendment protections
 Law allows much more than ethics, in
the U.S.
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Speech samples as time permits
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Motivational or persuasive?
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Informative --or persuasive? Cloning
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Ethics? Propaganda?
Evidence? Transitions? Delivery? “God intended”?
Dinosaurs and Terrorists? Citations?
Persuasive ? -- or motivational? Correction of
errors? Clear overview? Enough evidence?
(answers.com as a source?) His verbal ‘filling in of
silence? His attention getting technique? His ‘are
you ready’? Pounding the lectern a problem?
 Bad Informative Speech
Reminders

Course Outline and Syllabus on web site
 Grades on Engrade -- estimates of average
 E-mail: only Tony.DeMars@tamu-c

Speech content ONLY to rtv309@yahoo.com
(except ... Visual PP)

Tests not returned -- come see
 Speech preparations and practice
 Reading vs. class notes:
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Next -- overcoming fear, speech planning
Questions?