Sp Cm 212 Fundamentals of Public Speaking
Preparation Outline
Lecture 2F
The Skills of Public Speaking, Ethics, Self-Confidence
and the Introductory Speech
Introduction:
When you give a public speech, you have to stand up. We do our best in this class to make this a
safe learning experience for you. But it's good to remember that public speaking isn't always
safe. Martin Luther King faced arrest and threats of death when he stood up for what he believed
in.
[DEMO: Lectures Program.]
As I said, however, standing up in this class is much, much safer. In part, this is because you'll
be standing up among friends. It's also because we work to provide you as many opportunities
as we can to learn before standing up—"forks" that you can pick up. The book is one such fork,
and you completed a quiz this morning assessing your basic understanding of it.
[REVIEW QUIZ RESULTS]
The next step is to take this basic understanding and do some application to your first task.
Remember, our overall course goal is that ten years from now, you will be giving great speeches
and presentations. There are three things which are necessary for you to achieve this: ethics,
know-how, and self-confidence. Today we are going to start with "know-how," and apply the
basic process of creating a speech to give you a start on your first mini-speech.
Preview:
I. The basic process of creating a speech.
II. Apply the process to the Introductory Speech.
B. Inventing content for your I.S.
C. Organizing your I.S.
D. "Stylizing" your I.S.
E. Becoming familiar with your I.S.
F. Delivering your I.S.
III. An example.
IV.
Self-confidence and Ethics
Transition: Let's begin with a general overview
I. The basic process of creating a speech involves five steps.
A. These steps are ancient, but also familiar.
1. They were first formulated in ancient Greece and Rome, so we often use Latin
words when talking about them—perhaps just to be fancy.
2. But they are also closely related to what you told me in answer to the last
question I asked you on Monday.
B. The five steps are:
1. inventio—invention—coming up with material that you know & is relevant to
the audience.
2. dispositio—organization—ordering the material in a way that will
communicate.
3. elocutio—style of language—putting the material into appropriate words
4. memoria—"memory"—familiarization or preparation—preparing yourself to
present the speech
5. pronuntiatio—delivery—giving the speech, with your voice, face, hands, and
whole body.
II. So let's apply these five steps to your introductory speech.
A. The Introductory Speech is a two minute speech where you introduce yourself.
1. You may convey who you are by comparing yourself to an object.
2. You may convey who you are by talking about events on your birthday, and
how they relate to you.
3. You may convey who you are by talking about a moment in which you were
your own best self.
B. To invent content, you need to draw on something you know a lot about: yourself!
1. That sounds simple, but we are all very complex people.
2. Here are some examples:
a. Quite a few of you have backgrounds speaking at FFA or 4H.
b. (2:10) One of you was a debater in Indore, India, and another
created the choreography for a show choir.
b. (3:10) One of you is giving a conference presentation this semester,
and another won a fishing trip to Canada, and several of you have given
speeches in front of your whole schools.
3. One way to think about this is that each one of us wears many "hats" in life:
we play different roles in different situations.
[DEMONSTRATION: HATS]
4. By thinking about the different hats you wear, you can come up
with—invent—different ideas for your introductory speech.
[EXERCISE: INVENT CONTENT FOR INTRODUCTORY SPEECH]
C. Next, you need to organize your material into 2, 3, or 4 steps.
[EXERCISE]
D. The third step is to use appropriate language.
1. For this it helps to imagine who you want your audience to be.
2. For example, you might speak to them as if they were your good friends, as if
they were your parents' friends, or as if they were fellow professionals at your
job.
[EXERCISE]
E. The fourth step is to develop memoria—to familiarize yourself with your speech.
1. If at all possible, don't write or memorize your speech—any more than you
would write a conversation with a friend.
2. Instead, use your power of "visualization"—the same power you use when you
re-play a conversation in your head.
3. Usually I replay only bad conversations, but to familiarize yourself with your
speech try playing it in advance, and visualize it going very well.
F. The fifth and final step is of course to deliver your speech!
[EXERCISE]
So with these five steps, you're well on your way to giving your first speech. It's meant to just
get you up on your feet and in front of your peers in your class—you're not going to be subjected
to any feedback, like I was on Monday. Want a demonstration?
III. EXAMPLE
But public speaking is more than just a matter of know-how. It involves ethics, and requires
self-confidence.
IV. Whenever you speak, you establish a relationship between yourself and others.
A. In that relationship, you owe responsibilities to other people.
1. Ethics concerns how you treat other people—fairly and respectfully.
2. It's hard to discuss ethics without sounding preachy: what this course
encourages you to do is to think actively about your values as you approach the
task of public speaking.
3. For example: you may want to think of public speaking as a trade.
i. The other people are giving you the most valuable thing they have:
their time.
ii. You owe them something worth hearing back.
B. But public speaking is not only about the audience; you also owe responsibilities to
yourself.
1. Several of you wrote about this on Monday, when I asked you what a good
speaker needs to know.
2. You said that speakers owe it to themselves to share what they really know,
believe, feel, and stand for.
Transition: So now you have the opportunity to start building a relationship with your
classmates, sharing just a bit about your interests, passions and values.
Conclusion: We've talked about the know-how necessary to create a great speech, and briefly
about the need for ethical thinking. Next week you'll be giving your Introductory Speeches, and
also beginning to prepare for the next small speech, the Paired Perspective.
I encourage you to enjoy introducing yourself to your classmates, and also to enjoy learning who
these strangers are you'll be spending the next fourteen weeks with. The Introductory Speech is
a task where you really can't go wrong. As in this cartoon, just give it your best shot, and
whatever you hit will be a bull's-eye.