The Power of Public Speaking
David Scully, School of Business, Algonquin College
scullyd@algonquincollege.com
“I became a good speaker as other men
become good skaters: by making a fool
of myself until I got used to it.”
George Bernard Shaw
Fight or Flight? Role of Persona
• A “mask” that you put on to deliver
something to an audience
• Your social role or character when
performing (speaking publicly)
• Characteristics and behaviours you adopt
to create a unique “you”
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of
Needs
Communication really begins at level 3
(love/belonging)
• Our interest in other people helps us with social and
esteem needs, and lets us focus on the still higher
needs
How is a presentation going to enhance
others’ lives?
• Can a speaker appeal to a variety of needs up the
pyramid? (physiology, safety, love/belonging,
esteem, self-actualisation)
• Need to think about the diversity within the audience
as well
What you should never do to an
audience
Never simply read your material.
Yes, be organised, but unless you know
people will hang off every word you say,
you’ll lose your audience.
Be aware of the paralinguistic, or
non-verbal, side of communication
• A classic UCLA
study (Mehrabian,
1971) found that
messages received
often depend little
upon the words
spoken
Significance to
Audience
Words
7%
Voicing
38%
Body
Lang.
55%
How we take in information
depends on how our brains work:
i.e., on our hemispheres
Left hemisphere
• Math
• Words, concepts
• Deductive reasoning
• Precise thought
• Logic
 Conscious
Right hemisphere
• Art
• Images, sounds
• Inductive reasoning
• Abstract thought
• Analogy
 Unconscious
You need to communicate to both sides of your
listeners’ brains – speak the other language
Pay attention to these factors
in non-verbal communication:
Body
•
•
•
•
•
Proximity
Posture
Eye contact
Hands
Platform
Voice
•
•
•
•
•
Volume
Speaking rates
Pausing
Articulation
Pitch
Proximity
• Intimate: 3” (side)  20” (front/back)
– Voicing: whisper > soft voicing
• Social: 20”  5 ft.
– Voicing: soft > conversational
• Public: 5 ft. +
– Voicing: semi-full > loud
Work with a variety of proximities, where
possible
Posture
• Be relaxed, but physically
alert (see “karate balance”)
• Good posture enables
good circulation, breathing
• Allows for better vocal
projection
• Shows confidence
Eye Contact
• Importance of the “scan pause”
• Keep distributed, meaningful
• Watch for questioning faces
• Speakers rated as “sincere” make three
times more eye contact than those rated
“insincere”
• “Smiling eyes”
Hands
• Use hands deliberately
• Use for emphasis, imagery
• Avoid holding anything, if possible
Hands
Consider effective uses
• Counting
• Finger pause
• Drawing in
• Shaking off
• Waving away
• Pointing to a “scene”, “place”
Platform
• Resist the urge to stay in one place (or to pace)
• Note all the space for movement – use it
• Use movement deliberately
Platform
• Should be linked to content; don’t move just for
the sake of moving
• Remember: standing still is boring!
Volume
• Use a strong base volume to establish
credibility and confidence
• Be aware of the furthest people away in
the room – reach them first
• Vary volumes as much as possible
– Aim to “hit” key words
Speaking Rates
• Consider the difference, in words per
minute, between thinking and speaking
– thinking: about 800 wpm
– speaking: 140-180 wpm
• Allow pauses for body language
• Speaking too quickly affects other nonverbal communication
• Aim for a slower rate for complex or
significant information
Pausing
• Pausing leaves space for non-verbal
communication
• Make time to scan-pause
• Include also
– Major pauses – before new material
– Dramatic pauses – to emphasise points
Pausing
Benefits of effective pausing:
• helps avoid fillers (um, like, ah, er, you
know, basically, stuff-like-that…)
• shows confidence, self-respect
• provides speaker with time to think,
regroup, transition
• provides audience with clues and
opportunity to absorb information
Articulation
≠ pronunciation
 clarity, precision of speech
• Speak clearly, crisply, dramatically
• Exaggerate every syllable, if necessary,
for key words or ideas
Articulation Errors
Errors of Omission
– Febuary, libary, wanna, goin’, dint, an’,
coulda…
Errors of Addition
– Acrost, hice, haudit, filum…
Errors of Substitution
– Lemme, didja, swedder, thum, genelmen, ax,
dis…
Practice!
Three free throws.
Knapsack straps.
Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.
Lesser leather never weathered wetter
weather better.
♫
Pitch
♫
• Every person has a natural pitch level
• Pitch range for humans: 3-4 octaves
– Vibrant speech: 1 full octave
– Professional performers: 2 octaves +
• Inflection: changing pitch on words, or
even syllables
• Monotone speakers are limited – too
focused on left-brain communication
♫
Pitch
♫
• Cadence: the use of tone to indicate the
close of a phrase (sentence, thought)
• Be careful with uptalk – an unconscious
non-verbal
• Friedrich Nietzsche: “In conversation, we
are sometimes confused by the tone of our
own voice, and misled to make assertions
that do not at all correspond to our
opinions.”
Organising Content
• Memorise only your outline
• Use verbal signposting
– Previewing
– Summarising
– Changing direction
• Remember your non-verbal signposts
– pauses, hands, pitch (esp. cadence)
Remember the “rule of three”
Three words, phrases, images…
Using Notes
• Never read your notes!
• Cue cards? These are distracting, and
keep your hands from communicating
 Use “trigger sheets”
– pages with minimal
information that you can
leave in front of you to
look down on if you get
stuck
END