How much time do you spend each day talking to other people? The average adult spends about 30 percent of her or his waking hours in conversation.
As you will see, there are many similarities between daily conversation and public speaking.
Children learn the art of conversation by trial and error. A toddler says "Cookie!" to persuade her father to give her a snack. A five-year-old tells a little story to entertain Grandma and gain admiration. If neither of these things works- the cookie isn't forthcoming, Grandma is not amused-well, back to the drawing board. Next time the child will try it a slightly different way.
By the time you read this book, you will have spent much of your life perfecting the art of conversation, ou may not realize it, but you already employ a wide range of skills when talking to people. These skills include the following:
1. Organizing your thoughts logically. Suppose you were giving someone directions to get to your house. You wouldn't do it this way:
When you turn off the highway, you see a big diner on the left. But before that, stay on the highway to Exit 67. Usually a couple of the neighbors' dogs are in the street, so go slow after you turn at the blinking light. Coming from your house you get on the highway through Maple Street. If you pass the taco stand, you've gone too far. The house is blue.
Instead, you would take your listener systematically, step by step, from his or her house to your house. You would organize your message.
2. Tailoring your message to your audience. You are a geology major. Two people ask you how pearls are formed. One is your roommate; the other is your nine-year-old niece. You answer as follows:
To your roommate: "When any irritant, say a grain of sand, gets inside the oyster's shell, the oyster automatically secretes a substance called nacre, which is principally calcium carbonate and is the same material that lines the oyster's shell.
The nacre accumulates in layers around the irritant core to form the pearl."
To your niece: "Imagine you're an oyster on the ocean floor. A grain of sand gets inside your shell and makes you uncomfortable, so you decide to cover it up.
You cover it with a material called mother-pot-pearl. The covering builds up around the grain of sand to make a pearl."
3. Telling a story for maximum impact work. Supposedly you are telling your friend about a funny event in a football match last week. You don’t begin with the punch line. You carefully build up your story using your words and tone of voice to get the best effect.
4. Adapting to listener Feedback Whenever you talk with someone, you should be Aware of that person's verbal, facial, and physical reactions. You
Example:
You are explaining an interesting point that came up in biology class. Your listener begins to look confused, puts up a hand as though to stop you, and says "Hukt You go back and explain more clearly.
A friend has asked you to listen while she practices a speech. At the end you tell her, "There's just one part really don t like that quotation from the attorney general" Your friend looks very hurt and says, "That was my favorite part" So you say, "But if you just worked the quotation in a little differently, it would be wonderful."
Each day, in casual conversation, you do all these things many times without thinking about them. You already possess these communication skills. And these are among the most important skills you will need for public speaking.
To illustrate, let's return briefly to one of the hypothetical situations at the beginning of this chapter. When addressing the school board about the need for a special teacher:
• You organize your ideas to present them in the most persuasive manner. You steadily build up a compelling case about how the teacher benefits the school.
• You tailor your message to your audience. This is no time to launch an impassioned defense of special education in the United States. You must show how the issue is important to the people in that very room-to their children and to the school.
You tell your story for maximum impact. Perhaps you relate an anecdote to demonstrate how much your child has improved. You also have statistics to show how many other children have been helped.
You adapt to listener feedback. When you mention the cost of the special teacher, you notice sour looks on the faces of the school board members. So you patiently explain how small that cost is in relation to the overall school budget.
In many ways, then, public speaking requires the same skills used in ordinary conversation. Most people who communicate well in daily talk can tear to communicate just as well in public speaking. By the same token, Training in public speaking can make you a more adept communicator in a variety of situations, such as conversations, classroom discussions, business meetings, and interviews.
Despite their similarities public speaking and everyday conversation are not the same. Imagine telling your friend a story then imagine telling it to 7-8 people then imagine 20-30 then imagine a larger crowd. The tone changes as the crowd increases. You will find yourself adapting to to 3 major differences between public speaking and conversation.
1. Public speaking is more highly structured. The situation usually imposes strict time imitations on the speaker which does not allow the speaker to be interrupted with questions or commentary the speaker must accomplish her or his purpose in the speech itself. In preparing the speech, the speaker hast anticipate questions that might arise in the minds of listeners and answer them. Consequently, public speaking demands much more detailed planning and preparation than ordinary conversation.
2. Public speaking requires more Formal language. Slang, jargon, and bad grammar have little place in public speeches. As angry as she is about industrial pollution, when Wilma subra speaks to a congressional committee, she doesn't say, "We've damn well got to stop the greedy creeps who pollute whole communities just to make a few more bucks." Despite the growing informality of all aspects of American life, listeners usually react negatively to speakers who do not elevate and polish their language when addressing an audience. A speech should be "special.'
3. Public speaking requires a different method of delivery. When conversing informally, most people talk quietly, interject stock phrases such as "like" and
"You know," adopt a casual posture, and use what are called vocalized pauses ('uh," "er," "um"). Effective public speakers, however, adjust their voices to be heard clearly throughout the audience. They assume a more erect posture.
They avoid distracting mannerisms and verbal habits.
With study and practice, you will be able to master these differences and expand your conversational skills into speechmaking. Your speech class will provide the opportunity for this study and practice.
Developing Confidence: Your Speech Glass
One of the major concerns of students in any speech class is stage fright. May as well face the issue squarely. Many people who converse easily in all kinds of everyday situations become frightened at the idea of standing up before a group to make a speech.
If you are worried about stage fright, you may feel better knowing you are not alone. A survey conducted in 1973 asked more than 2,500 Americans to list their greatest. To the surprise of the researchers, the largest number of audience about- 41 percent - listed speaking before a group among their greatest fears. “Amazing as it may seem, many Americans appear to consider public speaking a fate worse than death.
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