1. A Concise Public Speaking Handbook
Fifth Edition
Chapters 1-4
● Speaking in Public
● Improving Your Confidence
● Presenting Your First Speech
● Ethics and Free Speech

2. The Rich Heritage of Public Speaking
● Fourth to first centuries B.C.E.
○ Aristotle formulated guidelines for speakers
● Nineteenth century
○ Declamation and elocution
● Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
○ Advent of technology

3. The Communication Process
● Communication as Action
○ Source
○ Encode
○ Message
○ Decode
○ Channels
■ Visual and auditory
○ Receiver
○ Noise
■ Internal and external

4. The Communication Process
● Communication as Interaction
○ Feedback
○ Context
● Communication as Transaction
○ Simultaneous

5. Figure 1.1
An Interactive Model of Communication

6. The Communication Process
● Public Speaking and Conversation
○ Public speaking requires more preparation
○ Public speaking is more formal
○ Public speaking involves more clearly defined roles for
speaker and audience

7. Understand Your Nervousness
● Know your reasons for anxiety
● Use your anxiety
○ Realize your body is helping you

8. How to Build Your Confidence
● Know your audience
● Don’t procrastinate
● Select an appropriate topic
● Be prepared
● Be organized

9. How to Build Your Confidence
● Know your introduction and conclusion
● Make practice real
● Breathe
● Channel your nervous energy
● Visualize your success

10. How to Build Your Confidence
● Give yourself a mental pep talk
● Focus on your message, not on your fear
● Look for positive listener support
● Seek speaking opportunities
● Focus on what you have accomplished, not on your fear

11. Consider Your Audience
● Be audience-centered
○ Make decisions
■ Before the speech
■ During the speech
○ Adapt to diverse audiences

12. Figure 3.1
The Speechmaking Process

13. Select And Narrow Your Topic
• Who is the audience?
• What are my interests, talents, and experiences?
• What is the occasion?

14. Determine Your Purpose
● Three general purposes
○ To inform
○ To persuade
○ To entertain
● Specific purpose

15. Develop Your Central Idea
● Central idea
○ Thesis statement
○ “Elevator pitch”

16. Generate The Main Ideas
● Main Ideas
○ Ancient Romans called this invention
● Three questions
1. Does the central idea have logical divisions?
2. Are there several reasons it is true?
3. Can it be supported with a series of steps?

17. Gather Supporting Material
● Tell stories based on experience
● Material should be personal, concrete, sensory
● Relate abstract statistics to something tangible
● Develop good research skills
○ Library database

18. Organize Your Speech
● Divide your speech
○ Introduction
○ Body
○ Conclusion
● Outline your speech

19. Rehearse Your Speech
● Practice eye contact
● Speak loudly
● Keep hands at your side

20. Deliver Your Speech
● Walk confidently to the front of the room
● Establish eye contact with audience
● Smile naturally
● Deliver opening sentence
● Concentrate on the message and the audience

21. Deliver Your Speech
● Deliver your speech in a conversational style
● Deliver your speech just as rehearsed
● “Be sincere, be brief, and be seated.”

22. Ethics
● Ethics and Free Speech
○ Must be balanced
● Ethics and Speaker Credibility
○ Credibility is believability

23. The History of Free and Ethical
Speech
● First Amendment
● “Clear and present danger”
● Supreme Court protects free speech
○ Core aspect of democracy
● Slander and “actual malice”

24. Speaking Ethically
● Have a clear, responsible goal
● Use sound evidence and reasoning
● Be sensitive to, and tolerant of, differences
○ Accommodation
● Be honest

25. Speaking Ethically
● Don’t plagiarize
○ Patchwriting
○ Do your own work
○ Acknowledge sources
○ Take careful notes
○ Cite sources correctly
■ Oral citation
■ Written citation

26. A Concise Public Speaking Handbook
Fifth Edition
Chapters 8-15
● Developing Your Speech
● Gathering Supporting Material
● Supporting Your Speech
● Organizing Your Speech
● Outlining & Revising Your
Speech
● Developing an Introduction
● Developing a Conclusion
● Using Words Well

27. Select Your Topic
● Consider the audience
● Consider the occasion
● Consider yourself
● Strategies for selecting a topic
○ Brainstorm
○ Listen and read for topic ideas
○ Don’t procrastinate!
●Narrow the topic
●Determine your general purpose
○Informative: give listeners information
○Persuasive: get listeners to do or believe something
○Entertain: get listeners to relax, smile, enjoy

28. Determine Your Specific Purpose
● Formulating the specific purpose
○ “At the end of my speech, the audience will . . .”
● Clarify the specific purpose
○ Reflects the audience
○ Expresses only one idea
○ Says what the audience will do
● Using the specific purpose

29. Develop Your Central Idea
● Central idea: one-sentence summary
○ Also called the thesis statement
○ Complete declarative sentence
○ Use direct, specific language
○ Should be a single idea
○ Reflect consideration of the audience
●Ask three questions
○1. Does the central idea have logical divisions?
○2. Are there several reasons the central idea is true?
○3. Can you support it with a series of steps?
●Produce a blueprint

30. The Internet
● Locating internet resources
● Exploring internet resources
○ Commercial
○ Country codes
○ Educational
○ Government
○ Military
○ Organizational

31. The Internet
● Evaluating internet resources
○ Accountability
○ Accuracy
○ Objectivity
○ Timeliness
○ Usability
○ Diversity

32. Online Databases
● Online databases
○ A B I/Inform Global
○ Academic Search Complete
○ J S T O R
○ LexisNexis Academic
○ Newspaper Source

33. Interviews
● Preparing for the interview
○ Determine your purpose
○ Arrange a meeting
○ Plan your questions
● Conduct the interview
● After an interview

34. Use Illustrations
● Brief illustration
○ No longer than two sentences
● Extended illustration
○ Vividly descriptive, have a plot
● Personal illustration
○ Sharing an experience
● Hypothetical illustration
○ Events that might happen

35. Use Descriptions and Explanations
● Description
○ Provides details
○ Accurate, vivid and specific
● Explanation
○ Clarification
○ Explains how and why

36. Use Statistics as Support
● Use reliable sources
○ Primary and secondary
● Interpret statistics accurately
● Make statistics understandable and memorable
○ Dramatize
○ Compact
○ Explode
○ Compare

37. Use Opinions
● Expert testimony
○ Recognized authority
● Lay testimony
○ Opinions of non-experts
● Literary quotation
○ Unbiased, properly cited
○ Use prevailing opinion
○ One or two quotes per speech

38. Select the Best Supporting Material
● Magnitude
● Relevance
● Concreteness
● Variety
● Humor
● Suitability

39. Organize Your Main Ideas
● Organize ideas topically
○ Primacy
○ Recency
○ Complexity
● Order ideas chronologically
○ By time or sequence
●Arrange ideas spatially
●Organize ideas to show cause and effect
●Organize ideas by problem and solution
●Combine multiple patterns
●Acknowledge cultural differences

40. Organize Your Presentation for the
Ears of Others: Signposting
● Develop signposts: organizational cues
○ Helps audience follow speech
● Previews
○ Initial previews
○ Internal previews
●Transitions
○Verbal transitions
○Nonverbal transitions
●Summaries
○Final summary
○Internal summary

41. Develop a Preparation Outline
● Preparation outline includes
○ Central idea
○ Main ideas
○ Supporting material
○ Specific purpose
○ Introduction
○ Conclusion
○ Signposts
○ References (when necessary)

42. Develop a Preparation Outline
● Write your preparation outline in complete sentences
● Use standard outline form
● Label specific purpose at the top of your outline
● Add the blueprint, key signposts, introduction, and
conclusion to outline
●Analyze your preparation outline
○Does the speech fulfill your purpose?
○Are the main ideas extensions of the central idea?
○Do the signposts enhance the flow of the speech?
○Does each subpoint support the main point?
○Is your outline form correct?

43. Purposes of Introductions
● Get the audience’s attention
● Introduce the subject
● Give the audience a reason to listen
○ Proximity
● Establish your credibility
● Preview your main ideas

44. Effective Introductions
● Use illustrations or anecdotes
● Provide startling facts or statistics
● Use quotations
● Use humor
● Ask questions
● Refer to historical events
● Refer to recent events
● Use personal references
● Refer to the occasion
● Refer to preceding speeches

45. Conclusions
● Summarize the speech
○ Reemphasize the central idea in a memorable way
○ Restate the main ideas
● Provide closure
○ Motivate the audience to respond
●Refer to the introduction
○Finish a story
○Answer your opening rhetorical question
○Remind the audience of the startling fact
●Issue an inspirational appeal or challenge

46. Oral Versus Written Language Style
● Oral style is more personal
● Oral style is less formal
● Oral style is more repetitious
●Use specific, concrete words
●Use simple words
●Use words correctly
○Denotation
○Connotation
●Use words concisely

47. Adapt Your Language Style to
Diverse Listeners
● Use understandable language
○ Ethnic vernacular
○ Regionalisms
○ Jargon
● Use respectful language
● Use unbiased language

48. Craft Memorable Word Structures
● Create figurative images
○ Metaphors and similes
○ Personification
○ Crisis rhetoric
● Create drama
○ Sentence length
○ Omission
○ Inversion
○ Suspension
● Create cadence
○ Repetition
○ Parallelism
○ Antithesis
○ Alliteration
○ Onomatopoeia

49. A Concise Public Speaking Handbook
Fifth Edition
Chapters 16-21
● Methods of Delivery
● Nonverbal Communications
● Verbal Communications
● Delivering Your Speech
● Selecting Presentation Aids
● Preparing & Using Presentation
Aids

50. Methods of Delivery: Manuscript
Delivery
● Speech is read word-for-word
● Rarely used
● Sometimes speeches must be crafted precisely
● Allows speaker to choose words carefully for a sensitive
issue
● Key: sound as though you aren’t reading

51. Methods of Delivery: Memorized
Speaking
● Can sound awkward, stilted, over-rehearsed
● Run the risk of forgetting
● Allows maximum eye contact
● Take care to sound lively and interesting

52. Methods of Delivery: Impromptu
Speaking
● “Thinking on your feet”
● Speak informally, maintain eye contact
● Lacks organization and research
● Give honest but non committal answers

53. Methods of Delivery: Extemporaneous
Speaking
● Conversational; feels as if it’s being created on the spot
● Rehearse, but rely less and less on notes

54. Nonverbal Communication
● Most important part of speech delivery
● Opens communication
● Keeps your audience interested
● Makes you more believable

55. Gestures
● Using gestures effectively
○ Stay natural
○ Be definite
○ Use gestures consistent with your message
○ Vary your gestures but don’t overdo it
○ Make your gestures appropriate to audience and
situation
○ Adapt your gestures to audience expectations

56. Movement
● Move purposefully
● Reduce physical barriers
● Establish immediacy
● How to move effectively

57. Posture
● Communicates intensity of emotion
● Avoid slouching your shoulders
● Avoid shifting from foot to foot
● Avoid drooping your head
● Posture should reflect your interest in the event

58. Facial Expression
● Six primary emotions defined by Paul Ekman
● Happiness
● Anger
● Surprise
● Sadness
● Disgust
● Fear
● Be mindful of the emotion you want the audience to feel
● Unless presenting bad news, adopt a pleasant expression
● Do not overly exaggerate
● High-context cultures prefer less dramatic expressions

59. Verbal Communication: Vocal Delivery
● Speak to be understood
● Volume
● Articulation
● Dialect
● Pronunciation
● Speak with variety
● Pitch
● Inflection
● Rate
● Pauses

60. Rehearsing Your Speech
● Finish drafting speech outline two days prior
● Determine where you will need notes
● Revise speech as necessary
● Prepare speaking notes
● Rehearse speech standing up to plan gestures
● Rehearse in front of another person
● Make a recording
● Rehearse using all presentation aids
● Re-create the speaking situation you will face
● Practice good delivery skills while rehearsing

61. Delivering Your Speech: Tips
● Be well rested
● Review the suggestions for becoming a confident speaker
(chapter 2)
● Be prepared

62. Delivering Your Speech: Questions
● Prepare
● Repeat or rephrase the question
● Stay on message

63. Delivering Your Speech: Questions
● Prepare
● Repeat or rephrase the question
● Stay on message
● Respond to the entire audience
● Ask the first question yourself
● Listen non judgmentally
● Neutralize hostile questions
● When you don’t know the answer, admit it
● Be brief
● Indicate when the Q&A session is ending

64. Selecting Presentation Aids: Value
● Prepare
● Presentation aids reinforce your point
● Focus
● Understand
● Remember
● Organize
● Illustrate

65. Selecting Presentation Aids: Types
● Images are most common
○ Drawings
○ Photographs
○ Maps
○ Charts
○ Graphs
■ Bar graphs
■ Pie graphs
■ Line graphs
■ Picture graphs

66. Selecting Presentation Aids: Types
● Text can be a single word
or brief outline
● No more than seven lines
● Use brief bullet points
● Use parallel structure
● Use the heading of each
slide to summarize
● Make an informed choice
when selecting fonts

67. Preparing & Using Presentation Aids
● Rehearse with your presentation aids
● Make eye contact with your audience, not your aids
● Explain your presentation aids
● Do not pass objects to the audience
● Use animals with caution
● Use handouts effectively
● Time the use of visuals to control your audience’s
attention
● If possible, use a remote control device
● Show a blank slide to return focus to you
● Consider arranging for someone to help you
● Use technology effectively
● Remember Murphy’s Law