purpose+a+solution

Brad Valentine ENG 408 Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 Writing to take a stand/purpose a solution

**__5 Things You Can Do To Become A Better Public Speaker__**

Public speaking is perhaps one of the oldest and most powerful communication mediums in existence. This form of communication can capture the hearts and minds of an audience and transform their beliefs, thoughts, and feelings on any number of topics and issues. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Adolph Hitler all used their great public speaking skills to gain a following. However, the skill of public speaking is not something a person is necessarily born with. Just like any other skill, public speaking takes training and practice in order to master. The following set of guidelines is intended for an amateur public speaker, perhaps a student taking their first speech class, or someone preparing to give a presentation for work. These guidelines follow a basic set of rules and techniques which will help you be successful in your upcoming presentation. Research is perhaps the most important element when giving a speech. You must research all areas involving your specific topic. This is necessary in order to ensure you are presenting correct information to your audience, as well as giving you the confidence to perform well. If you know the information you are presenting you will feel less stressed and more at ease because you are knowledgeable in the field. It is helpful if you already have a background in the area you are speaking on, so if given the option of a speech topic pick something you are already familiar with for your first few presentations. If you were an athlete in high school, pick a topic involving the sport you played, if you are a movie buff pick a film that you find interesting and well made. Sometimes the professor will not leave you many options to choose from, in this case pick whatever topic interests you the most and research the topic as best you can. It can be very embarrassing when your speech is concluded and an audience member asks a question that you don’t know the answer to. Just because you know who your audience consists of doesn’t mean you know who your audience is. It is extremely important to know the demographic of your audience as well as their background in the topic area. A speech given to a class room of 4th grade students is going to be very different from one given to a class room of graduate students. You as a speaker must decide what language and tone is appropriate for addressing a specific audience. Not only is demographic information good to know about your audience but so is their previous knowledge of the topic. Your speech will change based on the expected amount of knowledge the audience has. If you are giving a speech on chemical engineering to a chemical engineering class many of the terms used won’t have to be described and explained, they will already have a common basic knowledge of the field. However, if you are giving a speech on the same subject to a class of literary scholars the language is not considered common knowledge. You will have to take more time explaining certain terms and concepts to the audience because they are uneducated in this specific area. In order for a speech to be successful it is critical to know your audience.
 * __Know your stuff.__**
 * __Know your audience__**

**__Construct the speech__** This is where the speech begins to take form, and is the backbone of the speech. This is where you will organize the information and techniques you want to present in a way that is most effective in reaching your audience. The first step is deciding how long you want your speech to be and make an estimation of how much information can be covered and retained in that amount of time. After you make this determination you should comb through your research and decide on points you want covered. The next step is organizing this information, it is best to start with a broad over view of the topic and then work toward narrowing down to your main point. The first part of the speech is getting the audiences’ attention. There are many ways to engage the audience; you can ask a question relevant to your topic, give some interesting facts regarding your topic, or state an interesting quote that pertains to you topic. After you have decided on an interesting way to engage your audience you need to keep their interest while presenting the information. It is best to start off with a few main points and sub points for each of the main points. For example, a main point could be “What is beer?” and the sub points could be “beer is an alcoholic beverage” “beer is made mainly from barley and hops” “one of the largest beer brewers is Anheuser Bush” “Anheuser Busch Brews one of the worlds most popular beer; Budweiser.” Now you should construct these points and sub points into sensible paragraphs. Once you have all your paragraphs written, we then break it down into natural speech. It is best to make an outline of the information you plan on presenting with key phrases under each main point. After practicing, you will be able to glance at the outline and see the key phrase; this will trigger what you want to say about that sub point. This technique avoids line for line memorization and reading of a speech which can be boring and will quickly loose the audiences’ interest. It also lends itself to a feeling of natural conversation on the speakers’ part which makes for more of a connection with the audience. After you have laid out all of your information in a coherent way you need to conclude your speech. It is best to keep the conclusion brief, thought provoking, and powerful. Briefly restate your stance on a specific topic if it is a persuasive speech, or restate the importance of the topic if it is an informative speech. Conclude much the same way you introduced the topic; with a quote, fact, or question. **__Practice, Practice, Practice__** The most important thing to do when preparing a speech is to practice thoroughly. Practicing will not only make you more familiar with the information but also make you more comfortable physically. It is best to practice out loud until you get a fair idea of the length of your speech, this will also help you re work any awkward sounding phrases. After you feel comfortable with the form of the speech practice in front of a mirror to become more conscious of any nervous ticks you may have and also make you aware of your physical presence. Finally, practice in front of family or friends and ask them for honest feedback, take what they say into consideration and make attempts to improve on areas they suggest. **__Final Preparation__** Before giving your speech, take about five or ten minutes to clear your mind and relax. If you have properly prepared for the speech going over it one more time won’t do you any good. You will get far more benefit from taking time to relax and control your nerves. Be confident in your ability and you can succeed as a public speaker. **__Quick notes__** *Don’t get off topic. Leave points that are irrelevant to the main idea out of the speech. *Don’t be robotic but control nervous energy. Make use of hand gestures, voice volume, and speech speed, but also control any nervous ticks such as stuttering, rocking, and pacing. *avoid use of “um” and “like”. Make your speech formal yet natural. *If using power points don’t have the entire speech on the slide, only use key words or phrases and limit the images to two per slide. *don’t compare yourself to other speakers. Do the best job you can do and don’t worry about how anyone else did. This is only a basic tool to help the amateur speaker prepare for a speech or presentation. The skill of professional public speaking goes much deeper and is much more technical and involved then this basic outlines allows for. But this is a great way to start speaking, and with enough practice and training you may become another great speaker among the many in history. **__Reflection__** This piece was pretty easy for me to write so with saying that I don’t think I have come very far. The only thing I really struggled with was coming up with a topic. I was having trouble thinking of interesting and relevant topics for college students that didn’t require a whole lot of research and something I was already familiar with. In one of my other class’s students are giving speeches and I noticed some things that student’s struggled with and then this idea came to me…5 things to become a better speaker. So after writing an outline I wrote the paper/guide. Other than a few grammar and spelling changes it stayed the same. On a whole I am pretty satisfied with this piece. I think it is very straight forward and accomplishes the task that it set out to do. It does lack the tone and creativity that I am used to including in my writing but I think that for this piece that is ok. This is meant as an informative and instructional piece that will help people become better speakers and I think the tone and style fits. The feedback I am looking for in this piece is if it is good combination of list and information like we have discussed in class.