Why do people speak publicly? Continued
Strong public speaking skills can help you become more articulate, credible, and understandable. The benefits of these communications skills are endless, and in contrast, weak communications skills may negatively affect your personal and professional life in many ways. A scientist who wants to conduct an experiment that would forever change the state of human health will not be able to move forward if she is unable to write a grant proposal to secure funding for her research. A genius accountant who can save his clients large sums of money will never be hired if he cannot communicate effectively with prospective clients. You can be brilliant in your field of work, but if you do not know how to communicate successfully with co-workers, management, or the public, you will have difficulty convincing others of your abilities.
What are the goals of studying public speaking?
Studying public speaking can:
- increase your knowledge of the history of communication and speech studies
- improve the way you see yourself
- improve the way others see you
- teach you important career skills
- help you communicate messages clearly
- help you evaluate others’ public speaking and communication abilities
In this course, you will not only learn how to give an effective speech, but you will also learn about the communication theories that guide effective public speaking. Understanding the theories of public speaking are just as important as the act of giving a speech. As Em Griffin, a communications scholar, points out:
Many communication practitioners don’t really care how communication works. For example, you could be an effective public speaker without understanding why the audience likes what you say. But when you take a course in communication theory, you lose your amateur status. The reason something happens becomes as important as the fact that it does (Griffin 26).
Composer: NA
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"Em Griffin"
As we will see, effective communication skills develop from theory and practice of many different concepts.
Communication is complicated because it involves choices about multiple aspects of messages. Communication is always related to a specific context, time, and situation. The content of a speech may be interpreted in many different ways depending on the context in which it is delivered. The context can refer to a specific place, to the speaker’s non-verbal messages, to the audio-visual support materials used, or even to elements such as microphone volume. Both non-verbal and verbal messages matter to your audience. Communication theorist Paul Watzlawick argues, "One cannot not communicate" (Watzlawick et al. 49). Yawning, looking away, and smiling are non-verbal messages that can be just as important to an audience as the words a speaker is saying. Audiences draw conclusions based on these non-verbal messages equally as often as they draw conclusions based on the speaker's verbal messages. Understanding these and other concepts will help you monitor non-verbal messages during a speech to ensure that the non-verbal messages are consistent with the verbal messages.
If you have a fear of public speaking, you can overcome or reduce this fear in many different ways, such as adequate preparation, studying an audience prior to the speech, and frequently rehearsing a speech before presenting it. Every student of public speaking must practice and prepare thoroughly for each speech. Being prepared is the best method for reducing speech anxiety. In later chapters, we will focus in more detail on specific issues of anxiety and fear related to public speaking.