COMM101: Public Speaking
Section outline
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This course examines the elements of an effective speech and identifies traits of the individual speaker and how these traits affect preparation and delivery. Additionally, this course demonstrates specific performance-oriented aspects of public speaking. The themes of information and ethics tie these elements together and are emphasized in every part of the course because they are vitally important to all communicators. Since modern societies have ever-increasing access to information, there are increased demands on the individual to effectively and ethically use information. For example, "The New York Times has more information in one week than individuals in the 1800s would encounter in a lifetime". This illustrates the challenges speakers face beyond the common stresses of public speaking anxiety. In spite of that, ethical communication means not only accepting responsibility for the information you present but also speaking up when others abuse their information platforms.
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Every day, we engage in the act of public speaking, whether we realize it or not. We discuss challenges and solutions at work with our colleagues. We engage in debates with classmates and friends on issues of the day. We listen to presenters in classes and meetings. The act of public speaking is a structured and purposeful process. Speakers craft and deliver messages with intentions. We hope they are ethical in the development and delivery of these presentations. And we may be surprised to learn that they experience speech anxiety just as we do as newcomers to public speaking. In this first unit, we will explore the nature of public speaking as a process that we experience in our daily lives, as well as public speaking ethics, speech anxiety, and communication apprehension.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 1: Describe the ethical responsibilities of speakers in various speaking situations
- CLO 6: Select an effective pattern of organization for presenting different types of information to a listening audience
- CLO 12: Apply strategies to manage communication apprehension
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
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Historically speaking, public speaking is the original mass medium. Before the spread of literacy, people relied on public speakers to explain the news of the day.
The ability to make public presentations is a highly valued skill in the workplace and society at large. Public speaking skills are valuable when applying for jobs and on the job for explaining and persuading others. Effective public speaking makes it possible for us to enact our civic responsibility to participate actively as members of a democratic society. The study of public speaking teaches us not what to think but how to think, and in so doing equips us to critically evaluate the arguments of others.
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The process of public speaking is one of creating shared meaning between a speaker and their audience. At its simplest, it includes the sender, receiver, message, channel, feedback, and context.
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Ethical speakers adhere to the essential ethical principles of honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Public speaking challenges us to attend to these ethical principles in our daily lives.
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Communication apprehension, speech anxiety, and stage fright are terms we use to describe aspects of the fear of public speaking. It is natural for people to experience these phenomena, since speaking in public is not a run-of-the-mill activity for most of us. In fact, in a notable Gallup poll, 40% of respondents reported a fear of "speaking in public in front of an audience". In that survey, it was ranked as the second most common fear, trailing only the fear of snakes (51%). Understanding our fears will allow us an opportunity to conquer them.
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In Unit 1, we explored the importance that public speaking plays in our daily lives. Public speaking skills improve our self-confidence, may create greater professional opportunities, and allow us to participate in civil society. Ethics are the foundation for public speaking. As speakers, we must be honest if we expect our audience to trust our messages. And we learned that communication apprehension is normal – even for professionals for whom public speaking is their livelihood. When we take the time to understand what causes our anxiety, we will have a greater chance of learning how to overcome anxiety as an obstacle to successful communication. Finally, the communication model will provide a foundation for us throughout this course as we assess the relationship between the parts of the process and their impact on successful communication. In this unit, we learned about ourselves as the speakers or senders of the message. In our next unit, we will move on to learn about our receivers – our audience.
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In this unit, we will explore the importance of understanding your audience and the role of listening in the speech communication process.
From the model in Unit 1, we know that the audience is the group of receivers with whom we will send our message. The word "audience" implies the passivity of sitting before a television, a stage, or a book, as spectators, not participants. However, in reality, audiences are far more active when listening to public presentations.
Successful public speakers conduct research about their audiences to help them prepare a message that will be meaningful and impactful to those listeners. These messages will connect with the audience members in powerful ways.
Hand in hand with understanding the recipients of our messages is effective listening. Listening is part of the speaker's research process. By attending to information about our audience, we can craft meaningful messages for them. But we must also understand that listening is an intellectual process. It is an important part of the speech communication process, since audience members listen to our messages and respond to us with follow-up questions or silently with motivated body language. In every communication transaction, there is a speaker (sender) and a receiver (listener). Both parts of the transaction are vital to successful communication. Becoming a better listener will improve your public speaking skills and your interpersonal skills with friends, colleagues, and family members.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 2: Apply techniques of critical listening and constructive criticism of content as a listener and speaker
- CLO 3: Apply audience analysis to improve public speaking situations, which includes purpose, topic selection, and delivery strategies
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
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Public speaking is all about the other. By that, we mean that public speaking is an audience-centered process. While the process begins with the speaker encoding and sending a message, before we can send and encode, we need to consider the audience and what they want and need from our message.
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In the context of communication and public speaking, listening is a purposeful and focused process of making sense of, assessing, and responding to what we hear. It is fundamentally different from hearing, which is a passive, automatic physiological response to sound.
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In Unit 2, we explored the notion that public speaking, like all communication, is focused on the other – the audience or listeners that receive our message. The more we know and understand the people that we will speak to, the better we can prepare messages that will be valuable for them. Understanding their needs and expectations will allow us to tailor our speech to the audience. Presumably, this will make our speeches more interesting to an audience that is attending to our message. Attending to a message is another way of describing the intellectual process of active listening. We examined the stages of listening (receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding) and how breakdowns in any stage can lead to distorted messages and miscommunication. As speakers and as audience members, we need to practice our listening skills to become better communicators. Now that we understand the two major elements of the communication process (senders and receivers), we can move on to the process of preparing the message.
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In this unit, we will explore some of the preparatory activities associated with successful speech craft. Successful speakers do a lot of work preparing their materials and even generating multiple interesting topics and approaches to address topics to different types of audiences. In this unit, we will address speech purposes, the topic selection process, and the value of outlining as infrastructure concerns for successful speeches. Before you can stand up and make your presentation, we start the process of preparing a speech by determining the general purpose of the speech, the topic on which we will speak, and the specific purpose of the speech. These three actions will lay the groundwork for research, organization, and delivery. Honing our outlining skills will help in the preparation process.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 6: Select an effective pattern of organization for presenting different types of information to a listening audience
- CLO 8: Evaluate keyword and sentence outlines for informative and persuasive speeches
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.
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For communication in general, and public speaking specifically, there are three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. We also use these purposes to describe types of public speeches: informative, persuasive, and entertaining. We will use these terms as we move forward in our discussions. Determining your general purpose is necessary before we select an assignment topic.
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There are two types of speech purposes in the speech development process. First, the general purpose of a speech (the overarching purpose), which we just addressed as part of the topic selection process. The second type of purpose is the specific purpose, which we will discuss in this section.
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Before we move on to researching our topic and developing content for our presentation, let's take a few minutes to explore the benefits and types of outlines, as well as ways to use your outline in the development and delivery of your presentation.
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In Unit 3, we began developing our message – the content of our speech. Creating a speech is a process that begins with determining your purpose, your topic, and some structural elements that will provide direction for researching and constructing your message – your speech. The audience analysis we conducted in Unit 2 is part of this preliminary process, as it influences our choice of topic and specific purpose. Before we move on to researching our topic in the next unit, we took some time to understand the value of organizing our speech materials using outlines. Outlines provide structure as we create our speech content and support when we deliver our speeches to our audiences. Using outlines throughout the speech creation process will help save you time and reduce some of that communication anxiety.
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Pursuing accurate, ethical, and relevant research today is complicated by the sheer number of sources of information that are now available. In the past, libraries and librarians acted as gatekeepers to screen out many flawed or misleading sources of information; today, however, access to the Internet gives us as researchers the freedom to make our own choices. Those choices can be overwhelming if you do not know how to distinguish between authoritative sources and amateurs. The information we collect through the research process will influence what we share in our presentations and how we share it, using different types of support.
This unit explores topics that establish the substance of your speech: research and support structures. We will identify types of research sources and methods for using those resources to support the main points of your presentation. This unit will focus on providing you with information and advice on how to conduct research and how to use various types of supporting evidence to strengthen any arguments made in your speech.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 1: Describe the ethical responsibilities of speakers in various speaking situations
- CLO 4: Evaluate online and library-based research to find and critique the credibility of sources of information
- CLO 5: Cite sources of information appropriately, accurately, and clearly in both spoken and written contexts
- CLO 9: Apply techniques to improve the fluidity and clarity of verbal delivery
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
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Writing a speech is often less about what you already know and more about the quality of the information you find. The research phase of speechwriting provides the evidence, credibility, and color necessary to move an audience. To ensure your speech is based on evidence, you have to move beyond personal opinion and tap into verified information. Research isn't just about finding facts; it’s about building a bridge of trust between you and your listeners.
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The information that you collect from primary and secondary research comes in many different forms – factual statements, expert opinions, and elaborations that are presented in a variety of formats. When selecting information, be sure to include a variety of cultural perspectives.
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Effective research transforms a speaker from an individual with an opinion into a credible authority who can move an audience toward a new perspective. Facts, anecdotes, and statistics help us clarify complex ideas and humanize abstract concepts. By synthesizing diverse sources, you ensure your message is deeply resonant with the needs and values of your listeners.
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In Unit 4, we moved forward in the speech creation process, into the process of researching and collecting supporting information to build our message. Conducting research is a rigorous process that requires evaluating the effectiveness of sources and yields valuable information for your speech content, helping build speaker credibility. The types of supporting materials (definitions, examples, statistics, testimony) we collect will provide ample variety to our message to make it valuable and memorable to our listeners. High-quality sources are imperative regardless of whether you are constructing an informative speech or a persuasive speech. This unit emphasizes that effective advocacy requires locating high-quality evidence and using that evidence to logically support and clarify points for the audience. Now that we have collected our resources, it is time to move forward in the speech creation process and organize the body of your speech.
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In this unit, we will explore the creative part of speech craft: organizing the contents of the presentation. It may seem logical to start with writing the introduction, followed by the body and conclusion, because that is the order in which we will deliver the presentation. But actually, it makes more sense to start with the body, then write the introduction and conclusion.
Sure, an introduction introduces the body of the speech, but if the body of the speech does not exist yet, the speaker has nothing to base the introduction on. So, it makes sense to construct the body content first. Once we have organized the content of the body of our presentation, we can easily write an introduction that entices our audience to attend to our message. Finally, we will write a satisfying conclusion that will provide our listeners with closure.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 3: Apply audience analysis to improve public speaking situations, which includes purpose, topic selection, and delivery strategies
- CLO 6: Select an effective pattern of organization for presenting different types of information to a listening audience
- CLO 7: Describe effective use of an introduction and conclusion in constructing a speech
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
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The first step in organizing your speech is to determine your main ideas.
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A speech’s introduction and conclusion are important parts of the presentation because your listeners are more likely to remember the first and last items they hear than the items in between. Listeners are more likely to remember the beginning and ending of your speech than what you say in the body. The introduction and conclusion are also important because of the need for listeners to grasp your goal and main points quickly as they listen to your speech and to remember them after you have finished.
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Now let's move on to address your conclusion. An effective conclusion heightens the impact of a good speech by summarizing the goal and the main points of the speech and providing a sense of closure by driving home the importance of the message in a memorable way.
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In Unit 5, we began to put together the pieces and construct the body (main points), introduction, and conclusion of our speech. Together, these three parts form the message – your speech. We started with the body of the speech, as this naturally flows from the thesis we determined in an earlier unit. The thesis is a forecast of the main points of the speech. In this unit, we determined the best main points for our speech based on the research and resources we collected in the previous unit. We learned that there are a number of different organizational patterns from which to choose when constructing our speeches. We also applied our knowledge of outlines to organize the flow of our information from main points to subpoints and transitions to keep our content interesting to our listeners. Once the body of your speech is completed, move on to writing a creative introduction using the introduction formula, and finalize your work with a conclusion device that provides closure for your audience. Now that we have our speech constructed, let’s move on to delivery and presentation aids.
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Now that we have addressed the basic building blocks of all of the speech types, in this unit, we will focus on the skills of delivery, how we use language to connect with our audience, and designing presentation media.
Delivery skills take rehearsal and perseverance to perfect. When we get nervous, eye contact, vocal qualities, and supporting gestures often suffer. Even the savviest public speakers take the time to plan, rehearse, and revise their presentations prior to their speech assignments to ensure they know their material and can deliver it.
Appreciating the language that you use in a speech will impact the connection you make with your audience. Your speech competence will improve as you consider the way you use words and phrases to build confidence between you and your audience. Casual language may satisfy delivery with friends; more formal language will be necessary to convey more serious messages and persuasive material to discerning audiences. Choosing the language that best suits the occasion and the audience will pay off in speaker credibility.
Presentation media, also known as visual aids, can improve the memorability of your message, or they can become a distraction from your message. Designing presentation media is a systematic process. Systematically approaching the development of presentation aids means you should have a reason for including every presentation aid you use in your speech. We will consider basic design principles and the way audience members interpret supporting media.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:- CLO 9: Apply techniques to improve the fluidity and clarity of verbal delivery
- CLO 10: Describe non-verbal techniques that communicate the speaker's confidence and credibility in a sample speech
- CLO 11: Describe effective visual resources used to present informative or persuasive speeches
Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.
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Delivery refers to the use of voice and body to communicate the message of the speech; it is what the audience sees and hears. Effective delivery is conversational and animated.
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Maybe you have heard the adage that practice makes perfect. In public speaking, practicing your delivery skills will definitely yield some benefits. When you practice delivering your presentation aloud, you will become more familiar with the information, which will help reduce some communication anxiety. Let's explore the fine points of delivery, rehearsal, and practice.
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Physical characteristics of effective delivery include eye contact, gestures and movement, posture, facial expression, and personal appearance. Nonverbal delivery is extremely important to a speaker's credibility and usually has more impact than the speaker’s verbal delivery.
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Presentational aids are useful when they help audience members understand and remember important information. Displaying your visual aids in a professional manner will enhance your credibility and the speech as a whole.
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In Unit 6, we explored the execution phase of the speech creation process – the delivery phase. Once our message is constructed, we can focus on using memorable language, strategic delivery methods, effective presentation aids (audio-visual aids), and practicing or rehearsing our speech. The language we use will influence our audience and help them recall our message long after our speech concludes. Using appropriate language for our audience is important for increasing the likelihood that our message connects with listeners. We should strive for extemporaneous delivery, since it is the most compelling. As we evaluate our message, we may find that presentation aids will help make complex ideas easier for our listeners to understand. If we use them judiciously, we can avoid creating barriers or noise between our message and our audience. Lastly, but maybe most importantly, we must practice our speech with our presentation aids, so we make the best impression on our audience. Also, rehearsing helps to reduce communication anxiety. Now that we understand the communication model and the speech creation process, it is time to apply our acumen to informative speaking.
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In this unit, you will explore the purposes of speeches to inform and speeches to entertain. Even though the topics in this unit often stand on their own as significant sections, in this course, they are shorter because most of the guidance needed to develop both informative and entertaining speeches has already been covered in previous units. Unlike the theory-driven language and approaches you will discover that are associated with persuasive speaking, the language and approach you take to inform or entertain is driven by you, the speaker, and your relationship to your audience, your topic, and your purpose, each of which has been the subject of entire units in this course. As a result, rather than reviewing those subjects, the material in this unit focuses on the characteristics that make these two types of speeches distinct.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 6: Select an effective pattern of organization for presenting different types of information to a listening audience
- CLO 8: Evaluate keyword and sentence outlines for informative and persuasive speeches
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.
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Informative speeches share a speaker’s information and knowledge with an audience; these presentations should enhance an audience’s knowledge and understanding, maintain their interest, and be memorable. Speakers should establish a motive for the audience to listen by providing the audience with information that is relevant to them. Keep in mind that an informative speech does not attempt to convince the audience that one thing is better than another, nor does it advocate for action.
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Entertaining speeches are also known as special occasion speeches or ceremonial speeches (because these speeches are often associated with a special occasion or a ceremony). Depending on the setting or context, these speeches may be light-hearted, motivational, or reverent. These speeches are typically shorter than informative speeches and persuasive speeches.
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In Unit 7, we explored the nuances of speaking to inform and speaking to entertain. Informative speaking requires objectivity in crafting and developing our message. These speeches may be expository or process in nature. Informative speaking seeks to increase audience understanding without calling for a change in belief or behavior on the part of the audience. A key component of informative speaking is the ability to take complex information and make it accessible through the use of analogies, definitions, and the avoidance of jargon. Entertaining speech at its core is amusing, inspiring, and motivational. Special occasion speeches may use humor and other human interest devices to bring people together, celebrate, and commemorate people and their achievements. Unlike informative speaking, speeches that entertain do not rely on data or research so much as the speaker’s ability to use storytelling and emotional appeal to connect with their audience. Entertaining speeches are some of the shortest speeches we may deliver, but can also be some of the most memorable and powerful. Now let’s move on to persuasive speaking, which is a contrast to informative speaking.
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Most speakers consider persuasive speaking as the most challenging of the three basic types (informative, persuasive, and entertaining). One reason why understanding the demands of persuasive speaking is more challenging is that it requires a knowledge of terms that are specific to argumentation, such as claims and evidence. What is important to realize, however, is that while the terms may be different, most of the elements they refer to function in ways that are similar to what occurs in informative and entertaining speeches. Main points are called arguments; supporting details are evidence. Presenting your observations and backing them up with information your audience can understand, accept, or appreciate is universal communicative behavior. This unit will explore the challenges of preparing and delivering persuasive speeches.
This unit aligns with the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- CLO 5: Cite sources of information appropriately, accurately, and clearly in both spoken and written contexts
- CLO 6: Select an effective pattern of organization for presenting different types of information to a listening audience
- CLO 8: Evaluate keyword and sentence outlines for informative and persuasive speeches
- CLO 9: Apply techniques to improve the fluidity and clarity of verbal delivery
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.
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Persuasion is the process of influencing people’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors, and persuasive speaking is doing so in a public speech. Persuasive messages differ from informative messages in that their primary goal is to seek agreement and, sometimes, to incite action. Because the goals of persuasion are loftier and the potential implications more acute than informing, both senders and receivers must pay special attention to the ethical principles of communication when creating and interpreting persuasive messages.
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In Unit 8, we discuss the complexities of persuasive speaking. Persuasive speaking moves beyond information sharing to actively influencing the beliefs, values, and behaviors of our audience. In persuasive speaking that audience analysis that we conducted early in the speech creation process becomes most valuable for crafting a message that will move our listeners to take action on our message. Persuasion is not a simple process; change is a slow process. As persuasive speakers, we play a role in ethically advocating for topics that are important to us. Crafting our message requires attending to motivational language and organizational patterns to capitalize on the research and resources we have collected to move our audience to action. We end our exploration of public speaking by talking about persuasion because it is the most powerful form of public discourse.
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Public speaking is a vital life skill for interactions in our personal, professional, and public encounters. Speaking is a means of participating in a democratic society and contributes to our career development and personal relationships. Public speaking as a form of communication is a process that requires us to craft a message for a specific audience and deliver that message face-to-face. We may use some presentation aids to improve the reception of our message by our audience. Public speaking can be a fearful experience for many people, even professionals who present for a living. By acknowledging our anxiety and practicing our material, we can become authentic speakers. In your life, you will be asked to speak in public. It may be to train new employees at work, to persuade your neighbors to take on a new activity, or to celebrate a loved one at a family gathering with a toast. You now have the skills; go out there and communicate.
If you found this course interesting, you might find some other courses, such as Organizational Communication or Public Relations, just as compelling. Check out our other professional development courses in the Course Catalog.
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This study guide will help you get ready for the final exam. It discusses the key topics in each unit, walks through the learning outcomes, and lists important vocabulary. It is not meant to replace the course materials.
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Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.
To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt. Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate.
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