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Survey after survey reports that oral communication skills are considered even more
important than writing and math skills, as well as a number of other job-related qualities,
such as initiative, technical competence, and organizational abilities (Adler & Towne,
1996; Hagge-Greenberg, 1979; Waner, 1995).
Oral communication encompasses a variety of genres: conversations, interviews,
discussions, debates, and negotiations, to name just a few. Many of these speech events
take place in fairly nonthreatening settings, with interactions occurring either between
two people or within small groups. While feelings of communication anxiety do occur in
these settings, they are usually infrequent and of minor proportions. Public speaking is a
different matter: Here the speaker shares his or her views with a larger audience and
often experiences apprehension and nervousness before and during the presentation.
However, there are times in almost everybody’s life when public speaking is required.
Occasions can be as informal and brief as offering a toast at a party or as formal and
involved as delivering a speech at a graduation ceremony. Many careers are based on a
certain amount of public speaking. Take teachers, trial lawyers, politicians, broadcast
journalists, or preachers, for example. For all of them, public speaking is an integral part
of daily life. Likewise, people in leadership positions are routinely asked to share their
views or provide guidance in larger settings. But even for those whose careers don’t call
for public speaking, opportunities for speaking in front of audiences abound. There are
individual or group presentations in a classroom setting, for example, contributions
during a town meeting, or reports as members of a committee in school, at work, or in
the community.
In short, almost everybody sooner or later has to speak in public. Try not to see the task
as unpleasant. Instead, try to see it as a chance to have an impact or to improve yourself.
The earlier you start gaining experience and honing your skills, the better. There are
many techniques and “tricks of the trade” that can help you become an effective and
confident speaker.
Preparing Your Presentation and Considering Your Audience
The most important aspect of public speaking is the audience. At all times during the
process of preparing and delivering a speech, we need to keep in mind that we are
speaking to an audience and not just to ourselves. Whether the goal is to entertain, to
inform, or to persuade, we should try to reach our listeners and tailor the speech to them
To do this effectively, engage the audience in a dialogue in which the audience members
interact mentally with your ideas. For this purpose, choose a topic, examples, and
language appropriate to your listeners.
Key Points on Getting to Know Your Audience
• What are the age range and educational background of your audience? Marital
status? Children? Gender and sexual orientation? Occupations?
• What do you know about their ethnic diversity? Languages represented?
Group affiliations? Regional characteristics?
• Do you know something about their interests? Values? Political views?
Religious beliefs?
• What do the audience members know? What do they want to know? What are
their reasons for listening?
• What is the relationship between time of delivery and expected states of mind
(e.g., hunger before lunch, tiredness in the evening), between the physical
environment and its effect on the audience (e.g., lighting, temperature, seating
arrangements, outside noise), between occasion and emotional climate? Are
there reactions to previous speakers?
If you don’t know who will be in your audience, the answIf you don’t know who will be in your audience, the answers to these questions will have
to be educated guesses. If your audience is predetermined, however, you may want to
gather information through surveys or other research and tailor your speech to the exact
needs and interests of your listeners. Your efforts will be rewarded by the feedback you
receive for a presentation that is interesting and sensitive to your audience.
Choosing a Topic
When speeches are given in political or professional contexts, speakers focus on their
areas of expertise. They may have some freedom in choosing a topic, but the broader
theme is predefined. An environmental activist at a political rally, for example, is
expected to talk about environmental issues, and a sales representative of a computer
software company will probably discuss software.
Students in public speaking classes generally have more freedom in selecting their speech
topics. In most cases, limits are set only by sensitivity considerations or taboos, usually
eliminating such themes as sex, religious proselytizing, and extremist political
persuasions. Sometimes, this freedom of choice makes it difficult to select a topic. If you
are undecided, consider the following techniques.
Key Points
How to Search for a Speech Topic
• Skim headlines in newspapers for current events.
• Check television schedules for interesting news programs or documentaries.
• Surf the internet.
• Think about people (individuals or groups), places (local, national, or
international), objects (natural or human-made), events (personal or public),
processes (how something is done or made), concepts (theories, complex
ideas), and controversial issues.
• Make an inventory of your own interests, experiences, and classes you have
taken.
• List things you are curious about and skills you have always wanted to learn.
Write down everything of interest to you. Here is an example of what a list of search
results might look like. Do you find any of the topics interesting? Do they make you
think of other possibilities?
• The Geological Features of Yellowstone National Park
• The Safety of Internet Sales
• Differences Between American and British English
• Extreme Skiing
• Chocolate and Fair Trade
• A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person
• African-American Travel to Africa
• The Future of the Automobile
• Your Children’s World: Will Polar Bears Survive?
• Table Manners in Chinese Culture
• “Once in a Blue Moon:” The Origin of Idioms
• The Music of Australian Aborigines
• Children and TV Advertisement
When you have brainstormed possible topics, go through the list and evaluate them.
Key Points
How to Select the Most Suitable Topic
1. Which topics stimulate your imagination the most? (In order to excite your
audience, it is important that you be enthusiastic yourself.)
2. Which topics will be of greatest interest to the audience?
After you make your final selection, you need to assess whether you can cover the topic
in the time allotted for your speech. If you have too much material, you need to narrowyour topic down in some way. For example, if you want to talk about the islands of
Indonesia (there are more than 13,000!) and have only five minutes, you will not be able
to include enough details to make your speech interesting. To make the topic more
manageable, you could focus on the Spice Islands and their role in international trade, for
example, or on the living conditions of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra. In any case, it
is much better to speak at a comfortable rate and flavor one’s speech with examples and
stories rather than hurry and attempt to cover too much material in too little time.
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