Day Two: Overview of the Speechmaking Process

1. Day Two: Overview of the Speechmaking Process by Yana Cornish Hamilton College

2. Agenda: • Discuss homework assignment – description of the web site; • Improving your confidence as a speaker; • Preparing your first speech: an overview of the speechmaking process.

3. Improving your Confidence: • Understanding your nervousness • “The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute you are born and never stops… until you get up to speak in public”. • “Given a choice, at a funeral most of us would rather be the one in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy”.

4. Improving your Confidence: • It’s normal to be nervous! • More than 80% of population feel anxious when they speak to an audience. • You usually feel more nervous than you look; • Almost every speaker experiences some degree of nervousness; • Anxiety can be useful!

5. Why Are You Nervous? • Fear of Humiliation • Personal Insecurity • Inexperience • Fear of Failure • Fear of Unknown (>practice) • Fear of the Spotlight • Fear of Breaking the Rules • Fear of Fear

6. What to do? Build your confidence: • Know your audience and focus on it; • Be prepared and well organized; • Select appropriate topic (you are interested in or know something about); • Practice! Re-create the speech; environment when you practice; • Know your introduction and your conclusion; • Think happy thoughts! Visualize your success!

7. Building your confidence (cont.): • Use deep-breathing techniques (reee-laaax); • Focus on your message rather than on your fear; • Give yourself a mental peptalk; • Channel your nervous energy; • Seek speaking opportunities! Volunteer!

8. Summary of Anxiety Reduction • Keep your mind on your presentation rather than on yourself or fear; • Don’t talk about your nervousness during your presentation; • Don’t memorize your speech; it’s too easy to forget! • Approach the podium with the appearance of confidence; • Begin and end with a well-prepared introduction and conclusion;

9. Summary (cont.) • Look directly at your audience while you are speaking, make individual eye contacts; • Turn your nervous energy into a positive force; • Practice, practice, practice!!!

10. Tips for Managing Your Communication Apprehension: • Assess Your Level of Nervousness • Learn Relaxation Techniques • Look for Audience Support • Don’t Procrastinate

11. Questions to consider: • What can I do when I start to feel nervous even when I just start thinking about delivering a speech? • What can I do to help manage anxiety on the day that I present my speech? • What can I do moments before I speak to help me feel more confident? • What can I do while I'm delivering the speech to help me stay calm and focused on connecting to my audience?

12. Preparing your speech: • Consider your audience • Select and narrow your topic • Determine your purpose • Develop your central idea • Generate main ideas

13. Preparing your speech: 6. Gather verbal and visual supporting materials 7. Organize your speech 8. Rehearse your speech 9. Deliver your speech

14. Who is your audience? How will you adapt to your audience? • What age group is it? • What language do they speak? • What are they interested in? • Why are they here? • What is their level of education?

15. Select and narrow your topic • Who is your audience? • What is the occasion? • What are your interests, talents, and experiences?

16. Determine your purpose: Why are you speaking? • General Purpose: • To inform • To persuade • To entertain • Specific Purpose

17. To Inform – to share information by defining, describing, or explaining To Persuade – to change or reinforce an attitude, beliefs, values, or behavior General Purposes: • To Entertain – to amuse through humor, stories, or other illustrations

18. Activity • Given: audience – our class; • Choose: three topics, one for each of the general purposes your speech will try to achieve. • Formulate three specific purposes (one for each speech: “At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to ..." Then, supply a verb such as "explain, describe, list, or write" that specifies what your audience will be able to do after.

19. Activity: • Use precise language; • Limit the specific purpose to a single idea; • Be sure that your specific purpose meets the interests, expectations, and levels of knowledge of your audience.

20. Develop your central idea • What in general do you want to focus on in regards to your purpose? • Example: • Topic: DVD players • General Purpose: to inform • Specific Purpose: at the end of the speech, audience will be able to identify key reasons DVDs offer better quality video. • Idea: DVDs produce higher quality video because they read information digitally.

21. Generate main ideas • Does central idea have logical divisions or a natural order? • Can you think of several reasons the central idea is true? • Can you support the central idea with a series of steps?

22. Verbal Facts, Examples, Definitions, Quotations. Visual An object, A chart, A graph, A poster, A model, A map, A person (for demonstration). Gather supporting materials:

23. Organize your speech • Introduction – captures attention, serves as an overview of the speech, provides audience with reasons to listen; • Credibility – Are you believable? • Body – presents the main content of your speech; • Conclusion – summarizes the main ideas. • Let’s look at the examples in the book.

24. Rehearse your speech • The best rule for talking is the one that carpenters use: Measure twice, saw once. • When you practice: • Seek eye contact with your audience; • Speak loudly enough; • Control your hands; • Focus on your message; • Rethink your speaking style (vocabulary used)

25. Tips for Practicing: • Review your notes, but practice out loud; • Schedule several practice sessions rather than one long rehearsal; • Schedule at least 3, but no more than 5 complete run-through sessions; • Practice sections of your presentation separately and repeatedly; • Don’t practice in front of a mirror if you find doing so distracting or unnatural; • Take frequent breaks to refresh your voice and mind.

26. Deliver your speech – How should you present? • Before your present: • Look at the audience; • Try to appear calm; • Establish eye contact; • Smile naturally; • Start your speech with an attention getting sentence; • Concentrate on your message; • Speak loudly enough.

27. Remember: • These steps cannot produce a successful presentation – only YOU can!!! • These steps are a roadmap to guide you and help you avoid mistakes.

28. Home Assignment due next class session: • Read Chapter 2 (possible quiz) • Do Chapter 2 Suggested activities p. 39: • 1 (written), • 2 (written), & • 3 (written);

29. Questions?