Public Speaking

Definition - O’Hair and Wiemann define public speaking as “a powerful form of

communication that includes a speaker who has a reason for speaking, an audience
that gives the speaker attention, and a message that is meant to accomplish a specific
purpose”
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking
face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and
informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech delivered over great distance by
means of technology.
Confucius, one of many scholars associated with public speaking, once taught that if a
speech was considered to be a good speech, it would impact the individuals' lives whether
they listened to it directly or not. His idea was that the words and actions of someone of
power can influence the world. Public speaking is used for many different purposes, but
usually some mixture of teaching, persuasion, or entertaining. Each of these calls upon
slightly different approaches and techniques.

N.B. – If we trace back our history, we’ll find that Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Swami
Vivekanand were some of the greatest public speakers of their times. The same we find in
Abrahamic religions that Moses, Jesus, Zarathustra and Prophet Mohammed were great
orators. They knew art of public speaking.

Jesus addressing to people (Sermon on the Mount)

Krishna Addressing to Arjuna during Mahabharat, later his speech is known as the
Gita

Buddha addressing to his pupils

 Public Speaking Rules and Techniques
Aristotle and Quintilian are among the most famous ancient scholars to give public speaking
definitive rules and models. Aristotle defined rhetoric as the means of persuasion in reference
to any subject. Quintilian published a twelve-volume textbook on rhetoric and many of these
references are still used today by politicians. He argued that public speaking was inherently
moral and stated that the ideal orator is “a good man speaking well.”
Aristotle discovered that in order to rally the citizens into conformity, one needed to persuade
people. This is what he called rhetoric, and it's defined as the capacity to persuade people,
and he broke it down into three strategies:
1. Ethos
2. Logos
3. Pathos
Ethos is used when the source is credible and the speaker can show authority over the subject
matter.
Logos is used when there are facts to support the argument requiring that the audience use
logic and deduction to decide on the strengths of the speaker's argument.
Pathos is used for emotional appeals to gain audience acceptance.
Fear of Public Speaking – (Glossophobia)
In order to face your fears head-on, it’s important to understand why you feel anxious about
public speaking. There could be many reasons why, but the reasons we’re going to talk about
below are pretty universal.

1. Feel self-conscious as the centre of attention

This is definitely one of the most common reasons why people are scared of public speaking.
It’s easy to become really awkward and overly self-aware in front of an audience because
we’re wondering how we’re being perceived by others.

If you try to view the talk as a conversation between people, rather than a presentation to an
unknown audience, you may be able to rise above your self-consciousness.

2. Having a physiological response

For most people, the fear they experience is a result of a physiological response to a
perceived threat. A large audience or intense situation might trigger the arousal of the
autonomic nervous system, which could lead to your body having a fight or flight response.

This can cause rapid breathing, shaking, and an increased heart rate, all of which make it
harder to talk confidently. You may even be tempted to run away and exit the scary situation
completely. Not to worry though, as later we’ll explore some strategies you can use to slow
down this physiological response.

3. Worried about appearing nervous

This is related to feeling self-conscious, but often, we get more scared when we’re aware that
we’re exhibiting symptoms of anxiety. It can be pretty hard to feel confident if we’re showing
signs that we’re not – ‘fake it till you make it’ seems like an impossible feat.

The hard truth is, that the audience will not notice or remember a lot of the things that you’re
concerned about. Gary Genard, public speaking expert, suggests that you should place the
spotlight on your audience instead, and think about how you can impact them.

4. Comparing yourself to others

It’s easy to compare yourself to great speakers, whether that’s professionals or one of your
friends who has bucket loads of confidence. However, if all speakers were the same, speeches
wouldn’t be interesting at all. Besides, your purpose isn’t to be an amazing speaker, it’s to
provide something for your audience, whether that’s inspiration or something else.

5. Failed or experienced difficulties in the past

Gary Genard explains that public speaking anxiety is often a learned behaviour. If you’ve
ever experienced an issue with public speaking before, where you felt like you failed, you’ll
carry this feeling with you next time.

However, if fear of failure can impede your ability to speak well, then anticipating success
can have an equally positive impact. It’s all about changing your mindset, which we’ll
discuss more later.

6. Don’t have the skills to pull it off

Maybe you’re not at all used to public speaking and haven’t learned the appropriate skills. In
this case, your anxiety is legitimate, but also easily fixable. All you need to do is prepare well
and learn some of the skills.

How to Deal with Public Speaking Anxiety

We’ve already provided some tips and tricks on how to deal with public speaking anxiety, but
there are certain things you can work on which will have a lasting impact. With help from
experts in our open steps, we’ve put together some information about how to improve your
confidence, change your mindset and implement relaxation techniques.

Learning about these things can not only help you with your public speaking anxiety, but
might benefit you with other forms of anxiety too, like more general social anxiety. Even if
you don’t explicitly suffer with anxiety, learning these things will help you become more
self-assured.

How to improve your confidence

In our open step about understanding self-confidence, Helen Kempster from Goldsmiths
University discusses how self-confidence is made up of two elements: self-efficacy and locus
of control. This comes from psychological research done by Judge, Locke and Durham in
1997, and is referred to as ‘Core Self Evaluation’.

1. Develop self-efficacy

The first part, self-efficacy, is about the belief you have in your ability to succeed in different
situations. Three factors affect your self-efficacy, and these are direct experience, observed
experience and social persuasion.

Direct experience is about being successful or unsuccessful when you try something new,
observed experience is about watching a role model succeed or fail in something, and social
persuasion refers to praise or criticisms from other people.
All of these things can affect your self-efficacy, and therefore your self-confidence. So, if you
want to be more confident, you should take these things into account. You should be open to
trying new activities and taking on responsibilities, you should find positive role models (in
friends and family, or online), and you should ask for feedback and constructive criticisms
from others.

2. Establish your locus of control

The second part, locus of control, is about your belief that you are able to influence situations
in your life, internally and externally. If you have an internal locus of control, you will have
more self-confidence, because you believe your own decision-making and personal attributes
determine how successful you are. People with an external locus of control believe external
factors are more influential, such as luck or circumstance.

Therefore, in order to cultivate an internal locus of control, you should focus on the things in
life that you have total control over, and create goals that relate to those things. You should
seek support from different places, whether that’s a therapist, online community or club.
Ultimately, you need to be aware that your choices matter, and that you have responsibility
over your life.

This isn’t to say, however, that external factors don’t matter. Discrimination in all forms can
impact the way a person views themselves, and it’s not your fault if you’re treated unfairly.
This approach merely encourages you to think about what you do have control over, and
focus on that.

How to change your mindset

In our open step about changing your mindset by Deakin University, experts provide tips on
how to rewire your thoughts into more positive ones. This approach can help you get over
public speaking anxiety by challenging your negative thought process, and is also a valuable
lesson for all areas of life.

When you’re about to give a presentation or talk and you’re feeling terrified, your inner critic
might start saying things like ‘I can’t do it’ and ‘I’m not good enough’. However, rather than
listening to your inner critic as unquestionable truth, you should stop and think about the
thought you’re having. If you acknowledge that it’s just a thought rather than a fact, you’ll
become more self-aware and less anxious.

Rather than completely shutting a thought like this down, it might be beneficial to replace this
thought with a more considered statement, like ‘This is difficult right now but it will get
easier’. This kind of reframed thought still acknowledges how you’re feeling, but isn’t
prepping for failure.
Learning breathing techniques

When you’re about to deliver a speech or begin an interview and you feel nervous, your
breathing is one of the first things that can be affected. This, in turn, can prevent you from
being able to talk confidently. If you haven’t got experience or training in proper breathing
techniques for speech, it can actually be difficult to breathe properly while you’re talking.

Rather than breathing normally, you need to breathe in enough air to sustain your speech
through long sentences. This requires you to breathe using your diaphragm, which also helps
relax you. Some techniques to try include lengthening your exhale, breathing through your
belly, and meditation exercises.

Mastering the Art of Public Speaking

Before the speech

The speech itself might be the scary part, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only part you should
pay attention to. Preparation is the key to success, and will make you feel so much more
relaxed and confident when it’s time to present.

Research your topic in detail

Whether you know a lot about the topic you’re talking about or it’s new to you, make sure
you do the research. It’s good to have some facts and evidence about the topic in order to
make you sound trustworthy and knowledgeable, but don’t overdo it.

If you truly understand your topic, you won’t need to completely memorise a speech, and
you’ll be able to improvise if you need to.

Know your message

In the planning stage, you should ask yourself, why are you giving this presentation? What is
the true purpose or message? Your idea should take centre stage, and you are merely the
platform presenting that idea to an audience.

In some cases, you might be making a speech because you want to enact change. If so, have
it in your head exactly what you want to happen after people hear your speech, and try to get
that across. Whether you want to encourage deep communication in education, or
improve public engagement with science, make sure you speak with intention.
Understand your audience

Who are you talking to, or rather, who do you want to reach? If you are talking to a specific
audience, make sure you target your speech towards them and make an effort to understand
them. Think about how formal or informal you should be, and make sure you consider being
inclusive and sensitive to a diverse audience.

This means not making inappropriate jokes, speaking clearly and concisely, and trying to
avoid things like sarcasm, which can cause misunderstandings. Of course, there may be some
exceptions to this – for example, if you’re performing a comedy sketch.

Create a structure

Having a structure to your speech can prevent it from becoming monotonous. Rather than it
all being the same tone, you can split it into sections such as an introduction, anecdotes, and a
call to action. Even just being aware of a clear beginning, middle and end can help make your
speech more interesting.

Practice until you feel confident

It may be the advice for everything, but that’s because it works. Practice really does make
perfect, and it prepares you for different scenarios that might happen in the real speech. Once
you’ve practiced enough times, it’ll feel so familiar that your nerves will settle quickly when
you actually speak in public.

Get constructive feedback

It can be scary to practice in front of other people, but if you can’t do that, then maybe you
shouldn’t be performing in front of a larger audience. Asking for feedback prepares you for
the idea that you’re being judged, and allows you to correct aspects of your speech and
performance.

During the speech

The speech is about to begin. What can you do throughout your speech to make sure it gets a
good reception? Here is some of our best advice.

Start and finish on time

This may sound simple, but it’s really important to start and finish on time. If you begin late,
the audience might get annoyed before you’ve even started, and if it drags on for too long, the
audience might lose interest.

Keep it entertaining
There are numerous ways to make sure your speech is entertaining, and this doesn’t mean it
can’t be on a serious topic. Besides trying not to repeat yourself or only reading from your
notes or slides, there are a few things you can try.

In this article about public speaking by Forbes, the writer suggests starting your speech with a
“grabber”, which is something like a personal story or shocking statistic that will immediately
get your audience engaged. It can also be a great tactic to follow a narrative, as an audience
member will find it easier to follow and stay interested. Storytelling can also be a great tool to
create social change.

Interact with your audience

In our open step from our course on how to become a better presenter, experts explain how to
interact with your audience effectively. They suggest that if you want audience members to
shout out, make sure you tell them, but perhaps leave it until the last quarter of the session so
there aren’t too many interruptions.

If you ask the audience questions, be prepared for jokey, irrelevant or inappropriate answers,
and make sure you have the tools to deal with that. Finally, volunteers are a great way to
include your audience – just make sure to choose someone who actually wants to join you.

General Tips

Be yourself

Audience members don’t want a perfect speaker with no flaws or mistakes. Instead, they
respond well to honesty, and you showing your personality. Even though confidence is
powerful, so is vulnerability, so don’t be scared to slip up. The audience don’t want you to
fail, in fact, they will probably empathise with any mistakes you make.

Even if you haven’t seen many speeches or presentations by someone like you before, that
doesn’t mean you don’t have something valuable to say.

There is no secret formula

The head of TED, Chris Anderson, makes a very good point about public speaking. There is
no secret formula that you must follow to succeed, and there are countless ways to deliver a
great presentation. You don’t have to follow any of the tips we’ve provided if you don’t want
to – these are just things you can consider if it’s useful to you. There are no rules about
presenting (unless you’re at work perhaps), so do what feel right to you and feel free to get
creative
Famous public speakers throughout history

1. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister during WW2. He understood his talent
of oratory and once wrote, “of all the talents bestowed on men, none is so precious as the
gift of oratory.”

When WW2 started and France was defeated, he gave his most inspirational speech “We
Shall Fight on the Beaches”. And when London was suffering from its worst
bombardment during the Blitz, his speeches motivated the British to “never surrender”.

In 1953, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in part for his speeches.

2. John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was the thirty-fifth president of the United States from 1961-63. His
speeches were very powerful and inspirational. His speech “We Choose to Go to the
Moon” is considered as one of the most influential to persuade the Americans for the
space expedition to the moon.

His speech at the Berlin wall in 1963 can also be considered one of the finest pieces of
oratory. Just a few months previously, the Soviet Union had built the Berlin wall.
Kennedy’s message to the west Berliners was to assure them of US support against the
threat of the communists in the east.
3. Socrates
Standing accused of crimes including corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates had a
choice: defer and apologize to his accusers for his alleged crimes, or reformulate their
scattered accusations into proper legal form and deliver an exhaustive defence for the
pursuit of truth, apologizing for nothing.
4. Adolf Hitler
He could hold the attention of millions as he spoke and, with a huge amount of charisma,
generated a strong following among Germans at the time.

Hitler was well aware that mastering the art of public speaking was crucial to his political
career and would spend hours upon hours rehearsing his speeches.

Hitler is an example of a leader who took advantage of his oratory skills and used them as
a power for war and genocide, resulting in the death of millions.

It's important for us to remember that, as public speakers, we have an ethical obligation to
use the power of public speaking for good - to use our skills to spread ideas and stories that
are beneficial to humankind.

5. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther was a black civil rights activist in the United States who fought against
racial discrimination. He always believed in non-violence and respect for humanity,
irrespective of colour, race or creed. His most famous speech, “I Have a Dream” has been
listen to by millions since he delivered it. Due to its powerful message, he got the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in the year 1997. King advanced civil rights for people of
colour in the United States through nonviolence and civil disobedience. Inspired by his
Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi, he led targeted,
nonviolent resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination. On
October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality
through nonviolent resistance.
6. Abraham Lincoln
The Civil War was a time of great divide, and at a moment where the fate of the country
was at stake, Abraham Lincoln emerged as a leader capable of bringing his nation’s
citizens back together. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave his most famous
speech and what is perhaps one of the greatest speeches ever delivered, “The Gettysburg
Address”. According to the Lincoln Memorial’s website, the speech lasted only two
minutes, but its impact lasted much longer.

7. Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was the first female British prime minister and used her aggressive
public speaking skills to win several elections and stay in office.
Margaret Thatcher was a conservative politician who had a powerful influence on politics
at the end of the Cold War years. In foreign affairs, she helped spread the idea of free
markets, fought the Falklands War and dealt with problems in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Thatcher was known for her argumentative or forensic communication style. One of
her best known catchphrases came during her party conference speech in Brighton in 1980
when she boldly defied her critics by saying: "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for
turning."
8. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Cicero was a Roman politician and lawyer, who served as consul in the year 63 BC. He
came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is considered
one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

He introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin
philosophical vocabulary, distinguishing himself as a linguist, translator, and philosopher.
An impressive orator and successful lawyer, he probably thought his political career his
most important achievement.
9. Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi is one of the world's great inspiring public speakers. Yet it wasn't always that way.
In fact in his early years, Gandhi was a terrified public speaker.

It has often been asserted that Gandhi’s impact on the people he met and spoke to was
simply electrifying. These people were not just freedom fighters and politicians, writers
and thinkers; Gandhi spoke to people living in slums, villagers, farmers, laborers and the
illiterate.

10. Swami Vivekananda Although Vivekananda was a powerful orator and writer in
English and Bengali, he was not a thorough scholar, and most of his published works were
compiled from lectures given around the world which were "mainly delivered [...] impromptu and
with little preparation". His main work, Raja Yoga, consists of talks he delivered in New York. He
is best known for his speech which began with the words "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in
which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.