PUBLIC SPEAKING

1. Differentiate public speaking from persuasion and conversation

Public speaking is a process of designing and delivering a message to the audience, it is also a
formal and deliberate method to inform, entertain or influence a group of people in a public
gathering well. Persuasion is a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other
people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a
message in an atmosphere of free choice.” In other words, persuasion is a method of getting
someone to do, believe or accept something by means of the words you use. It involves
reasoning with the listener, using sound arguments or a compelling entreaty to persuade.
Persuasion is the art of convincing others to give favorable attention to our point of view.
Persuasion “encompasses a wide range of communication activities, including advertising,
marketing, sales, political campaigns, and interpersonal relations.” Because of its widespread
utility, persuasion is a pervasive part of our everyday lives.

Conversation is an informal and spontaneous form of communication between two or more

people who exchange information such as news, ideas and feelings usually in a private setting. In
contrast, conversation or talking is more casual and interactive. Conversation offers opportunities
for more than one person to talk.

2. Discuss on the similarities and differences between public speaking and conversation.

Structured and Unstructured: The main difference between Public Speaking and Conversation is
that, the former is structured, while the latter is Unstructured. A topic for a speech is
predetermined by the speaker or by the event. In other words, there is a clear objective that a
speaker must achieve in the end. In order to achieve this objective a speaker will use an obvious
opening, body and conclusion with a logical flow to transition from one idea to another. On the
other hand, conversations are free-flowing and devoid of structure. The topic of conversation
may or may not be set, and can usually meander into unrelated territory as the conversation
progresses.

Formal Language and Informal Language: Between Public Speaking and Conversation, the
language used is relatively formal in Public Speaking. While modern public speakers tend to use
informal language and colloquialism to connect with the audience better, the language is still
much more refined compared to a normal conversation. Take the following example. While you
can see colloquialism in both the speech and the conversation, language used in the speech is
refined and relatively formal.

Deliberate and Spontaneous: Public Speaking is deliberate, Practiced ahead of time and carefully
planned. Conversation is spontaneous and the complete opposite. When delivering a speech, the
speaker will usually have time to write, edit and practice the speech. A speech may be delivered
by reading the script, dictating a memorized script, or by using an extemporaneous method. Even
in extemporaneous speech – a speaker carefully and deliberately chooses his or her words to
deliver a predetermined message. In contrast, a conversation does not have a pre-planned script
and is not rehearsed.

Clearly Defined roles and Fluid roles: Public speaking has a formally recognized speaker who
takes center stage and an audience who is focused on that one speaker. In conversation, the focus
varies from one person to the other. While one person could be dominating the conversation at
one instance – another could easily steal it.

Time-bound and Non-time-bound: Speeches are time bound. Their timing is determined in
advance while Conversations can be brief or may never end. A speaker, who prepares for a 5
minute speech on one topic, will prepare much differently for a 45 minute speech on the same
topic. These time limits are assigned to the speaker ahead of time – which influences what will
be said and how deep the speaker will dwell into the topic. In a conversation, however, a
participant can go on and on if they so desire. Setting aside that a person may not have any
friends after a 1 hour rant, a conversation has no agreed time boundaries. You go on until you’re
done…or until everyone leaves.

Event Driven and Channel Driven: For Public Speaking to happen you need an event, for a
Conversation to happen you need a channel. For example – conversations can happen face to
face, over the phone, via text, via chat groups, social media or via email. As long as there is a
channel of communication, a conversation can be established. For Public Speaking to happen,
however, it requires an event with a live public gathering. Because, though you can speak to a
friend over text, you cannot text a speech.
Skill to Interact and Obligation to Interact: A conversation thrives on interaction. Once
something is said there’s always a responsibility upon the other person to reciprocate, verbally or
non-verbally, or else the conversation dies until you hear crickets chirp. It isn’t a passive activity.
Because you are obliged to interact, in a conversation, it is hard not to pay attention. On the
flipside, Interaction between the speaker and the audience, during Public Speaking, is optional.
Speakers control this as per their comfort. There is no obligation upon the audience to react or
respond to what a speaker is saying either. It is up to the speaker to use his/her skill to get them
engaged – and this responsibility is purely upon the speaker. Some speakers use games,
rhetorical devices, Q&A sessions and other techniques to encourage interaction while others
keep reading off a script with little to no effort. The worst thing to do in public speaking,
however, is to not encourage interaction. This will send your audience to sleep faster than horse
tranquilizer in their coffee. It is easy to be distracted when you have nothing to contribute. That
is why it is a skill of a good public speaker to keep you engaged even if you have no obligation
to reciprocate or interact.

What you say is tailored to your audience: for effective conversation and public speaking, you
must know your audience. What you say and what you do not say must be curated to suit those
who are present, their interests, their culture and level of comprehension. Maintaining etiquette:
A formality, conventions, friendliness, politeness, nuances based on culture and politics is
essential when it comes to speech and conversation. It must be sensible: Communication of any
form needs to make sense. If not, it becomes useless and incomprehensible. Being meaningful
makes the difference between good and great; a Speech with meaning and a conversation with
meaning make a great impact. People remember it for a long time.

They both Use verbal and Para verbal communication (Multimodal): In both the expression of
meaning comes not only through words that are pronounced, but also the vocal variety and body
language (hand gestures, facial expressions, pauses, pitch, eye contact. etc.)

Both public speaking and conversation involve adapting to listeners’ feedback: In both instances
you must feed off the non-verbal or verbal energy of the audience and constantly tweak your
approach on your feet to sustain interest. This is mostly done unconsciously in a conversation but
consciously in a public speaking setting. Emphasis on audience-speaker similarities: a great
conversationalist will make you feel like they are like you. Because we like people who are like
us, it is a great way to connect with an audience. A public speaker will come to a common
ground with the audience to establish rapport. This is the only way a lawyer can speak to an
audience of engineers successfully or vice versa.

3. Discuss if public speaking is a gift and explain some of the causes of nervousness when
in front of a group of people.

Public speaking is not a gift but a skill. How, because it has different types of public speaking
and they all come out different.

a. Informative Public Speaking Informative public speaking is a speech or presentation that

aims to convey information. For example: lecturers give material, talk on radio and
television. A speech that provides knowledge about a person, an animal, or an object is
known as informative speech.
b. Persuasive public speaking is conversation that seeks to influence or convince the audience
to do or not do something. This type of public speaking can also be used to promote
products or services. Persuasive can be interpreted as an activity that is performed by
someone either spoken or written to influence others to do something desired by the speaker
or writer.
c. Public Speaking Entertaining: This style of public speaking is intended to be entertaining.
The speaker tries to create an exciting mood in this form of public speaking. Entertaining
speaking is one whose sole purpose is to have the audience enjoy the presentation. This type
of public speaking is deliberately designed to entertain. In this type of public speaking, the
speaker tries to build an atmosphere of excitement.

Some of the causes of nervousness when in front of group of people.

a. Self-consciousness in front of large groups. This is the most frequently named reason for
performance anxiety. Speech coaches often hear: "I'm fine talking to small groups, but
when it's a large audience I get really anxious." Two strategies will help: (1) Remember
that the people in a big audience are the same ones you talk to individually, and (2)
Concentrate on just talking to them, not "presenting". You'll be at your best.
b. Fear of appearing nervous. Do you fear that you'll look fearful? Many speakers do. It's
easy, then, to believe that if the audience sees those nerves, they'll think you don't know
 your topic. But of course the two aren't linked. When you see that a speaker is nervous,
don't you sympathize, rather than making a judgment on that person's professionalism? If
anything, your audience will extend you sympathy not resistance.
c. Concern that others are judging you. The tough-love message here is that people really
don't care about you. They're in the audience to get something out of your lecture,
presentation, or speech. They want their time to be well spent. Watching a speaker fail is
embarrassing for everyone. So the audience is actually pulling for you!
d. Past failures. Public speaking anxiety is often learned behavior. That is, at some point in
the past you failed, and the seed of self-doubt was planted. But if you know your stuff
and are prepared this time, there's no reason for things to go south like they did in the
long ago. Not unless you insist that will happen, and believe it. Plan to succeed instead.
e. Poor or insufficient preparation. See #4 above. If you haven't done your homework
(including knowing your audience), there's no reason you should succeed. Blame nobody
but yourself. Nothing undermines public speaking confidence like being unprepared. But
nothing gives you as much confidence as being ready. Your choice.
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