Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Public Speaking

Hi gang! Here are my thoughts on a few of your questions - I grouped them together. You should be on step 5 of the writing process now where you're working on your body paragraphs. Always keep in mind your MAIN IDEA about your topic as your writing your SUPPORTING DETAILS Remember to stop periodically and time yourself reading the entire speech. Your speech should be 3-5 minutes in length.

Below my answers are a couple more links to more examples of effective public speaking. ENJOY!

Questions Group 1: Usefulness of Public Speaking

Does public speaking help other aspects of learning or education? Does it help us to absorb more information more efficiently?
Is public speaking essential in everyday life?
Is public speaking important in many types of jobs? How can someone become a better public speaker?

A: Public speaking is a great skill to learn and hone for your personal, academic, and professional lives. In your personal life, good public speaking skills can help you become more comfortable voicing your opinion about things. People like to hang out/talk to people who have interesting things to say and can say them in a clear and creative way. So socially, good public speaking skills can help you make new friends and sustain your relationships as you practice talking out your problems with friends.

In your academic life, public speaking can help you with memorization and presentation. The act of memorizing a speech helps you create your own personal memorization method. While learning is not all about memorizing facts if we don't have to go searching for the answer all the time we will be more productive. Also, you'll be required to give presentations all throughout high school and university. Learning how to get your ideas out clearly and concisely is a very useful skill.

In your professional life you'll use public speaking skills on a regular basis; whether you're talking to customers, addressing your boss and colleagues, or in interview settings.


Questions Group 2: Writing and Organizing Ideas

How many points or supporting details should we have in our speech?
How should the speech be organized?
What do people look for in a speech? Generally speaking, what makes it good?

A: People like things in small packages. It's better to have a few really well developed supporting details than a whole bunch of undeveloped, disparate ideas. So, identify your MAIN IDEA about your topic then think of three SUPPORTING DETAILS you can explore in detail. Do a bit of research to back up your ideas: grab a few facts and interesting points from Wikipedia or other sources.

You should organize your speech like this:
Introduction: Catch the audience's attention and introduce your topic and MAIN IDEA about the topic
Body: Three supporting details - your best one in the middle. Relate each back to your MAIN IDEA?
Conclusion: Restate your main idea in different words and sum up what your supporting details said about your main idea - should only be a couple of sentences.

What makes a good speech? Think of some of the clips we've watched or the people you think deliver good speeches. What makes them effective/successful? The common denominator is probably enthusiasm for your MAIN IDEA. People want to listen to someone who is passionate about their subject. Find the things you are interested in about your topic and explore those, your interest will reflect in your writing and your confidence in your speaking.

Here's more videos!

Rick Mercer

Chris Anderson on the brilliance of Youtube

Kiran Bedi on the Power of Women

No comments:

Post a Comment