Public Speaking Chapter 4: Listening Skills

culprits behind poor listening

- unprocessed note taking - non-listening - argumentative listening - interruptive listening - agenda-driven listening - nervous listening

agenda-driven listening

focusing so much on what comes next in the speech you pay little attention to audience members - annoys audience members and damages credibility

nervous listening

feeling compelled to talk through silences makes it difficult to gather and interpret information

why listen?

good listening can: - improve a speaker's connection with the audience by helping him or her respond to feedback - help an audience member absorb information and critically evaluate claims

hearing vs. learning

hearing is passive reception listening means actively paying attention to the message

becoming a better listener

improve your interactive listening skills by: - filtering out distractions (blocking internal noise) - focusing on the speaker - showing that you are listening (verbals and non-verbals)

processing

involves actively thinking about both verbal and nonverbal messages and cues allows a listener to make better decisions with the information

listening

it is an important skill for speakers good listening can help: - during the research process - during practice when you receive feedback - during your speech as the audience gives you feedback

listening while in the audience

providing a speech critique can help you and the speaker a good critique provides constructive criticism: - take notes - identify main points - consider speech's objectives

interrruptive listening

when one person consistently interrupts another - audiences can interrupt to derail a speaker - speakers can also interrupt audiences, cutting off a question or comment all interruptive listening is: - rude - limits listening - decreases credibility and goodwill

retention

your ability to remember what you have heard