Public Speaking week 2

three phases most people pass through when giving a public speech

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voluntary audience

A _____________________________ is willingly assembled to listen to a given message. As a rule, these audiences are much easier to address because they are interested in hearing the speech.

disposition

A person's general or natural mood; tendency

direct observation, inference, data collection

A speaker can connect with an audience through audience analysis by ________________, analysis by _____________, and __________________.

Audience analysis by direct observation/experience

All you really need to do for this method of observation is to examine your audience. It is, by far, the most simple of the three paradigms for "getting the feel" of a particular audience. It is a form of qualitative data gathering. We perceive it through one or more of our five natural senses —hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Knowledge that we acquire through personal experience has more impact on us than does knowledge that we learn indirectly. Knowledge acquired from personal experience is also more likely to affect our thinking and will be retained for a longer period of time. We are more likely to trust what we hear, see, feel, taste, and smell rather than what we learn from secondary sources of information.

- Allow sufficient time to prepare - Use presentational aids and positive self-talk - Practice your speech aloud - Dress up - Choose an appropriate time to speak - Face the audience with confidence - Focus on sharing the message

Along with the general anxiety-reducing strategies discussed, these techniques can be used prior to delivering a speech in public.

demographics

An audience analysis is when you consider all of the pertinent elements defining the makeup and demographic characteristics (also known as _____________________) of your audience

value hierarchy

Another method of finding out your audience's value set is to survey them according to their __________. This is a person's value structure placed in relationship to a given value set.

inference

Audience analysis by _____________ is merely a logical extension of your observations drawn in the audience analysis by direct observation/experience method.

inductive reasoning

Audience analysis by inference is a form of critical thinking known as ________________________, and another form of qualitative data gathering. An inference is when you make a reasoned tentative conclusion or logical judgment on the basis of available evidence. It is best used when you can identify patterns in your evidence that indicate something is expected to happen again or should hold true based upon previous experiences.

resultant condition

CA is what is known as a(n) ____________; and those who are dealing with the challenge will recognize different intensities associated with different situations or triggers. This means that overcoming the condition requires first that you recognize, and then minimize, the cause.

1. Identify objectively what you think 2. Identify any inconsistencies between perception and reality 3. Replace destructive thinking with supportive thinking

Cognitive Restructuring is a three-step, internal process. Those 3 steps are:

1. identify your fears. 2. analyze how rational those fears are. 3. develop positive coping statements to replace each negative self-talk statement. 4. incorporate the positive statements into your life so that they are second nature.

Cognitive restructuring involves four steps:

Negative Self-Talk

Cognitive symptoms of public speaking apprehension

Don't try to use words or phrases to "cuddle up" to one race or another. You would lose some credibility if you made a point in your speech and then said, "So get jiggy with it" or "You could enjoy that with your afternoon tea ceremony"

Demographic characteristic: Ethnicity (Dos or Don'ts)

Stay away from slang from one age range or another, like "OMG" or "the cat's pajamas"

Demographic characteristics: Age (Dos or Don'ts)

Even if you are speaking to an audience of college freshman, not everyone has had the same educational experiences. For example, some of the people in your class may have completed a high school equivalency program like the GED, some may be high school students who are taking a college class, some may have gone to secondary school in another country, some may be home-schooled, and some may have gone to a private honors-based prep school. You need to be careful not to talk down to your audience and not to use fancy sentences and words to try to impress your audience. Gauging the right level of communication for your speech is an important challenge.

Demographic characteristics: Education Level (Dos or Don'ts)

Use words that are not sex/gender-specific. Instead of policeman, fireman, and stewardess, use police officer, firefighter, and flight attendant. Do not use one-sex/gender pronouns, like assuming a teacher is a "she" and a dentist is a "he"

Demographic characteristics: Gender (Dos or Don'ts)

Some people in your audience will have more money than others. So if you keep fit by maintaining membership in a prominent gym and you take classes there also, don't assume everyone else can afford to do so. You can tell your audience what you do, but give them options like parking far from the store and working out with a yoga or Pilates CD at home.

Demographic characteristics: Income (Dos or Don'ts)

Unless you are speaking at a convention where everyone in your audience works in the same field, make your speech more explanatory. Your audience has not had extensive training in medical terms nor legal terms. So you need to explain what you are talking about, without using the big words which would make your audience feel confused, stupid, and put down.

Demographic characteristics: Occupaion (Dos or Don'ts)

Realize that your audience will likely have a wide variety of religions represented, and some people may have no religious or spiritual beliefs. So you can say that YOU read the Bible every night for 10 minutes, but that you are suggesting that everyone choose a religious or inspirational reading for pre-sleep relaxation

Demographic characteristics: Religion (Dos or Don'ts)

multicultural dimension

Demography looks at issues of race and ethnicity in a basic sense. However, in our increasingly diverse society, it is worthy to pay particular attention to the issue of speaking to a multicultural audience. Odds are that any real world audience that you encounter will have an underlying ________________________. As a speaker, you need to recognize that the perspective you have on any given topic may not necessarily be shared by all of the members of your audience. Therefore, it is imperative that you become a culturally effective speaker. Culturally effective speakers develop the capacity to appreciate other cultures and acquire the necessary skills to speak effectively to people with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Keep these factors in mind when writing a speech for a diverse audience

personal experiences, what has been witnessed

Developing the habitual frame of reference with regard to public speaking usually comes from a combination of _____________ and _________________.

increased self-awareness, a willingness to work on reducing its impact

Each individual deals with CA most effectively through _______________ __________________ and __ __________ __ ________ __ _______ ___ __________________. To conquer the nervousness associated with public speaking, one must identify the factors that lead to this anxiety, and then take specific steps to overcome this apprehension.

Feeling worried, anxious, or upset

Emotional symptoms of public speaking apprehension

interest and knowledge analysis

Finally, if the goal of your speech is to deliver a unique and stirring presentation, you need to know ahead of time if your audience is interested in what you have to say, and has any prior knowledge about your topic, thus you need to use this type of analysis as well.

understood, managed

It is normal to be nervous before you speak and, when _________ and _________ correctly, can result in a better speech than having no anxiety at all.

captive audiences

Many audiences are considered ________________ in that they have no real choice regarding the matter of hearing a given speech. In general, these are some of the most difficult audiences to address because these members are being forced to listen to a message, and do not have the full exercise of their own free will. This is an important factor to keep in mind when preparing your speech: some people simply do not want to listen to a speech they believe is compulsory.

multicultural analysis

Many people speak different languages, so if you are translating words, do not use slang or jargon, which can be confusing. This is part of a(n)

Visualization, Relaxation exercises, Systematic desensitization, Cognitive restructuring, Self-distancing self-talk

Methods for Reducing Public Speaking Apprehension

data collection

One excellent way to become informed about your audience is to ask them about themselves. In its most basic form, this is ____________________. Whenever possible, have conversations with them - interact with members of your audience - get to know them on a personal level (Where did you go to school? Do you have siblings/pets? What kind of car do you drive?) Through these types of conversations, you will be able to get to know and appreciate each audience member as both a human being and as an audience member. You will come to understand what interests them, convinces them, or even makes them laugh. You might arouse interest and curiosity in your topic while you also gain valuable data.

frame of reference

One's _______________ is the context, viewpoint, or set of presuppositions or evaluative criteria within which a person's perception and thinking seem always to occur; and which constrains selectively the course and outcome of these activities.

cognitive restructuring

Overcoming CA is as much a matter of changing one's attitude as it is developing one's skills as a speaker. A change in attitude can be fostered through a self-reflective regimen called ______________________ which is an internal process through which individuals can deliberately adjust how they perceive an action or experience

communicative interaction

People with higher levels of CA have demonstrated that they will avoid ________________________________________ in personal and professional relationships, social situations, and importantly, classrooms. Such avoidance can result in miscommunication and misunderstanding, which only becomes compounded by further avoidance. CA left unaddressed can even lead to a negative disposition toward public interaction, which leads to a lesser degree of engagement, thus perpetuating the fear and further compounding the situation. The anxiety creates a vicious cycle and becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy.

miscommunication, misunderstanding

People with higher levels of CA have demonstrated that they will avoid communicative interaction in personal and professional relationships, social situations, and importantly, classrooms. Such avoidance can result in ________________ and _________________, which only becomes compounded by further avoidance. CA left unaddressed can even lead to a negative disposition toward public interaction, which leads to a lesser degree of engagement, thus perpetuating the fear and further compounding the situation. The anxiety creates a vicious cycle and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

negative disposition toward public interaction

People with higher levels of CA have demonstrated that they will avoid communicative interaction in personal and professional relationships, social situations, and importantly, classrooms. Such avoidance can result in miscommunication and misunderstanding, which only becomes compounded by further avoidance. CA left unaddressed can even lead to a _____________ _______________ ______________ ______________ ________________, which leads to a lesser degree of engagement, thus perpetuating the fear and further compounding the situation. The anxiety creates a vicious cycle and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Flushed skin, sweating, shaking, stuttering, and rapid or pounding heartbeats

Physical symptoms of public speaking apprehension

Abdominal Breathing, Sighing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercises

Relaxation Techniques

- Ethnicity - Age - Sex/Gender - Income - Occupation - Religion - Education Level - Language - Culture - Background Knowledge - Needs/Interests - Previously Held Attitudes/Beliefs/Values

Some demographic characteristics include:

inborn

Some public speaking apprehension may be _________. Speaking anxiety may also result from past negative experiences with public speaking.

preparation

The best, most consistent and direct way to minimize the level of nervousness you feel is through effective _________.

communication apprehension

The fear of public speaking

direct observation

The following questions can be asked during which approach to audience analysis?How old are they? What racial mix does this audience have? Does their non-verbal behavior indicate that they are excited to hear this speech?

gathering demographic data, interpreting demographic data

The second category of audience analysis is demography . As mentioned before, demographics are literally a classification of the characteristics of the people. Whenever addressing an audience, it is general ly a good idea to know about its a ge, gender, major, year in school, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, et cetera. There are two steps in doing an accurat e demograp hic analysis: ______________________________ and ________________________________

ordered categories sampling method

The way to determine a person's value hierarchy is to use the _____________________________________ in which each audience member is given a list of values on a piece of paper, and each audience member writes these values on another piece of paper in order according to their importance to him/her. Each response is different, of course, because each audience member is different, but when analyzed by the speaker, common themes will present themselves in the overall data. Accordingly, the speaker can then identify with those common value themes

Unacquainted-audience presentations

These are speeches when you are completely unfamiliar with the audience and its demographics. In these cases, it is always best to try and find some time to sit down and talk with someone you trust (or even several people) who might be familiar with the given audience. These conversations can be very constructive in helping you understand the context in which you will be speaking.

Relaxation exercises

These help speakers calm themselves before a speech.

Situational Analysis

This category of audience analysis considers the situation for which the audience is gathered, namely why are they gathered in the first place (Are they willingly gathered to hear you? Did they pay to listen to you? Are they there against their will?) These factors are decisively important because they place a major responsibility on you as a speaker, whichever the case. The entire

Systematic desensitization

This involves having people perform anxiety-causing actions while remaining relaxed.

Cognitive restructuring

This involves replacing negative self-talk with positive self-talk.

Self-distancing self-talk

This involves talking to oneself in the second or third person.

uniqueness

This is when a topic rises to the level of being singularly exceptional in interest and knowledge to a given audience.

trait-anxiety

This is a type of anxiety that is aligned with an individual's personality. People who would call themselves "shy" often seek to avoid interaction with others because they are uncertain of how they will be perceived. Avoiding such judgment is generally not difficult, and so becomes a pattern of behavior. These folks, according to researchers, are likely view any chance to express themselves publicly with skepticism and hesitation. This personal tendency is what is known as ________________.

State-anxiety

This is a type of anxiety that is derived from the external situation which individuals find themselves.

Situational Analysis

This is concerned with why the audience is assembled in the first place

Likert-type testing

This method of observing your audience's attitudes is when you make a statement (on paper) and ask the respondent to gauge the depth ho sentiments (how strongly they feel one way or the other) toward that statement either positively, negatively, or neutrally. Typically, each scale will have 5 weighted response options (1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = neutral, 4 = disagree, 5 = strongly disagree) thus letting it do what other tests don't: measure the extent to whish he attitudes are held

Visualization

This reduces apprehension by helping speakers develop a mental picture of themselves giving a masterful speech.

scrutiny fear

This stems from an activity that does not necessarily involve interacting with other people, but is simply the fear of being in a situation where one is being watched or observed, or one perceives him or herself as being watched, while undertaking an activity.

basic questionnaire

This type of survey method is a series of questions advanced to produce demographic and attitudinal data from your audience. All you are looking for is a general read of your audience; you should not be looking for specific information about any respondent concerning your questionnaire in particular. It is a bulk sampling tool, only.

attitudes, beliefs, values

Three key variables in psycological description

True (Clearly, audience members should not be required to identify themselves by name on the basic questionnaire. Anonymous questionnaires are more likely to produce truthful information.)

True or False: Anonymous questionnaires are more likely to produce truthful information.

False (There are specific distinctions between "stage fright" -a term reserved for the common, virtually universal nervousness felt by everyone- and CA which is essentially "stage fright" with a corresponding emotional trauma attached.)

True or False: Stage Fright and Communication Apprehension are the same thing

True (The entire tone and agenda of your speech rests largely upon whether or not your audience even wants to hear from you.)

True or False: The entire tone and agenda of your speech rests largely upon whether or not your audience even wants to hear from you.

True (Audience analysis by data sampling requires you to survey your audience before you give your speech.)

True or False: The use of audience analysis by data sampling requires you to survey your audience prior to your speech in order to work effectively

False (A small Likert-type test will tell you where your audience, generally speaking, stands on issues as well as the degree to which they stand on said issues. The Likert-type test should be used when attempting to assess a highly charged or polarizing issue (controversial or causing controversy), because it will tell you, in rough numbers, whether or not your audience agrees with your topic.)

True or False: a Likert-type test should not be used before your speech to gague your audience's attitude if your speech's topic is controversial, but it may be used any other time.

False (We analyze our audience because we want to discover information that will help create a bond between the speaker and the audience. We call this bond "identification." Aristotle loosely called it "finding a common ground." This isn't a one-way process between the speaker and the audience; rather, it is a two-way transactional process. When you ask an audience to listen to your ideas, you are inviting them to come partway into your personal and professional experience as an expert speaker. And, in return, it is your responsibility and obligation to go partway into their experience as an audience. The more you know and understand about your audience and their psychological needs, the better you can prepare your speech and your enhanced confidence will reduce your own speaker anxiety)

True or false: Identification is a one-way transaction where the speaker reads the audience and adjusts accordingly.

cognitive, physical, emotional

Types of symptoms of public speaking apprehension include:

psychological description

Unless your selected speech topic is a complete mystery to your audience, your listeners will already hold "attitudes, beliefs, and values" toward the ideas you will inevitably present. As a result, it is always important to know where your audience stands on the issues you plan to address ahead of time. The best way to accomplish this is to sample your audience with a quick questionnaire or survey prior to the event. This is known as the third category of audience analysis, or _______________________________. When performing a description you seek to identify the audience's attitudes, beliefs, and values (Campbell & Huxman, 2003). They are your keys to understanding how your audience thinks.

data sampling

Unlike audience analysis by direct observation and analysis by inference, audience analysis by __________________ uses statistical evidence to quantify and clarify the characteristics of your audience. These characteristics are also known as variables , and are assigned a numerical value so we can systematically collect and classify them.

quantitative analysis, quantitative data collection.

Unlike audience analysis by direct observation and analysis by inference, audience analysis by data sampling characteristics of your audience. These characteristics are also known as variables , and are assigned a numerical value so we can systematically collect and classify them. They are reported as statistics, also known as ____________________ or ____________________. Statistics are numerical summaries of facts, figures, and research findings.

identification

We analyze our audience because we want to discover information that will help create a bond between the speaker and the audience. We call this bond "____________________."

public presentation skills

We sometimes model (imitate) behavior we have seen before, or past responses to our behavior reinforce (shape) our expectations about what will happen in the future. The lack of _______________________________ can also cause anxiety in many speakers.

direct observation

You have to deliver a persuasive speech about boycotting farm-raised fish. You decide to conduct a short attitudinal survey to discover what your audience thinks about the topic, if they eat farm-raised fish, and if they believe it is healthy for them. This is is a ______________ approach to audience analysis.

cognitive restructuring, experience

both the presence of state-anxiety, and the appearance of scrutiny fear, can be effectively addressed through the application of ____________ and careful, deliberate ______________.

Biologically based temperament, Previous experience, Level of skills

causes of public speaking apprehension

Distracting facial expressions, Babbling, Mechanical speaking

effects of public speaking apprehension

apprehensive

fearful or anxious, especially about the future

language, cognition, ethnocentricity, values, communication styles

multicultural analysis variables

to embed within your message the acceptable parameters of your audience's range of needs.

purpose of doing demographics:

apprehension

some degree of ____________ can make us better public speakers because it is an indication that we want to perform well.

prepare well, visualize success, breathe and release, minimize what you memorize, practice out loud, customize your practice,

techniques for building confidence

1. the situational analysis 2. the demographic analysis 3. the psychological analysis 4. the multicultural analysis 5. the topic interest and prior knowledge analysis

the five categories of audience analysis are:

Trait-anxiety, State-anxiety, Scrutiny fear

the three types of communication apprehension

paradigms

there are three overarching methods (or "______________") for doing an audience analysis: audience analysis by direct observation, audience analysis by inference, and audience analysis through data collection. Once you get to know how these methods work, you should be able to select which one (or even combination of these methods) is right for your circumstances.

True

true or false: Public speaking apprehension gradually decreases for most of us as we speak.

True (So, should you write any prepared comments at all? Yes, of course ,you should. Specifically, the feedback you should be most concerned with will happen during the body of the speech - when you are discussing the substance of your presentation. It is during the body of the speech when you need especially to retain the ability to adjust to how your audience reacts. Thus, memorizing your entire speech is ultimately detrimental to your ability to react to your audience. However, during the introduction and conclusion of your speech, the primary concerns are about connecting with your audience personally; which is something best assured through consistent eye contact. So, carefully preparing the introduction and the conclusion of your speech is a smart strategy - but don't make the mistake of scripting everything that you plan to say. The best rule here: Minimize what you memorize - familiarize instead!)

true or false: you should not memorize your main points and evidence as if it were a script, but rather familiarize yourself with your topic

the feeling of being the center of attention (as if you are under some collective microscope with everybody's eyes on you) and the feeling that the audience is just waiting for you to make a mistake or slip up somehow and that their disapproval will be swift, immediate, and embarrassing.

two of the most common sources of apprehension are