Summary (^27)
- Make a list of your top ten suggestions for overcoming public speaking anxiety. For
instance, your list might start with knowing how to create a speech, because you’re
always less comfortable when you don’t know what to do. Develop a personal strategy
for dealing with your anxiety.
APPLiCAtion ExERCiSES- Work with a group to analyze your classroom audience, using the suggestions on
pages 16 and 17. Then discuss some adaptations you might make to speak success-
fully to your class. For instance, how might your classmates influence your choice of
topics? How might you adapt to diversity? How might the classroom itself, the time of
day of the class, and other outside factors affect your speaking? - Often persuasive speeches require informing, and informational speeches have per-
suasive effects. Take, for example, the same general topic of study abroad programs.
An informative speech could describe the various study abroad opportunities on
campus; a persuasive speech could urge audience members to study abroad. With a
small group of your classmates, identify at least three other topics and write down an
informative goal and a persuasive goal for each. - Classroom speakers generally use extemporaneous delivery; however, the other
modes of delivery are sometimes more appropriate. With a group of classmates, write
down the four modes: memorized, manuscript, impromptu, and extemporaneous.
Beside each, identify specific instances in which that mode would probably be the
most effective. For instance, impromptu delivery goes with many wedding toasts;
manuscript delivery works with commencement addresses. After you have identified
several examples, discuss with your group some guidelines that you think speakers
should follow for each type of delivery. - Memory is often considered the “lost” rhetorical canon because so little emphasis
is placed on memorization in our digital age. Discuss these questions in your class:
Is there any value in learning how to memorize speech information? If so, when and
where might memorization be useful?
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