Principles of public speaking
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| Principles of public speaking |
Many of the precepts of public speaking are as old as the beginnings of science and art, but research within the last thirty years has brought new viewpoints to the field.
This book, therefore, retains a conventional framework while in- corporating the conclusions of the latest available research. Much new material appears, particularly in the chapters devoted to ethical appeal, confidence, and operational reasoning; some modifications of the purely traditional approaches will be found in every chapter. In writing the book I have had in mind the needs of those beginning students who have had some prior speech experience, or have a strong desire to improve their speaking skills.
What is presented here will be adequate, I believe, either for the traditional full course in public speaking or for special classes of beginning students who have had high school or college training in speech. Much of the material has been tested with and proved useful for adult classes as well. Part I is an introduction, discussing communication in modern society and speech preparation in general. Chapter 2 of Part I is designed to give a condensed review of basic materials and probably should be among the first assigned. Part II is an analysis of conditions and considerations as these vary with audience and occasion. Part III covers materials —selection, sources, analysis— and the use of language in presenting them. Part IV, The Speech, discusses appeal, intellectual support, persuasion, and technical organization and development.
The final part deals with public speaking from the point of view of the speaker himself and includes a chapter, written by Edward R. Robinson, on increasing confidence.
One of the greatest documents in the history of man is the Constitution of the United States and its accompanying Bill of Rights. One of the most important freedoms set forth by the Constitution is the freedom of speech. The First Amendment, as proposed on March 4, 1789, reads: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.
Many men and women have fought and died for the right to exercise that freedom— Socrates, St. Paul, and Joan of Arc, to mention only three. There have always been people willing to give their lives, if necessary, for the right to speak in defence of their convictions. May it always be so.
At no time in history has there been a greater opportunity for the exchange of ideas through the communication of all forms than at the present. Never before was it possible for so few to influence so many? It is not at all unusual now for a speaker before a microphone to have his voice transmitted to all parts of the world. In fact, a number of speakers have had audiences estimated in excess of a hundred million persons.
Never before has our interlocking system of communications been so complex nor so complete. With the tremendous growth of communications and the accompanying technological improvements, with their gifts of more leisure time, more comforts in life, and greater opportunities for knowledge, there came a sharply defined responsibility. When the atomic age gave man the power to annihilate himself, it gave him the parallel responsibility of controlling that power. Such control must be born in the minds of men— in their ideas, their concepts of right and justice, and their abilities to communicate these ideas to their fellow men.
A fully competent member of modern society should be able to explain ideas to others— to develop their meaning and significance— and to solicit support in effecting needed solutions. Such is the essence of communication. Since man now possesses the means of self-annihilation, it is imperative that communicative skills Likewise be developed. Significant factors have contributed to the need for effective speech: the development of the great networks of communication— telephone, telegraph, radio, and television, the daily newspaper, motion pictures, magazines, especially the news magazine; the improvement of transportation, especially airborne; the utilization of psychological warfare as an adjunct to or substitute for shooting wars; the independence of formerly subjugated nations concurrent with increasingly widespread concepts of democracy and the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities of the individual; the higher literacy rate and resultant capacity to form individual opinions; the improving standards of living with accompanying increases of leisure time; and the staggering amount of advertising designed to create wants and modify beliefs.
Some contents:
Introduction
1 Communicating in Modern Society ... 3
2 Preparation and Delivery 21
Part II
The Audience
The Audience
3 Planning for the Audience and Occasion . . 45
Part ill
Materials
Materials
4 Selecting the Speech Purpose, Topic, and Title 69
5 Finding Materials 91
6 Analyzing and Arranging Materials . . . 106
7 Language for Gaining Response .... 127
Part IV
The Speech
The Speech
8 Appeal Through Ethos 161
9 Appeal Through Emotion 179
10 Intellectual Support— Reasoning Traditionally. 202
11 Intellectual Support— Reasoning Operationally. 227
12 Persuading 243
13 Developing the Speech 261
14 Concluding, Beginning, and Bridging . . . 273
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