In this Chapter there were a lot of important tips about how to give a professional and concise speech and how to establish a connection with your audience. This chapter started off by explaining the significance of public speaking and why it is crucial for any career path you want to follow stating that “it is a crucial skill for anyone who wants to take an active role in life.” That statement made me think about public speaking differently. Before I really only viewed public speaking as professional speeches but now I can see that it’s so much more than that. Another quote that stood out to me was “Public speaking also offers you ways to enter public conversation about social concerns”. This connected with me because when I get out of college I want to be a documentary filmmaker who makes documentaries about pressing environmental and social justice issues. In order to get my ideas across in my films I need to practice and perfect my public speaking abilities. The section where it talked about the Parkland Florida shooting inspired me to know how the survivors were able to stand up and use their public speaking abilities to make a change. It reminded me of the Climate change and conservation advocates that I look up to like Gretta Thunberg and David Attenbrorogh and how they have used Public Speaking to educate others. That’s exactly what I want to do someday: use mass communication to educate people and make a change environmentally. To do that I must learn how to connect and interact with people with all different cultures and identities.
The first thing I the chapter I noticed and found interesting was the skills employers rate a most important. Number 4 and 5 both relate to commutation skills with one focusing on verbal skills and the other focusing on the writing skills which can both go hand and hand on communication. The other skills mentioned all connecting with having good communication for the right communication to help or display what is needed for example leadership and problem solving. Another topic mentioned in the chapter was the demonstration of respecting difference in opinions and ideas. I liked how they talk about the connection of the audience and how important that is to public speaking. It was also interesting to hear about trying to incorporate all needs and ideas to build the best connecting to the audience as possible. This chapter also highlights the importance of feedback which I believe is the best way to grow if all parties take it seriously. Feedback can help gain the ability to make the best speakers even better. Some of the best talkers in the world, in my opinion, always had a spark however every single time they talked, they got better and better as a speaker and delivering their message.
One of the things that drew me in right off the bat was that preamble at the beginning about the importance of developing the skill of public speaking. Specifically, when they talk about civic engagement opportunities and how important it is for democracies and republics. Recent events have made it obvious that politics will be impossible to ignore, and having the skills to be able to not only engage in politics, but have the ability to lead conversations as well will be indispensable. The main “takeaway” I guess you could say is that I should focus on the 5 canons of rhetoric. Those being Intention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Of those 5, I think the ones that I will need to focus on the most are arrangement and style. I specify arrangement because of a constant through most of my life. I’ve been told that I have good ideas for a lot of my life, but I always run into a problem regarding putting those ideas out there. Whether that be from mind to paper or to speech. Developing skills to better organize and state those ideas that I have would be a great place for me to develop my skills. And tying into that style, being able to work on that section of presentation, or at the very least, have someone to vet it, would be appreciated. My presentation has a section focusing on that, specifically how straightforward I am in my speech.
Chapter one talks a lot about how you want to present yourself, for future you. In the beginning, it talks about enhancing your career, being able to speak confidently in front of your classmates will impress your professor and some of your classmates will tend to look up to you. When looking for references for future jobs, you can ask that specific professor and that will look great on your future resume, as public speaking is a hard skill, something that you are not born with. An important topic that was brought up was how authoring an essay and writing a speech are similar, which I have never thought of before. They both need a grasping introduction, to keep the audience’s attention, a clear thesis, supporting ideas and a thoughtful conclusion. Knowing this now, will help me write out my speeches for the future, so thank you book! Another significant element to keep in mind with public speaking is how you practice the words you want to use, and how you want to phrase them. This will help with the interactive communication process.
This process is remarkably interesting to me, as the book had a diagram; the source of information is the sender which creates the message, then encoding is the process of thoughts into words (practicing), the reviewer is the audience that then interprets the senders’ message, then decodes the message. The overall goal of public speaking within this chapter, that I have seen, is that you want context and goals. Context conclude anything that influences the speakers course f information, and the goal is what you want the audience to learn or do because of the speech you give.
Warren Buffett said, “Be sure to do it, whether you like it or not, do it until you get comfortable with it.” This is one of the first things that stuck out to me when reading the chapter. He said this about public speaking because it is something that makes most people uncomfortable, but the only way to become better at it and more comfortable with it, is to do it even when you do not want to. Chapter 1 really focused on why public speaking is important and how to become better at it. Public speaking is one of the top five skills that employers look for when hiring because it is an “unmistakable edge professionally.” The chapter also made note that no one is born with the ability to publicly speak. It also compared public speaking to writing. Some similarities are that a good speech, like a good writing piece, has an intended audience, research, credible sources, effective and smooth transitions, persuasive appeals, a compelling introduction, clear thesis statement, supporting ideas, and a thoughtful conclusion. Some tips when writing a speech are to make sure that your sentences are clear and can be easily understood by the audience. Listeners want to be able to follow what you say and understand it, not just hear it. Listeners also want to know how the speaker feels about the topic. To do this the speaker can add specific references to themselves and the audience directly. It is also important to demonstrate respect for your audience. Overall the chapter was an introduction on what public speaking is and how to become better at it.
Chapter 1 highlights the importance of public speaking as a vital life skill, especially in the professional world and regarding being a good citizen. This connects to me because I anticipate having to give public presentations and attend conferences if I pursue a pharmaceutical research career. Successful interviews are also essential when finding a job and being accepted into the pharmacy program. Public speaking also provides a platform to voice societal concerns in constructive arguments. The canons of rhetoric are essential tools in the creation of effective speeches. I find it fascinating that thousands of years ago people were also grappling with the problem of how to be a good public speaker. A point I found interesting was that public speaking shares similarities with everyday conversations, emphasizing the need to adjust content to the audience, topic, and occasion. This makes the process less intimidating for me as I can try to pretend that I’m simply having a conversation with a friend instead of a whole room of bored-out-of-their-minds students staring at me as I try not to stumble on my words. Also, understanding the importance of composition skills will help in preparation and organization, which will be the key for me to deliver effective speeches. I appreciated the part on respective cultural and identity differences. This aspect is key to fostering a genuine connection with your audience. My biggest takeaway, and the one I connected with the most, is that public speaking is a purposeful process involving a message with a specific goal/purpose. Reflecting on my first outline draft, I realized my struggle stemmed from lacking a clearly defined goal or intention for what I wanted to say.
The first chapter of the assigned reading started off stating the importance of public speaking and the areas that you can improve in by learning such a vital skill. With a better understanding of how to improve your public speaking and putting newfound skills into practice, you’re able to build a solid foundation that can be applied to any situation that involves speaking to a group of people. It states that with better confidence and communication abilities, it helps lots of people begin or join conversations that cover more sensitive subjects that many people would have trouble even finding where to start talking about that specific topic. Later in the chapter it goes over being able to take your audience into consideration when selecting which words to use if talking about a touchy subject to not offend an audience member and keeping a level of respect. A part of the chapter that I didn’t expect to see was all the different forms of communication which included Dyadic, small group, mass communication, and public speaking, which went over their similarities and differences between each other and I wouldn’t have thought there were smaller forms of communication when thinking about public speaking, because to me public speaking was speaking to any amount of people while in public, not specifically having a large audience or an audience in common.
The first chapter covers a basis of what becoming an efficient public speaker means, how it changes a person for the better, and its origins. The chapter reflected on the opportunities being an effective communicator provides to an individual, commenting on how communication skills are on of the top skills an employer looks to higher on. This is due to the ability to connect to audiences, such as customers or colleagues on a deeper level. There is also a reflection piece in the chapter regarding politics, speaking on how major reform issues require a speaker with power and skill to properly connect to an audience. This can be seen in Greek and Roman times, where politicians who spoke with great skill would preach in public spaces called the agora. I connected with this, as even in daily life I think most can relate to the power of a good speaker. In classrooms, a teacher who has the ability to connect with their students increases engagement, likeability, and therefore the desired outcome for the speaker. This is a skill I want to adapt, as this ability in the workplace and in the classroom has a countless number of benefits. Being able to properly express my wants and opinions – to let’s say a meeting in the pharmacy for example – holds extreme importance for patient outcomes, and possibly for my coworkers.
Maxine Sexton
Effective Public Speaking
Professor Miller
17 January 2025
Journal 1
In chapter 1 of A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking, the authors make it clear how important public speaking is as a life skill. It is something that most everyone will have to do, so it is a good skill to practice and become comfortable with. Getting good at public speaking can help you professionally, since oral communication is one of the main things employers look for. Practicing public speaking can also help you as a student, because it will help you prepare for presentations you may have to do in other courses. Learning effective public speaking skills will also help you be more involved as a citizen, making it easier for you to speak about issues you are concerned about. It is also mentioned that the Roman orators came up with the five-step process of writing a speech, which is still used and taught today. The authors also explain that you can draw on conversational skills when publicly speaking, like understanding your audience. You can also draw on writing skills when publicly speaking, like doing research and having evidence in your speech. You can also use writing skills such as organizing your speech and having good transitions. Public speaking should also be different from writing or a conversation. You need to remember that you are talking to a crowd and not just one person, therefore you need to be sensitive to the possible diversity in the audience. Public speaking is seen as a form of communication, where someone is delivering a speech for a reason and the audience is engaged in the topic. Public speaking is also an interactive form of communication, where the speaker puts in effort to what they are saying and the audience receives the message in their own way.
After reading the first chapter, I realized that public speaking is beyond delivering the speech: it is a process of interactions between the speaker, audience, and message. The chapter developed the importance of the elements of communication. It was quite a revelation to realize that public speaking is not a monologue; it is a two-way process. Feedback and response from the audience shape the effectiveness of the speech. However, the impressive one was audience-centered communication. I have always thought that knowing the audience makes quite a difference, but this chapter helped me understand that even the content and delivery of the speech are dictated by them. To keep their interest, a message that appeals to the values, interests, and needs of all those present is crucial. That is what I should always keep in mind whenever I make future speeches. I also noted the discussion of ethical considerations; being bounded by truthfulness and respect reminded me how easily an audience can be manipulated to build up credibility and trust in speeches. The last one that really helped me was the section about overcoming nervousness. It was that nervousness being normal for a speaker; it can be turned into energy.
In Chapter One of the textbook, the key points covered are the importance of public speaking, the history of public speaking, then it develops into the essentials of writing a speech and how to analyze an audience. At the beginning of the reading, it talks about how important public speaking is to have as a skill by using examples from surveys, employers and influential people to provide evidence about how it is a core part of how people can communicate and be productive. An important use of public speaking mentioned was when after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, a group of high schools used their voices to advocate for more gun control laws in the state which were passed by the lawmakers. The chapter then transitions to how public speaking gained its importance. The foundations used in speeches today were founded in Athens, Greece during the fifth century B.C.E. and speeches were developed there because their democratic system allows public speaking to flourish. Scholars in Athens broke down the speeches using the stages of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Those steps are the core part in every speech and have stayed that way and are still used in today’s speeches. The final transition that the text takes is about how you can use those stages and additional methods in your speeches so you are heard and taken seriously by the audience. Methods like knowing and interacting with the audience through the use of shared meaning are some of the best ways to accomplish what you want the audience to understand what you are trying to say.
As a person who sometimes struggles with self confidence, I found reading the first chapter quite interesting and insightful for many reasons. First, I found reading pages 2-4 quite interesting because they reflected upon all the various reasons that being able to speak effectively and communicate is what makes up a functioning society, and that for me, is something that really helped gain a whole new perspective on many things, including the reason I even chose to take this course in the first place, is because I wanted to better understand how to communicate effectively and to push myself outside of my comfort zone to learn, adapt and grow as a person. Secondly, I found the pages 6-8 interesting because they went into depth on the different types of speaking that we mostly do within our daily lives, explaining that depending on the number of people we communicate to at once, our relationship with said people, and the context all play a part in the way we communicate with our peers. Lastly, something that I took away from the entirety of the first chapter was all the effort that goes into the creation of and performance of a speech. For example, wanting to resonate with the audience in order to acquire and retain their attention is crucial, along with the importance of adjusting your speech patterns to coordinate with what is being said are all things that I took away from the first chapter.
One of the main things that stuck with me from chapter 1 is that public speaking is a very important life skill. While, of course, I knew this before, reading the text really helped reinforce that idea for me. Since that was the main thing that stuck with me, one of the things I felt was really important was the idea that good public speaking skills can help with civic engagement. Especially in times like these, being able to speak up about what we believe in in an effective way is very important. Actually seeing it stated in an assigned reading, that if you want to make change, public speaking is maybe one of the most vital tools, helped me recognize how important of a skill public speaking really is, even if I don’t like to do it. Something else that I found very interesting was the canons of rhetoric used by Romans. They believed speeches should be put together in five parts, the last of which is the actual delivery of the speech. This demonstrated to me how much preparation should be going into public speaking. In the past I have tried to just wing it with speeches and wondered why it didn’t go very well. This chapter helped me realize why speeches aren’t something you can just throw together day of.
My biggest take away from chapter 1 would be how important it is to be able to succeed at public speaking for your future such as jobs. Also, when it comes to public speaking there is different levels at which you might be speaking such as Dyadic Communication which is between two people in a conversation, small group communication which is a small number of people and Mass Communication which is a very large group of people. One part of chapter 1 that specifically caught my attention was ‘Demonstrate Respect for Difference’, I liked this paragraph because it is very vital to being an effective public speaker. To be heard by who you are talking to, you must be able to see all points of view along with making sure that everyone listening feels welcome there. I am currently in school for social work, and I plan on working with a police department which means that I will need to be able to speak up and communicate with all sorts of people in the public along with my coworkers. I know someone within this job field has also gone to technical school classrooms to talk to students which I hope I can do one day. All of these public speaking topics of chapter 1 will help me be the best embedded mental health.
17 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
In this Chapter there were a lot of important tips about how to give a professional and concise speech and how to establish a connection with your audience. This chapter started off by explaining the significance of public speaking and why it is crucial for any career path you want to follow stating that “it is a crucial skill for anyone who wants to take an active role in life.” That statement made me think about public speaking differently. Before I really only viewed public speaking as professional speeches but now I can see that it’s so much more than that. Another quote that stood out to me was “Public speaking also offers you ways to enter public conversation about social concerns”. This connected with me because when I get out of college I want to be a documentary filmmaker who makes documentaries about pressing environmental and social justice issues. In order to get my ideas across in my films I need to practice and perfect my public speaking abilities. The section where it talked about the Parkland Florida shooting inspired me to know how the survivors were able to stand up and use their public speaking abilities to make a change. It reminded me of the Climate change and conservation advocates that I look up to like Gretta Thunberg and David Attenbrorogh and how they have used Public Speaking to educate others. That’s exactly what I want to do someday: use mass communication to educate people and make a change environmentally. To do that I must learn how to connect and interact with people with all different cultures and identities.
https://une1-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/ldunn7_une_edu/ETqlodTnCQBPrK6yMSp7nr8BagGG4qcc4Cqn9ECrjJTGXA?e=Vc7tse
Journal 1 link, if you would rather me hand in my journals in a different way, let me know.
https://une1-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/ldunn7_une_edu/ETqlodTnCQBPrK6yMSp7nr8BagGG4qcc4Cqn9ECrjJTGXA?e=Vc7tse
if you would rather me hand in my journals in a different way, let me know.
The first thing I the chapter I noticed and found interesting was the skills employers rate a most important. Number 4 and 5 both relate to commutation skills with one focusing on verbal skills and the other focusing on the writing skills which can both go hand and hand on communication. The other skills mentioned all connecting with having good communication for the right communication to help or display what is needed for example leadership and problem solving. Another topic mentioned in the chapter was the demonstration of respecting difference in opinions and ideas. I liked how they talk about the connection of the audience and how important that is to public speaking. It was also interesting to hear about trying to incorporate all needs and ideas to build the best connecting to the audience as possible. This chapter also highlights the importance of feedback which I believe is the best way to grow if all parties take it seriously. Feedback can help gain the ability to make the best speakers even better. Some of the best talkers in the world, in my opinion, always had a spark however every single time they talked, they got better and better as a speaker and delivering their message.
One of the things that drew me in right off the bat was that preamble at the beginning about the importance of developing the skill of public speaking. Specifically, when they talk about civic engagement opportunities and how important it is for democracies and republics. Recent events have made it obvious that politics will be impossible to ignore, and having the skills to be able to not only engage in politics, but have the ability to lead conversations as well will be indispensable. The main “takeaway” I guess you could say is that I should focus on the 5 canons of rhetoric. Those being Intention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Of those 5, I think the ones that I will need to focus on the most are arrangement and style. I specify arrangement because of a constant through most of my life. I’ve been told that I have good ideas for a lot of my life, but I always run into a problem regarding putting those ideas out there. Whether that be from mind to paper or to speech. Developing skills to better organize and state those ideas that I have would be a great place for me to develop my skills. And tying into that style, being able to work on that section of presentation, or at the very least, have someone to vet it, would be appreciated. My presentation has a section focusing on that, specifically how straightforward I am in my speech.
Work Count: 281
Chapter one talks a lot about how you want to present yourself, for future you. In the beginning, it talks about enhancing your career, being able to speak confidently in front of your classmates will impress your professor and some of your classmates will tend to look up to you. When looking for references for future jobs, you can ask that specific professor and that will look great on your future resume, as public speaking is a hard skill, something that you are not born with. An important topic that was brought up was how authoring an essay and writing a speech are similar, which I have never thought of before. They both need a grasping introduction, to keep the audience’s attention, a clear thesis, supporting ideas and a thoughtful conclusion. Knowing this now, will help me write out my speeches for the future, so thank you book! Another significant element to keep in mind with public speaking is how you practice the words you want to use, and how you want to phrase them. This will help with the interactive communication process.
This process is remarkably interesting to me, as the book had a diagram; the source of information is the sender which creates the message, then encoding is the process of thoughts into words (practicing), the reviewer is the audience that then interprets the senders’ message, then decodes the message. The overall goal of public speaking within this chapter, that I have seen, is that you want context and goals. Context conclude anything that influences the speakers course f information, and the goal is what you want the audience to learn or do because of the speech you give.
Warren Buffett said, “Be sure to do it, whether you like it or not, do it until you get comfortable with it.” This is one of the first things that stuck out to me when reading the chapter. He said this about public speaking because it is something that makes most people uncomfortable, but the only way to become better at it and more comfortable with it, is to do it even when you do not want to. Chapter 1 really focused on why public speaking is important and how to become better at it. Public speaking is one of the top five skills that employers look for when hiring because it is an “unmistakable edge professionally.” The chapter also made note that no one is born with the ability to publicly speak. It also compared public speaking to writing. Some similarities are that a good speech, like a good writing piece, has an intended audience, research, credible sources, effective and smooth transitions, persuasive appeals, a compelling introduction, clear thesis statement, supporting ideas, and a thoughtful conclusion. Some tips when writing a speech are to make sure that your sentences are clear and can be easily understood by the audience. Listeners want to be able to follow what you say and understand it, not just hear it. Listeners also want to know how the speaker feels about the topic. To do this the speaker can add specific references to themselves and the audience directly. It is also important to demonstrate respect for your audience. Overall the chapter was an introduction on what public speaking is and how to become better at it.
Chapter 1 highlights the importance of public speaking as a vital life skill, especially in the professional world and regarding being a good citizen. This connects to me because I anticipate having to give public presentations and attend conferences if I pursue a pharmaceutical research career. Successful interviews are also essential when finding a job and being accepted into the pharmacy program. Public speaking also provides a platform to voice societal concerns in constructive arguments. The canons of rhetoric are essential tools in the creation of effective speeches. I find it fascinating that thousands of years ago people were also grappling with the problem of how to be a good public speaker. A point I found interesting was that public speaking shares similarities with everyday conversations, emphasizing the need to adjust content to the audience, topic, and occasion. This makes the process less intimidating for me as I can try to pretend that I’m simply having a conversation with a friend instead of a whole room of bored-out-of-their-minds students staring at me as I try not to stumble on my words. Also, understanding the importance of composition skills will help in preparation and organization, which will be the key for me to deliver effective speeches. I appreciated the part on respective cultural and identity differences. This aspect is key to fostering a genuine connection with your audience. My biggest takeaway, and the one I connected with the most, is that public speaking is a purposeful process involving a message with a specific goal/purpose. Reflecting on my first outline draft, I realized my struggle stemmed from lacking a clearly defined goal or intention for what I wanted to say.
The first chapter of the assigned reading started off stating the importance of public speaking and the areas that you can improve in by learning such a vital skill. With a better understanding of how to improve your public speaking and putting newfound skills into practice, you’re able to build a solid foundation that can be applied to any situation that involves speaking to a group of people. It states that with better confidence and communication abilities, it helps lots of people begin or join conversations that cover more sensitive subjects that many people would have trouble even finding where to start talking about that specific topic. Later in the chapter it goes over being able to take your audience into consideration when selecting which words to use if talking about a touchy subject to not offend an audience member and keeping a level of respect. A part of the chapter that I didn’t expect to see was all the different forms of communication which included Dyadic, small group, mass communication, and public speaking, which went over their similarities and differences between each other and I wouldn’t have thought there were smaller forms of communication when thinking about public speaking, because to me public speaking was speaking to any amount of people while in public, not specifically having a large audience or an audience in common.
The first chapter covers a basis of what becoming an efficient public speaker means, how it changes a person for the better, and its origins. The chapter reflected on the opportunities being an effective communicator provides to an individual, commenting on how communication skills are on of the top skills an employer looks to higher on. This is due to the ability to connect to audiences, such as customers or colleagues on a deeper level. There is also a reflection piece in the chapter regarding politics, speaking on how major reform issues require a speaker with power and skill to properly connect to an audience. This can be seen in Greek and Roman times, where politicians who spoke with great skill would preach in public spaces called the agora. I connected with this, as even in daily life I think most can relate to the power of a good speaker. In classrooms, a teacher who has the ability to connect with their students increases engagement, likeability, and therefore the desired outcome for the speaker. This is a skill I want to adapt, as this ability in the workplace and in the classroom has a countless number of benefits. Being able to properly express my wants and opinions – to let’s say a meeting in the pharmacy for example – holds extreme importance for patient outcomes, and possibly for my coworkers.
Maxine Sexton
Effective Public Speaking
Professor Miller
17 January 2025
Journal 1
In chapter 1 of A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking, the authors make it clear how important public speaking is as a life skill. It is something that most everyone will have to do, so it is a good skill to practice and become comfortable with. Getting good at public speaking can help you professionally, since oral communication is one of the main things employers look for. Practicing public speaking can also help you as a student, because it will help you prepare for presentations you may have to do in other courses. Learning effective public speaking skills will also help you be more involved as a citizen, making it easier for you to speak about issues you are concerned about. It is also mentioned that the Roman orators came up with the five-step process of writing a speech, which is still used and taught today. The authors also explain that you can draw on conversational skills when publicly speaking, like understanding your audience. You can also draw on writing skills when publicly speaking, like doing research and having evidence in your speech. You can also use writing skills such as organizing your speech and having good transitions. Public speaking should also be different from writing or a conversation. You need to remember that you are talking to a crowd and not just one person, therefore you need to be sensitive to the possible diversity in the audience. Public speaking is seen as a form of communication, where someone is delivering a speech for a reason and the audience is engaged in the topic. Public speaking is also an interactive form of communication, where the speaker puts in effort to what they are saying and the audience receives the message in their own way.
After reading the first chapter, I realized that public speaking is beyond delivering the speech: it is a process of interactions between the speaker, audience, and message. The chapter developed the importance of the elements of communication. It was quite a revelation to realize that public speaking is not a monologue; it is a two-way process. Feedback and response from the audience shape the effectiveness of the speech. However, the impressive one was audience-centered communication. I have always thought that knowing the audience makes quite a difference, but this chapter helped me understand that even the content and delivery of the speech are dictated by them. To keep their interest, a message that appeals to the values, interests, and needs of all those present is crucial. That is what I should always keep in mind whenever I make future speeches. I also noted the discussion of ethical considerations; being bounded by truthfulness and respect reminded me how easily an audience can be manipulated to build up credibility and trust in speeches. The last one that really helped me was the section about overcoming nervousness. It was that nervousness being normal for a speaker; it can be turned into energy.
In Chapter One of the textbook, the key points covered are the importance of public speaking, the history of public speaking, then it develops into the essentials of writing a speech and how to analyze an audience. At the beginning of the reading, it talks about how important public speaking is to have as a skill by using examples from surveys, employers and influential people to provide evidence about how it is a core part of how people can communicate and be productive. An important use of public speaking mentioned was when after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, a group of high schools used their voices to advocate for more gun control laws in the state which were passed by the lawmakers. The chapter then transitions to how public speaking gained its importance. The foundations used in speeches today were founded in Athens, Greece during the fifth century B.C.E. and speeches were developed there because their democratic system allows public speaking to flourish. Scholars in Athens broke down the speeches using the stages of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Those steps are the core part in every speech and have stayed that way and are still used in today’s speeches. The final transition that the text takes is about how you can use those stages and additional methods in your speeches so you are heard and taken seriously by the audience. Methods like knowing and interacting with the audience through the use of shared meaning are some of the best ways to accomplish what you want the audience to understand what you are trying to say.
https://kdrake4.uneportfolio.org/journal-1/
As a person who sometimes struggles with self confidence, I found reading the first chapter quite interesting and insightful for many reasons. First, I found reading pages 2-4 quite interesting because they reflected upon all the various reasons that being able to speak effectively and communicate is what makes up a functioning society, and that for me, is something that really helped gain a whole new perspective on many things, including the reason I even chose to take this course in the first place, is because I wanted to better understand how to communicate effectively and to push myself outside of my comfort zone to learn, adapt and grow as a person. Secondly, I found the pages 6-8 interesting because they went into depth on the different types of speaking that we mostly do within our daily lives, explaining that depending on the number of people we communicate to at once, our relationship with said people, and the context all play a part in the way we communicate with our peers. Lastly, something that I took away from the entirety of the first chapter was all the effort that goes into the creation of and performance of a speech. For example, wanting to resonate with the audience in order to acquire and retain their attention is crucial, along with the importance of adjusting your speech patterns to coordinate with what is being said are all things that I took away from the first chapter.
One of the main things that stuck with me from chapter 1 is that public speaking is a very important life skill. While, of course, I knew this before, reading the text really helped reinforce that idea for me. Since that was the main thing that stuck with me, one of the things I felt was really important was the idea that good public speaking skills can help with civic engagement. Especially in times like these, being able to speak up about what we believe in in an effective way is very important. Actually seeing it stated in an assigned reading, that if you want to make change, public speaking is maybe one of the most vital tools, helped me recognize how important of a skill public speaking really is, even if I don’t like to do it. Something else that I found very interesting was the canons of rhetoric used by Romans. They believed speeches should be put together in five parts, the last of which is the actual delivery of the speech. This demonstrated to me how much preparation should be going into public speaking. In the past I have tried to just wing it with speeches and wondered why it didn’t go very well. This chapter helped me realize why speeches aren’t something you can just throw together day of.
My biggest take away from chapter 1 would be how important it is to be able to succeed at public speaking for your future such as jobs. Also, when it comes to public speaking there is different levels at which you might be speaking such as Dyadic Communication which is between two people in a conversation, small group communication which is a small number of people and Mass Communication which is a very large group of people. One part of chapter 1 that specifically caught my attention was ‘Demonstrate Respect for Difference’, I liked this paragraph because it is very vital to being an effective public speaker. To be heard by who you are talking to, you must be able to see all points of view along with making sure that everyone listening feels welcome there. I am currently in school for social work, and I plan on working with a police department which means that I will need to be able to speak up and communicate with all sorts of people in the public along with my coworkers. I know someone within this job field has also gone to technical school classrooms to talk to students which I hope I can do one day. All of these public speaking topics of chapter 1 will help me be the best embedded mental health.