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Speech 20: Public Speaking

Course Details

No prereequisites. Limited enrollment.

Instructors: Compton, Drummond, Grushina.

Distributive: ART

Offered: 24F, 25W, 25S

View the ORC description.

Course Summary

In this course, we'll discover answers to a seemingly simple question: What is good public speaking?

We will discover answers to this question using a number of strategies. We will consult ancient canons of rhetoric. We will talk about contemporary findings of social scientific and rhetorical scholarship. We have rich, deep disciplines on which to draw--rhetoric, we should recall, was one of the original liberal arts. The discipline of communication continues to be a vibrant voice in academic communities and beyond.

We will also discover what constitutes good public speaking by doing public speaking. We will try theory-informed strategies, see what works, learn what doesn't, and try again. We will select and refine topics, organize arguments, support positions, and deliver speeches.

Perhaps most importantly, my goal is to help you to develop your unique voice as a successful speaker.

 

Course Goals

The overriding goal of the course is for you to become a better public speaker, with improved skills in researching, organizing, developing, and delivering speeches.

To achieve this goal, we will aim for two primary learning objectives:

  • to become better speakers through the practice of public speaking;
  • to help others to become better speakers through observation, collaboration, and constructive criticism.

To meet these primary objectives, I will help you to:

  • apply ancient rhetorical principles to contemporary public speaking contexts;
  • approach each stage of speechmaking with a mindfulness of audience and situation;
  • select and refine speech topics and theses;
  • evaluate and implement organizational strategies and craft transitions that guide audience understanding;
  • use wording that is clear, concise, accurate, and interesting;
  • enhance skills of memory and familiarity;
  • practice delivery that aids in audience understanding and elicits and maintains audience interest;
  • create and apply criteria of good public speaking;
  • improve critical listening skills;
  • create, prepare, and deliver public speeches;
  • consider ethics of public speaking;
  • develop a deeper understanding of speech as more than a way of showing what we know.