Unit 4: Public Speaking

It is good to know a little about your audience before you speak. You need to ask yourself these questions: Who are they? What do they already know about the subject? How do they feel towards it – positive, neutral or negative? What are their expectations towards your presentation? What will they gain from listening to you?

If possible, you may want to gather other information about your future listeners – basic demographic factors such as age, sex, education level, economic status, religion and occupation; but you would also benefit from knowing a bit about their political culture, attitudes, values and beliefs. Naturally, it is not always feasible to learn all that and often it is not necessary. A simple technical presentation to a few of your colleagues is not the same as a lecture to foreigners on local traditions.

Whatever your plans regarding the presentation are, you need to focus on your listeners’ needs, not your own. The worst possible presenter is someone who comes to say what he or she wants to say without any consideration to people who are listening.

You may also think about letting the audience get to know you. It is always a good idea to find some common ground with your listeners and you can do that by sharing perhaps an unusual experience, or talking about your hobbies; providing, naturally, that they have some bearing on your subject.

You should carefully consider the time allotted for your speech: do you need to be very concise or do you have more time to develop your ideas? Do you want to leave time for questions from the audience at the end? Remember, that even if you are given 30 minutes for your presentation, it does not mean you need to use all of that time. It is always better to have your speech a bit too short than a bit too long.

Your main objective in the beginning of preparation should be determining the purpose of your speech and what you want to accomplish. How do you want the audience to react? Do you want them to learn something new? (informative speech). Do you want to entertain them? Do you want them to change their opinion? (persuasive speech). Or maybe you want to present a problem and offer possible solutions? (problem/solution speech).

The purpose of your speech is going to affect the formulation of your topic and the construction of the whole speech. It may also influence the method of speaking you are going to use.