Impromptu speech: invention, arrangement and delivering

Why we're doing the impromptu speech? 

It's a very effective model of speaking for:

• job interview
• group presentation
• clients meeting
• information interview
• debate
• etc.

Quick preparation 

• Select a prompt - decide on your position - why is this thesis true? - your main points (claims) should not be topics - the reasons (claims) show how the idea is good and its feasibility - the division: what is key topics or parts in that thesis statement? - short and long terms - past vs future - increase vs decrease - cause vs effect 
• Prepare an outline in five minutes - subordination & coordination & discreteness; style - (main points are consice and memorable by using short sentences, active voice and vivid verbs)
• Deliver 3-6 minute speech

Impromptu speech structure

Introduction

Point #1

   - Support

   - Support

Point #2

   - Support

   - Support

Conclusion

Introductory speech

How to introduce yourself?

I write some good tips here http://financial-controller.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-introduce-yourself-acca-po-5.html

Under Public Speaking course assignment all participants were asked to record their 1-4 minutes introductory speech that tells us:

• 1. Who they are and where they live.
• 2. Why they enrolled in the course and what types of presentations they want to work on.
• 3. Who do they think is an effective speaker? Give one solid reason for why this person is so effective.

John Kennedy, my favorite public speaker
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"

Hints on doing well

• Practice: Do a few run throughs before you record the speech.

Performance and communication orientation

The speech teacher James Winans famously said, "A speech is not an essay on its hind legs." Speaking and writing are just different. What is defferent?

Writing is learned and invented, but language and speech are acquired by person naturally. Writing emerged in Sumer (modern day - Iraq) 6000 years ago. 

Writing is not ubiquitous. There have been thousands (maybe ten of thousands) spoken languages in the human history. But only about 106 languages have been written to a degree sufficient to have produced the literature.

Writing involves longer sentences, clauses, punctuation and other such grammatical nuances. It appeals to the eye of the reader and hence needs to contain paragraph breaks, different fonts, and bold and italicized text. On the other hand, oral presentations involve shorter sentences, slightly more colloquialisms (such as, you know, you see etc) and appeal to the ear.

Performance and communication orientation

Performance orientation

Performance orientation tends to be more literary (full manuscript). It's going to be completely read or memorized. It focuses on the show, not the audience. The performer speaks at the audience. The Hamlet performance will be the same for the audience of 10 or 100 people, because it is not an active factor at the stage. It used to be more faster and monotone, than natural speech.

Communication orientation

Communication orientation is mostly oral (minimal outline). It focuses on dynamic interactions with the audience. The audience should be active in participation and creation of the communications. The communicator speaks with the audience.

Analyses of four samples of speeches

Rhetoric tradition

A class on public speaking is essentially a rhetoric class. The study of rhetoric is the study of what is persuasive. People are always interested in studying of what goes into a dynamic and persuasive speech. The ancient Greeks and Romans spent a lot of time thinking and writing about good speaking. Throughout history, thinkers and charlatans tried to find what sounds good, looks good, and works to motivate various audiences.

Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the faculty of discovering in any particular case the available means of persuasion.” Plato held that rhetoric is “the art of winning the soul by discourse.” The Roman thinker Quintilian suggested simply that rhetoric is the art of speaking well.

5 MAIN PARTS OF RHETORIC/PUBLIC SPEAKING

My first public speaking course

17th of June, 2013

I want to remember this date! My first public speaking course has started on 17th of June, 2013.

I have enrolled in this course via Coursera, a free online education provider. Matt McGarrity from the University of Washington offered the amazing course of Public Speaking.

 

Like others, I have watched the very inspiring Matt's introduction video and decided to join the students' community.

You can read The Seattle Times story of how this course was prepared for teaching more than 40000 people from different countries.

McGarrity believes public speaking can be taught online — even without the practice, and attendant butterflies, of speaking before a live audience — because the skills involve more than just tips and tricks for getting through

Public speaking “is not just dressing up something you’ve written, it’s crafting something that can be delivered well,” McGarrity said. “If everyone was trained to pursue critically defensible forms of rhetoric, we would have better discussions, better politics — better everything.”

Join us! Click here https://class.coursera.org/publicspeak-001/class/index
This course is free and its content and community are helpful and rewarding!