The general purpose of a speech is important because it is the foundation of  a speech. According to the textbook a general purpose is the speakers intention to inform or persuade listeners or to communicate some person or occasion.

• The general purpose of a speech to inform is to share knowledge with listeners
• The general purpose of a speech to persuade is to advise listeners what to believe or how to act and to offer them reasons to follow such advise.
• The general purpose of a ceremonial speech is to commemorate the meaning and/ or importance of an occasion, event, or person. Ceremonial speeches include eulogies, toasts, after-dinner speeches, and tributes.

An example of a general purpose is, my speech on the advantages of online learning. My  general purpose for my speech will be to inform my audience.

In this chapter I chose to write about the meaning of demographics and the importance of demographics to speeches. Demographics is the general characteristics of listeners including age, gender, sexual orientation, education, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and group affiliations.  When planning a speech it is important to know about the audience and to adapt the message to the audience. The message will only get through the audience if they can relate to it and understand it. In public speaking, you are speaking for and to your audience; thus, understanding the audience is a major part of the speech making process. For example , you can not have a speech about social media celebrity influence in front of an audience who are in there 60s. An ideal audience will be ages 18-40 and who are interactive in social media.

There are many different methods of listening the one I am going to explain is Comprehensive listening which focuses on understanding the speaker’s overall message. In order to do this the listener must pay close attention to the speaker’s main ideas, supporting materials, and word choice. Body language is important in this form of listening because it is a way for the speaker to engage the listener. This listening type is found in nearly all aspects of our life, and is one of the primary ways that we learn. In order to achieve comprehensive listening you must understand the vocabulary and language. Comprehensive listening is important in the classroom setting when a student is listening to the instructor lecture.

References: Osborn, M., Osborn, S., Osborn, R., & Turner, K. J. (2015). Public speaking: Finding your voice.

Extemporaneous speaking is a form of presentation in which a speech is carefully prepared and practiced but not written out, memorized, or read. This method of speech is preferred for brief presentations where audience and eye contact is required. The ideas should come out naturally from your head and not a piece of paper. The key to this type of speech is confidence. An example of Extemporaneous speaking is being in a room full of friends and having a casual debate about politics. Even though you did not rehearse for this debate you look to your fellow peers and give a speech regarding the topic based on what you already know.

These three steps for preparing extemporaneous speech topics will help you to do what you have to do: answering the question in case of school assignments or tournaments.

The First Step – Analyze what extemporaneous question you have to answer:

• • Questions of fact – Characterized by is and are, or will or would.
  • Questions of value – Characterized by should.
  • Questions of policy – Characterized by can and could. Often used for an political discour.

The Second Step – Determine if it is informative or persuasive. The words what, which and who indicate that it is an informative issue. The words should and why indicate that it is a persuasive issue.

There are many different parts of public speaking and steps to bettering your speech. One term that stood out the most to me in chapter 2 is cognitive restructuring. I tend to be shy around large groups of people. Speaking publicly is not a strong skill of mine. Cognitive restructuring expands on our advice for harnessing the power of positive over negative thinking. For every negative thought or fear you experience while pre- paring a speech, consciously push yourself to offer a constructive rejoinder to replace it. Cognitive restructure would help me replace negative thoughts and fears with positive ones in order to get through speeches.

Citations:

Osborn, M., Osborn, S., Osborn, R., & Turner, K. J. (2015). Public speaking: Finding your voice.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton