This document provides an overview of a public speaking class taught by Maggie. The class covers preparing and delivering effective speeches. It discusses choosing topics and purposes, dealing with nerves, speaking responsibly, understanding audiences, and gathering materials. The class will meet weekly in May to cover preparing speeches, developing content, and delivering speeches. Students are encouraged to properly prepare, speak truthfully, and tailor their message for maximum impact and understanding.

1. Bullseye!
Hitting the target with your speech
Presenter: Maggie
ESL Public Class Series

2. About Maggie
• Born and raised near Los Angeles,
California, USA
• B.A. in Liberal Studies (Education)
at the University of La Verne
• Experience teaching, public
speaking, acting, singing
• Leadership training

3. May 2014
• Wednesdays at 3:30 pm
– May 7 Preparing your speech
– May 14 Developing your speech
– May 21 Helping your speech
– May 28 Giving your speech

4. Preparing Your Speech
• Public Speaking
• Stage Fright
• Speaking Responsibly
• Audience and Setting
• Getting Started

5. One who forms a judgment
on any point but cannot
explain it clearly ...
...might as well
never have
thought at all on
the subject.
- Pericles, an ancient Greek leader
(more than 2,500 years ago)

6. Question
• How much time
do you spend
each day talking
to other
people?

7. Public Speaking
• Important for communication
–family, friends, school, work
–a way to express ideas and to have an
impact on issues that matter in society

8. Public Speaking
vs. Conversation
• Similarities:
– Organizing thoughts
logically
– Tailoring message to
audience
– Telling a story for
maximum impact
– Adapting to listener
feedback
• Differences:
Public speaking ...
– is highly structured
– requires more formal
language
– uses a different
method of delivery

9. I turn pale at the
outset of a speech
and quake
in every limb
and in my soul.
- Cicero, a famous Roman orator

10. Stage Fright
• Most people tend to be nervous before doing
something important in public
(even Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Nervousness is a healthy sign!
– Your body is responding as it would to any stressful
situation -- by producing extra adrenaline
• How can you control your nervousness and
make it work for you?

12. Dealing with Stage Fright
1. Transform it from negative to positive
● It's not stage fright ...
... it's Stage Excitement!
●Athletes, musicians, actors, etc.
2. Get speaking experience
3. Properly prepare
4. Think positively and use visualization
5. Don't expect perfection

13. We are here on
Earth to do good to
others.
What the others
are here for, I don't
know.
--W.H. Auden, 1907-1973

14. Speaking Responsibly
● Tell the truth
● Use accurate information
● Present all sides to an argument
● Do not plagiarize (抄袭)
● Plagiarism is stealing - and it's against the law!

15. The Audience
• You are not speaking for your
own benefit...
• But for the benefit of your
audience
• Academic - teacher and
classmates
– Who am I speaking to?
– Why am I speaking to them?

17. The Setting
• Visit the place where you'll be
speaking before the day of your
speech
– seating arrangements
– lighting
– mechanics for visual aids (screen,
plugs, projector, etc.)
– environmental factors (time of day,
noise, etc.)

19. Getting Started
1. Choose a topic
2. Select a general purpose
3. Select a specific purpose
4. Determine what you want your audience to
remember
5. Gather materials

20. Choosing a Topic
• Topics you know a lot about
– Draw on your knowledge and experience
• Subjects you want to know more about
• Brainstorming
– a method of generating ideas by free association
of words and ideas
• Often chosen for you (academic)

21. Selecting a General Purpose
• To inform
– to give the audience information not known
before
• To persuade
– to change what the audience believes or does
Again, sometimes determined for you by the
instructor

22. Selecting a Specific Purpose
• State precisely what you hope to accomplish
in the speech
– To inform my audience about...
– To persuade my audience to...
• Always include the audience
– Who you'll be talking to will change how you
present your speech
• Quantum physics to scientists -OR-
• Quantum physics to middle school students

23. An example - Duane:
• Topic: Music therapy
• General purpose: to inform
• Specific purpose: To inform my
audience about the benefits of
music therapy for people with
psychological or cognitive
disabilities

24. Effective Specific Purposes
• Ineffective: 3-D technology
• Problem: Only announces the topic
More effective:
• To inform my audience about the three major
kinds of current 3-D technology

25. Effective Specific Purposes
• Ineffective: What is Dia de los Muertos?
• Problem: The question doesn't show what you
wish to accomplish
More effective:
• To inform my audience about the history of
Mexico's Dia de los Muertos celebration

26. Effective Specific Purposes
• Ineffective: To persuade my audience that the
campus policy on student parking really stinks
• Problem: Unclear, ambiguous
More effective:
• To persuade my audience that the campus policy
on student parking should be revised to provide
more spaces for students before 5 p.m.

27. Effective Specific Purposes
• Ineffective: To persuade my audience to become
literacy tutors and to donate time to the Special
Olympics
• Problem: Two unrelated ideas
More effective:
a) To persuade my audience to become literacy tutors
b) To persuade my audience to donate time to the
Special Olympics

28. Effective Specific Purposes
• Ineffective: To persuade my audience that something
should be done about unsafe school buses
• Problem: Too broad, doesn't show what you believe
should be done
More effective:
• To persuade my audience that the federal
government should impose stronger safety standards
for school buses in the United States

29. Topic: hot air balloons
• Specific purpose: to inform my
audience about hot air balloons
• INEFFECTIVE
– origin of hot air balloons
– how hot air balloons work
– current popularity
– scientific uses

30. Effective
• To inform my audience about the
scientific uses of hot air balloons

31. Questions to ask about your
Specific Purpose
• Does my purpose meet my assignment?
• Can I accomplish my purpose in the time
allotted?
• Is the purpose relevant to my audience?
• Is the purpose too trivial for my audience?

32. What do you want your audience
to remember?
• The central idea sums up the major ideas of a
speech
– Sometimes called the thesis statement
– At least 3 main points
• "Tell me the gist of your speech in one sentence."
• What you want your audience to remember after
they have forgotten everything else in your
speech (residual message)

33. Topic: Music therapy
• General purpose: to inform
• Specific purpose: To inform my audience
about the benefits of music therapy for
people with psychological or cognitive
disabilities
• Central idea: Music therapy developed as
a formal mode of treatment during the
twentieth century, utilizes a number of
methods, and is explained by several
theories that account for its success

34. Topic: Día de los Muertos
• General Purpose: to inform
• Specific Purpose: To inform my
audience about the history of Mexico’s
Día de los Muertos celebration
• Central Idea: Día de los Muertos can
be traced to the Aztecs, was moved
from summer to fall by Spanish priests,
and today is celebrated in a number of
ways in different regions of Mexico.

35. Writing Your Central Idea
Statement
• Expressed in a full sentence
• Should not be in a form of a question
• Should avoid figurative language
• Should not be too vague or overly general
Usually written after you develop the body of
your speech

37. Gather Materials
• Use your own knowledge and experience
• Do library research
• Search the internet
• Interview people connected to your topic

38. In summation...
• Public Speaking
• Stage Fright
• Ethical Public Speaking
• Audience and Setting
• Getting Started

40. Next week
Wednesday, May 14 at 3:30 pm
Developing your speech
●Organizing, supporting, connecting your ideas
●And more!

41. THANK YOU!
• Any questions?
• Email Maggie at 1926804784@QQ.com