English Conversation - Lecture series : 01

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How To Make A Persuasive Speech - Public Speaking Tips

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The Major Types of Speeches

Whatever your speech occasion may be, you will have two goals in mind before you even begin. The first goal is firm and fixed—to communicate and be understood—while the second goal will determine the type of speech you write. There are probably as many types of speech as there are speeches given, in the sense that every speech is unique, but we can categorize most speeches into four groups:

1. Informative
2. Demonstrative
3. Persuasive
4. Special Occasions

Informative Speeches
An informative speech is essentially a lecture. It is intended simply to inform your audience on some topic. If you're a student, you hear informative speeches all day long in your classes, as your teachers and professors stand up front and lecture on various subjects. Your teachers are trying to inform you, and their lectures are essentially informative speeches.
An informative speech is different from a how-to speech or a persuasive speech because it is only intended to provide information. You will leave it up to your audience to decide for themselves what to do with the information.

      1. Informative speeches are useful as an introduction to some topic that is unfamiliar to your audience.  You will also want to be acquainted with what your audience already knows. You will also want to know what topics will be of interest to your audience.  The best way of answering this question, if you don't already know your audience, will be to conduct some basic interviews, beginning with the person who invited you to speak.

       2.Demonstrative Speeches
The demonstrative speech is closely related to the informative speech because it centers on providing your audience with information. The main difference, however, is that the demonstrative speech is a "how-to" lecture. Rather than passing on raw information to your listeners, you are teaching them some very practical skills.

The key to a demonstrative speech is to focus on practical application, not on abstract facts and statistics. Your goal is to teach the audience how to, not to tell them what is—how to bake a chocolate cake, not what is a chocolate cake. Here are some topic ideas to get you brainstorming:

What to Do
Use visual aids! These are helpful in any speech, but they are the very backbone of a demonstrative speech. If you want to tell your audience how to fix a computer, you'll certainly need a computer to demonstrate on.
What to Avoid
Visual aids are critically important to your demonstrative speech, but you must also avoid letting them become a source of distraction.

Persuasive Speeches - Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

The persuasive speech is also related to the informative speech, except that you are doing more than simply providing information on your topic—you are also providing your own opinion on that topic and attempting to persuade your audience that your opinion is correct. And this element of opinion and persuasion is what makes the persuasive speech the most challenging of the four types.

The key to writing a persuasive speech is to begin by having an opinion—preferably an opinion that you feel strongly about. If you have no opinion on a topic, you won't be able to persuade anyone else to hold an opinion. You must first know what you believe and why you believe it.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived in the fourth century b.c. He outlined the three basic ways in which a speaker can persuade his audience to embrace his beliefs. He used Greek words to describe these methods, but we'll update them into modern concepts as we go. They are:

Ethos: Credibility, image, public reputation, perceived expertise
Logos: Words, concepts, logic
Pathos: Emotions, feelings, gut reactions

Ethos - Appealing to Authority

First, a persuasive speaker must be a credible speaker, fitting into Aristotle's category of ethos or credibility. The audience needs to recognize that you know what you're talking about, and that you are qualified to be telling them the difference between right (your opinion) and wrong (your opponents' opinions).

Logos - Appealing to Logic
Logic is more difficult to master than emotional appeals, but it is far more effective. You build a logical argument by stating an opinion, then explaining a number of reasons that logically support that opinion, and finally, providing examples of each that illustrate your point and prove that it's true.

Pathos - Appealing to Emotions
You can also appeal to the emotions of your audience (Aristotle's pathos) with an argument that has little basis on logical fact.

             3. Special Occasions
This final category of speechmaking is quite broad and differs significantly from the others. You might be asked to "say a few words" at a special occasion, which could be as little as a one-minute toast or as lengthy as a 30-minute speech. Here are some examples:

1. Toasting the bride and groom at a wedding
2. Introducing the main speaker at a conference
3. Summarizing your project status at a business meeting
4. Eulogizing a friend at a funeral
5. Presenting or accepting an award at a banquet

There are two subtypes of speeches within this category: the prepared speech, and the impromptu speech.

Making a Prepared Speech at a Special Occasion

If you're warned ahead of time that you'll be called upon to say a few words at some special occasion, you will follow all the same techniques that we've been discussing thus far. You'll want to think about your audience, considering who will be present when you speak and what they'll want to hear you say.

Making an Impromptu Speech at a Special Occasion

There will be times when someone will ask you to say a few words without advance notice, asking you to stand up right there and then to address the audience. This can seem terribly intimidating, but the same principles apply to an impromptu speech as to any other speech: Consider your audience, and speak about what you know.
Self confidence and enough stock knowledge to discuss your topic, is the key to a successful impromptu speech.

  By ;  Dr. Dahl D. Sagucio- Ph D. Linguistics

The Power of Pause in Public Speaking

Pause is the most important skill of a speaker.When you pause your audience thinks about your message and reflects. Pause builds audience confidence in you. If you don’t pause your audience doesn’t have time to digest what you told and hence will not remember a word from what you said. You need to master an art of making pauses if you want to be an effective speaker. Here are few tips on when and how to make pauses.

a)     Pause before your first word

Pause for few seconds after you are introduced before you say your first word. When most people are introduced they shake a hand of the introducer and start to speak right away. These speakers feel awkward with silence. When you start speaking on stage right away after the introduction, it is the same as you meet your friend and start talking to him without even saying “Hi.”

When you go on stage don’t say anything for 3-7 seconds. Look at the audience members and acknowledge their presence. Only then start talking. This pause in public speaking is the same as saying “Hi” in your everyday conversations. Pause also conveys your confidence and draws attention of the audience. People will stop doing what they did before and begin listening to you, because when they see a speaker that doesn’t speak it’s something unusual. People pay attention to everything unusual.

b)    Pause before and after you make an important point.

Pause before and after you make an important point and stand still. During this pause people think about your words and your message sinks in. Don’t move after a powerful statement or you will dilute its power.

c)     Pause when one character reacts to words or actions of another character.

Remember when characters hear words from another character they first emotionally react, the emotion builds up, they reply and then the emotion continues. In order for emotion to build up you need time. Make a pause. Only then answer.

d)    Pause before you respond to an audience member.

Pause before you answer a question from an audience member. Pause will give you couple of seconds to think about the answer and will show your thoughtfulness. Even if you have your answer ready, pause for couple of seconds before a response.

e)    Pause after you finish delivering lines at a fast rate

For making your speech dynamic you should use contrast. Vocal variety is not an exception. Speak loudly, softly, quickly and slow. When you finish delivering your lines at fast pace and switch to slow pace make a pause to let people digest what you said.

f)    Make a pause instead of saying a filler word.

If you listen to a beginner speaker you will probably notice many filler words such as hmm, ah, you know, so etc. Neither of these words conveys information, but all of them irritate your audience. “Good morning, ah, my name is Andrii, hmm, you know, I am going to talk with you, hmm about public speaking.” It sounds irritating. Speakers say filler words when they don’t know what to say but feel uncomfortable with silence.

Every time you don’t know what to say and need time to think make a pause. You will sound confident and thoughtful and in most cases people will not even notice that something is wrong with your speech. It takes practice. Do pauses consciously every time you stumble and very soon you will notice that filler words never pop up in your speech.