Although some students have been in school classes for years, they are still afraid to speak up in class or take an active part in a classroom discussion. Even the thought of having to make a speech in front of a group of people paralyzes them. They feel that what they have to say isn't important or that it will be dull for their audience. They are also afraid that they will be criticized as they stand "on display before all of those people" If you have some of those feelings and fears about talking with or to a group, this chapter can help you. Learning how to talk in front of others is an acquired skill just like driving a car or swimming. Most college students are expected to speak in class, both informally by asking and answering questions in class discussion and formally by taking occasional oral exams and giving speeches. The more practice that you give yourself in the oral skills the better. It's easier to speak informally and you are probably going to do more informal speaking, so start practicing in that area.
How You Can Best Ask and Answer Questions in Class
The following are some useful ways to improve your skill at asking and answering questions in class.
1. Make sure you are asking a question to get information—not just to hear yourself talk.
2. Be alert. Don't tune out and then ask the same question someone else did five minutes ago. This lack of attention makes a bad impression.
3. Don't ask questions in a tone of voice that indicates you already know what the instructor's answer is and you disagree with it.
4. Don't be one of those who asks numerous small questions just when everyone is about to leave class. Save those questions until the next class session.
5. If you don't understand his question, ask the instructor to clarify it for you, but be honest and admit it if you don't know the answer. Stalling or bluffing is often obvious and ineffective.
6. When you know the answers, always volunteer to answer questions early in the game. That way you probably won’t be called later on for a specific question when you might not know the answer. Even if you do get called on again and don't know the answer, your past performance will be in your favor. Your instructor won't judge you as critically as he will if he feels that you are never ready to answer his questions.
7. If your instructor says in advance that part of your grade depends on class participation and invites comments from students, make a special effort to be ready. If you really do your reading assignments, it's easy to have some comments to make and questions to ask. Sometimes if you listen carefully to what another student says, you can add to it. The other student can give you the basis for your remarks and increase your class participation. If your instructor appreciates and approves of your comments, he will let you know by his spoken and unspoken reactions. Watch for this feedback.
8. During group discussions, don't dominate the whole group. Interrupting others in your eagerness to make a point or hogging the center stage so that no one else gets a chance to talk can ruin a good discussion group. If you find yourself doing this, there is a way to stop it. Simply take out a piece of paper and whenever you get the urge to interrupt or dominate, shut up and jot down the comments you were going to make orally. Later, when there is a lull in the discussion, bring in your words of wisdom. They will be much more appreciated if presented in this way. Remember, you can be of most help to others by building on their ideas and showing respect for their opinions and ideas.
How You Can Do Your Best in An Oral Exam
Undergraduate students do not usually take formal oral exams. However, make-up exams can be oral and short weekly "pop" quizzes frequently are. Oral exams are a challenge because you have to think clearly and logically on your feet. You can't erase or cross out. But like other exams, there are some things you can do to improve your performance.
1. Listen carefully to the question and then take a moment to organize the answer in your mind. It's O.K. to say something like "Let me think about that for a moment." This comment lets your instructor know that your silence is thinking silence and not a stunned silence.
2. If you know the answer but blank out, tell your instructor that you have a temporary blank out and ask him if he would please rephrase the question so that you concentrate your thoughts on it. Many times he will give you a clue to the answer and that will be enough to get you going. Sometimes as the quiz goes on, the answer to a previous question will come to you. Be sure to mention it by saying something like "Oh yes, this question brings to mind the answer to the question on . . . etc."
3. Once you get going, the ice is broken and you will start to get the feel of it. Your instructor wants you to do well and he knows how easy it is for him to start out with the one question you can't answer.
4. If you have no idea what the answer to a question is - say so. Don't try to bluff! It's almost inevitable that your instructor will call your bluff, either indirectly, by pursuing the same question until you are left out on a limb without any answers, or directly, by telling you to your face that you are bluffing.
Formal Speaking: Speeches
Giving speeches and oral reports is going to be a big part of many college courses. You may be a little nervous at the thought of speaking before an audience. However, with careful preparation and practice your nervousness will be minimized.
How You Can Select a Topic For a Formal Speech
Your instructor may assign a specific topic such as "the Salem Witch Trials," or assign a general area such as "Witchcraft in Modern America," thus giving you the choice of which aspect of witchcraft you wish to cover. Occasionally, the selection of the topic is wide open and left to you. If it is left to you to pick a topic, you need to keep several things in mind.
1. Don't pick a topic that is too broad, and don't narrow it down so much that you can't find data. To illustrate: "The Movies" is too broad a topic; "The Movie Career of W. C. Fields" is much better. But, "The Alcoholic Problems of W. C. Fields" may be too narrow a topic.
2. Keep your audience and their interests in mind. If it's made up of your classmates, there isn't too much of a problem. They will be a "good" audience because they will be up there themselves talking in a short time. Nonetheless, you don't want to bore them. Keep a topic like school taxes for a speech in front of property owners, not before a college class. Keep your speech interesting and informative.
3. Know how much time you are allowed. If you are allowed ten minutes, don't have a half-hour speech prepared. Some instructors have been known to cut long-winded students off in mid-breath.
4. Be sure you are interested in what you are saying. If you think your topic is dull, your audience will get that message from you. If you have selected your own topic, you have no reason to be bored with it! You may have to discard one or two topics that at first seem interesting, but get dull as you research them. Stick with a topic you like. Chances are your audience will like it too.
5. Choose four or five main points to cover it in your speech; e.g., four myths about hypnosis. Use the details to support the main points.
6. Get your own personality into the speech; your point of view makes it much more interesting. Express your own opinions. Refer to your own experiences and examples and illustrations as often as possible.
After the topic is selected, you can start developing an outline around the four or five main points. These main points also act as a guide for your research.
How You Can Put The Speech Together
At this stage, your outline is mainly composed of the body of the speech. That's the part that has the main ideas and research data. The introduction to your speech is still tentative and while you may have a conclusion in mind, it isn't completed yet.
Organize your speech by getting the introduction into final shape. Polish up the body of the speech and complete the conclusion. Write everything in full right on the outline.
The Introduction
In the introduction, you want to get the attention of your audience. Present your topic in an interesting way. You can do this by giving some interesting background data, or a statement which tells them why you think the topic is important to them such as: "Knowing the myths about hypnosis can make you feel more comfortable going to a professional for hypnosis help."
Statement of Purpose
At the end of the introduction, you tell the audience exactly what you are going to cover in your speech, usually in only a sentence or two. For example, you might say something like: "I am going to discuss four of the most common false beliefs or myths which people have about hypnosis."
How You Can Use Transitions to Make A Smoothly Flowing Speech
Transitions help the audience to stay with you as you move from place to place in your speech. When you write, devices like headings and paragraphs help the reader to follow you. Transitions serve the same purpose in oral presentations. In our example, we alerted the audience in advance that four myths about hypnosis would be discussed. We could give them an advance idea of the pattern of transitions in our speech by citing the four main points of the talk. For example: “These four myths are that while in a hypnotic trance 1) you are asleep, 2) you have given up your will power, 3) you are unconscious and, 4) you will not remember what happened afterwards.” This statement gives the audience an overview of transition points that are coming up.
By numbering your main points, you give yourself a natural transition from one point to the next. In our example the transition could go like this: "The first myth is that you are asleep in hypnosis. Brain wave patterns clearly indicate that this is not the case, etc.... The second myth is that you will surrender your will power during hypnosis, etc." Emphasizing the words “first” and "second" makes your transitions simple.
Another way to make the transition without numbers is to summarize your first idea and lead into the second. For example, “Now that I have shown you that brain wave data definitely indicates that a hypnotized person is not asleep, let me go on to the myth that you lose your will power under hypnosis.” In this way, you emphasize your first idea and let the audience know that you are moving on to the next. If you want your audience to follow easily, use transitional sentences and phrases throughout your entire speech.
Main Body of the Talk
In the main body, you cover all the ideas you said you were going to when you stated your purpose. Here is where you present the data in support of your ideas. Use items like names, places and events. Use verbal illustrations to clarify as you go along. Use examples to help your audience apply what you are talking about to things in their own lives. Make sure your examples are easily recognized and understood. Use visual aids like charts, drawings, models, if they help to make your point. Keep these manageable and easy to set up. Setting them up beforehand is a smart move. In that way you can make sure that you have the correct material and that all the parts are together. It distracts from your presentation if you have to take the time to unroll a chart or turn a graph right side up.
Conclusion of the Talk
From the body of the talk you move on to the conclusion. Here you summarize what you have said, draw some conclusions and perhaps make some reference to related areas that the audience may be interested in.
How To Make The Final Draft of Your Speech
You can either write out your speech beforehand exactly as you plan to speak it or you can use a tape recorder. In the tape recorder method, you first put down the outline and then speak to each of the headings, recording as you go along. Then you play it back, copy it down make sure you have included everything, and polish it up. You use this as a script for your speech. Either way works and the second sounds a little more spontaneous. After the speech is on paper, you need to practice delivering it.
How You Can Practice To Improve Your Speech
Write the key ideas from the draft of your speech on 4" x 6" cards. Then in large letters print a word or two from each of the key ideas. Use only one side of each card so that you won't have to flip the cards over during your speech. Then take these cards and divide them up into subgroupings such as introduction and purpose card, point 1 card, point 2 card, point 3 (2 cards), point 4 (3 cards), and conclusion card. Use as many cards as you need for these different subgroups.
Then read through all of the cards several times silently, thinking about how you present the sequence of ideas. Then read through the cards out loud. Because these are only key ideas, they will not make complete sentences or sound right. To make the key words into the speech, look at the first key word and say the sentence or sentences that it reminds you of. Do the same for all of the other key words. Go through your speech several times in this way. Pay particular attention to your transition words which take you from point 1 to point 2, etc. Keep in mind that the speech will be slightly different each time you give it because you are not reading it or memorizing it word for word. These minor differences are not important. What is important is that you are getting the information and ideas and the sequence clearly in mind. Using the key words on your cards as a stimulus to your next idea allows you to look at your audience more frequently during your speech and spend less time looking at the cards themselves. Some speeches are given with no cards at all during the speech. This means that you have to rely on your memory. For tips on memorizing important key words in sequence, check out the chapter on memorization. It will help you.
After you have the information of your speech clearly in mind and the important transition points and ideas memorized, you're ready to add gestures to it. First read through the speech again and decide where you would like to use gestures to emphasize a particular point. Then practice the gesture patterns in front of the mirror or a video tape camera. First exaggerate the gesture just to get used to doing it. For example, if you are saying something like: "Stop and think about this for just one moment," you can exaggerate the "Stop” like a policeman might, loud and clear with palm and arm thrust out. Then do it again but with less exaggeration. Finally, tone it down and gently raise your hand in a more relaxed way as you say your line. Using the exaggeration at first gets you out of the routine of having your hands dangling at your sides like a statue. It also rids you of the feeling of: "What do I do with my hands?" As you get more practice in using gestures and as you watch carefully the gestures other people use, you will be able to use gestures more naturally and easily.
Now that you have the information and gesture of your speech incorporated, the next thing to do is to practice it.
How to Avoid Nervousness When You Deliver Your Speech
Most people are a little nervous when they are talking to a group of people. However, there are several things you do to make yourself more comfortable.
1. Know your information and details of your speech well. It can be nerve-wracking for you if you don't know your speech very well and are stopping and faltering, trying to think of what to say next. Good preparation gives you greater confidence.
2. Rather than thinking about yourself, think instead about the ideas and feelings you want your audience to have as they listen to you. The more you concentrate on getting the main ideas across to your audience, the better. As you do so you will spend less time worrying about how they are evaluating your "performance."
3. Get to know the members of your speech class. Talk with them before class. Make friends with as many of them as possible. It's much more comfortable talking to a room full of friends than it is talking to a room full of strangers.
4. Be comfortably dressed in clothing that you know looks good on you. If you are self-conscious about the dirty shoes you are wearing or the slightly mismatched socks you have on, it may detract your attention away from your speech. On the other hand, if you feel that your appearance is O.K. and above criticism, you will feel more self-confident and it will come out in a better speech.
5. Spend a few minutes befog you give your speech doing some relaxation exercises. Tighten the muscles in your arms and legs and then take a deep breath and let the tightness go as you exhale. Then close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly through your mouth 25 times. By doing this for about 15 minutes before your speech class, you will feel much more relaxed when the class begins.
6. Be content with being less than perfect. Remember, if you were a perfect speaker you wouldn't need to take the class in the first place. You are there to become a better speaker. Most speech instructors are very supportive, helpful, and positive. If you look at the class as a way to learn some new skills, you will feel more comfortable and the class will go better.
Tips on Delivery
If it's OK to use notes, have them handy where you can see them easily. Take just enough time to glance at the couple of key words. Then begin your talk. Refer back to the key words at transition points. Don't skip any of your main ideas but don't simply read off the cards. Pick out two or three very friendly people to look at in different parts of the room. Concentrate on getting your ideas across loud and clear so that those in the back of the room can hear you. Try to put the feelings that you have about your topic into your voice. Always think about what you want to tell them. Use gestures which are appropriate for your talk to help you to tell them.
The secret of a good speech is a simple one – careful preparation each step of the way. Following the suggestions in this chapter for careful preparation, frequent practice, and effective delivery of a speech will increase your effectiveness in any speaking situation.
