public speaking

An oral presentation in which a speaker addresses an audience.

"Before the twentieth century, public speakers were customarily referred to as orators and their discourses as orations" (Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, 2001).

See also:

• Communication
• Communication Process
• Conversation
• Feedback
• Listening
• Persuasion
• Rhetoric
• Speech
• What Are the Five Canons of Rhetoric?

Examples and Observations:

• The Shift From Oratory to Public Speaking
  "[E]ven before the end of the 19th century, both the nature of public speech and the perception of the speaker had departed from the neoclassical model of oratory. . . . Language became more colloquial and speech delivery became more conversational. . . . As more and more citizens of ordinary means took to the rostrum, audiences no longer regarded the orator as a larger-than-life figure to be regarded with awe and deference. . . . Unmoved by grandiloquence, modern listeners favored 'a simple, quiet, and direct address, a straightforward, unartificial, honest manner, without tricks of oratory' (Reed, 1900-1903)."
  (Stephen E. Lucas, "Public Speaking." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, ed. by Thomas O. Sloane. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001)



• Public Speaking in Our Time
  "The tradition of public speaking lives on. Community and business leaders such as Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem, and Bill Gates use public speaking to inform, persuade, and motivate audiences here and abroad. Political leaders such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Vaclev Havel of the Czech Republic use public speaking to promote freedom and cooperation among the peoples in their countries and around the world.
  
  "Although the basic skills have changed little since ancient times, styles in public speaking have changed during the past century. A popular pastime in the 19th century was declamation, the recitation of a classic speech. Early in this century, the focus changed to elocution, the control of voice and gesture for emphasis in public speaking. Today, the emphasis is on extemperaneous speaking, giving a speech that has been planned in advance but is delivered spontaneously."
  (Courtland L. Bovée, Contemporary Public Speaking., 2nd ed. Collegiate Press, 2003)



• "A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery, sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart.
  
  "Speeches are not significant because we have the technological ability to make them heard by every member of our huge nation simultaneously. Speeches are important because they are one of the great constants of our political history. For two hundred years, from 'Give me liberty or give me death' to 'Ask not what your country can do for you,' they have been not only the way we measure public men, they have been how we tell each other who we are. For two hundred years they have been changing--making, forcing--history: Lincoln, Bryan and the cross of gold, FDR's first inaugural, Kennedy's, Martin Luther King in '63, Reagan and the Speech in '64. They count. They more than count, they shape what happens."
  (Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution. Random House, 1990)



• Civility in Public Speaking
  "Angry opposition may be a common style of public speaking today, but there are other ways to influence people when you give speeches. As you've watched and listened to combative exchanges, you may heard some call for more civility in public exchanges. The word civility comes from a root word meaning 'to be a member of a household.' In ancient Greece, civility referred to displays of temperance, justice, wisdom, and courage. Over time, the definition has changed only slightly, and in public speaking, civility has come to mean care and concern for others, the thoughtful use of words and language, and the flexibility to see the many sides of an issue. To be civil is to listen to the ideas and reasons of others and to give 'the world a chance to explain itself.'"
  (Cindy L. Griffin, Invitation to Public Speaking, 4th ed. Wadsworth, 2011)



• The King's Speech
  "If I'm king, where's my power? Can I form a government? Can I levy a tax, declare a war? No! And yet I am the seat of all authority. Why? Because the nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. But I can't speak."
  (Colin Firth as King George VI in The King's Speech, 2010)



• Seinfeld on Speech Anxiety
  "Surveys show that the number one fear of Americans is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy."
  (Jerry Seinfeld)