THE SPEECH COMMUNICATION PROCESS

In order to give a better speech, you need to understand what goes on during the process of communication. There are seven elements that we need to consider –

1. Sender (Speaker)
2. Message
3. Channel
4. Receiver (Listener)
5. Feedback
6. Interference
7. Environment (Situation)

SENDER

The sender is the speaker. A sender starts with what message he or she wishes to express and then must encode that idea into symbols (words) and signs (facial expressions, tone of voice, etc).

Your success as a public speaker depends on:
• Knowledge of the subject
• Your personal credibility
• Your preparation
• Your manner of speaking
• Your sensitivity to the audience and environment
• ENTHUSIASM!


MESSAGE

The message is whatever a sender (speaker) communicates to someone else (receiver).
• Your goal - to have your intended message be the message that is actually communicated.
• This depends on what you say (verbally) and how you say it (body language)
• Body language involves tone of voice, appearance, gestures, facial expression and eye contact.
• Make sure your body language does not distract from your verbal message.
• All messages are carried by a channel.

CHANNEL

• The channel is the means by which a message is communicated.
• For example the telephone, face-to-face, radio, television, email, etc.
• Public speakers may use one or more of several channels, each of which will affect the message received by the audience.


RECEIVER

• The receiver is the listener. The receiver receives the communicated message through the channel.
• Everything a speaker says is filtered through a listener’s frame of reference.

A frame of reference is the total of a person’s knowledge, experience, goals, values and attitudes. No two people can have exactly the same of reference, so the meaning of a message will be never be the same to a listener as to a speaker.

• A speaker must be audience-centered.


FEEDBACK

• Feedback is the signs the receivers projects while the sender is sending a message.
• Feedback allows the sender to know how his or her message is being received.
• Feedback is affected by one’s frame of reference.


INTERFERENCE

• Anything that impedes the communication of a message.
• It can be external or internal.
• External interference – traffic from outside the building, the clatter of the air-conditioner, students talking in the corridors, etc.
• Internal interference – a bite from a mosquito, worrying about a test coming up in the next period, a stomachache, etc.
• As a speaker, you must try to hold on to your listener’s attention despite these interferences.


ENVIRONMENT

• The environment is the time, place and emotional context the communication takes place in.
• Environments can place expectation and constraints on communication.
• Public speakers must be alert to the situation and occasion. Certain ceremonies need special speeches.
• Physical setting is also important – indoor, outdoor, in a small classroom, in a gymnasium, etc.

DELIVERING YOUR SPEECH

In delivering your speech, there are a few major concerns that we will look at:

• Method of delivery
• Non-verbal communication
• Pronunciation and articulation
• Voice projection
• Movement
• Personal Appearance


METHOD OF DELIVERY

• Manuscript Reading

 A speech that is written out word for word and read to the audience.
 Absolute accuracy is essential.
 Requires great skill:
 Must adhere to timing.
- Don’t read too quickly or too slowly.
- Don’t pause in the wrong places.
- Don’t speak in a monotone.
- Don’t falter over your words.
- Don’t forget to glance at your audience.
- Practice makes perfect.


• Reciting from Memory

 Presenting speeches that have been thoroughly memorized.
 At the same time, you must be able to concentrate on communicating with your audience.
 Don’t gaze at the ceiling or stare out the window to recall.


• Speaking Impromptu

 A speech delivered with little or no immediate preparation.
 You decide what you are going to say just before you say it.
 Organize your main points in you head and try as best as you can to stay on track.
 Advantages:
- can maintain continuous eye contact with the audience.
- can choose to include or exclude materials depending upon the feedback from the audience.


• Speaking Extemporaneously

 A carefully prepared and rehearsed speech that is presented from a brief set of notes.
 Advantages:
- Gives more precise control over thought and language than impromptu speaking.
- Offers greater spontaneity and directness than speaking from memory or manuscript.
- Adaptable to a wide range of situations.
- Encourages the conversational quality audiences look for (spontaneous).



NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

 Communication that occurs as a result of appearance, posture, gesture, eye contact, facial expressions and other non-linguistic factors.


• Facial expression

 Vary greatly in different cultures.
 In Japan, speakers rarely vary facial expressions.
 Italian speakers tend to gesture more than other cultural groups.
 A laugh during a presentation in Japan might convey confusion, but in America it might express humor.
 If you smile before you speak, you give your listeners that you are confident and ready.


• Eye contact

 The eyes are the windows to your soul.
 Good eye contact shows that you are open and honest.
 Encourages listeners to listen to you.
 Indicates that you are confident.
 Allows you to “read” your listeners faces.
 Allows you to see feedback from your listeners.
 A good way to start a speech is by doing the smile-pause-nod combination.
 A lack of eye contact suggests that you don’t care about your audience or are afraid of them.


• Gestures

 Motions of a speaker’s hands or arms during a speech.
 Gestures also vary according to different cultures.
 Avoid distracting gestures:
 Twirling hair with your fingers.
 Fiddling with your necklace.
 Constantly push slipping eyeglasses up your nose.
 Where should you put your hands when delivering a speech?
 Don’t hide them in your pockets.
 Keep your hands at your sides, but don’t stand “frozen” in one place.
 Don’t clasp your fingers together behind you.


PRONUNCIATION, ARTICULATION AND ENUNCIATION

• People tend to judge speakers based on their ability to pronounce words correctly and clearly.
• Pronunciation involves saying words correctly.

E.g. How do you pronounce these words?

February library
secretary athlete
get development
picture colleague


• Articulation refers to the way you produce individual speech sounds.

E.g. Malaysians have trouble making certain sounds like th – substituted with d, like in words like

that this
thermometer thank
three through

Severe articulation problems can interfere with effective communication.


• Enunciation refers to the way you pronounce words in context.
• In casual conversation, it is not unusual for people to slur, but not in speeches.

E.g.
“gimme” for “give me”

“swatuh thought”

“harya?”

“howjado?”

This is what we call lazy enunciation.


VOICE PROJECTION

Voice

• The loudness or softness of a voice.
• Adjust the volume of your voice according to:
 the size of the audience.
 the acoustics of the room.
 the level of background noise.
• Remember that your own voice always sounds louder to you than to a listener!

Pitch

• The highness or lowness of a voice.
• The pitch affects the meaning of words or sounds.
• Changes in the pitch is known as inflection.
• People who do not speak with inflection are said to speak in a monotone.

Rate

• The speed at which a person speaks.
• A fast rate helps to create feelings of happiness, fear, anger, and surprise.
• A slow rate is better for expressing sadness, disgust or peacefulness.
• Research suggests that in most situations, listeners find that a speaker who has a faster rate is more competent than one who speaks slower.


Pause

• A momentary break in the vocal delivery of a speech.
• Knowing when to pause requires experience.
• A pause can function to
 signal the end of an idea.
 give an idea time to sink in.
 lend a dramatic impact to a statement.
• If you pause (because you forgot your idea), do not use vocalized pause.
• A vocalized pause is a pause that occurs when a speaker fills the silence between words with vocalizations such as
 “uh”
 “er”
 “um”


MOVEMENT

• A speaker should not be static.
• Never turn your back on the audience while you are speaking.
• If you move about on the stage, make your movements purposeful.
• Be aware (or beware) of all potential obstacles on the stage (and off if you leave it). An embarrassing fall or trip will kill your concentration (or you).
• Your gestures and movements should grow out of your response to your messages.
• They must appear natural and spontaneous.
• Make sure the gestures that you use are appropriate to the setting and cultural background of your audience.


PERSONAL APPEARANCE

• Your clothing and grooming affect how you are perceived.
• Listeners always see you before they hear you.
• How we dress can influence how we see ourselves and how we behave.
• Dress in a way that makes you feel good about yourself.
• Think of your speech as a professional situation, and dress formally.
• Your purpose is to create a good first impression to your audience.

THE PERSUASIVE SPEECH

A persuasive speech has three purposes:

• to convince people to take action that you want them to take
• to change radically their attitudes and beliefs
• to strengthen or weaken their current attitudes or beliefs

Before you can persuade listeners, you must analyze your audience.

Analyzing Your Audience

You need to ask yourself certain questions:

• What is your specific purpose in speaking?
• How does your audience feel towards your purpose?
• What emotional or psychological appeals will move them?
• Are they willing to accept new ideas?
• Why should they listen to you?
• Do you know anyone who has had previous experience with this audience?

There are two types of audiences that you need to consider:

• Supportive – friendly, they like you and what you have to say
• Uncommitted – completely neutral, waiting to be convinced, unbiased
- Indifferent - apathetic, openly bored, could be a captive audience
- Captive - is often being forced to attend, may not believe what you say is
relevant to them
- Opposed - hostile to you or what you are persuading, feel no warmth towards
the speaker, feel no sympathy towards speaker's feelings or cause



How Listeners Process Persuasive Messages


• They actively assess the speaker’s credibility, delivery, supporting materials, language, reasoning and emotional appeals.
• They may respond positively at one point, negatively at another.
• At times, they may argue (inside their own minds) with the speaker.
• This is what we call the mental give-and-take.
• It may be highly vigorous when listeners are involved with the topic and believe it has a direct bearing on their lives.


Methods of Persuasion

There are five principal methods of changing people’s attitudes or actuating people to do what you want:

• Persuading through evidence
• Persuading through reasoning
• Persuading through emotional appeal


Persuading through Evidence

• Evidence consists of facts, expert opinions and supporting materials – examples, statistics, testimony.
• It is used prove or disprove something.
• You need to justify your claims by using evidence.
• Evidence is particularly important in classroom speeches because few students are recognized as experts on their speech topics.
• Evidence is also crucial whenever your target audience opposes your points of view

Persuading through Reasoning

• Reasoning is the process of drawing a conclusion on the basis of evidence.
• You must use reasoning carefully because reasoning are often faulty and misunderstood.
• Reasoning is an important component of critical thinking.
• As a public speaker, you have two major concerns with respect to reasoning:
 Make sure your own reasoning is sound and foolproof
 Try to get listeners to agree with your reasoning.

Four Basic Methods of Reasoning

 Reasoning from Specific Instances
-You progress from a number of particular facts to a general conclusion
 Reasoning from Principle
- Reasoning that moves from a general principle to a specific conclusion.
 Causal Reasoning
- Reasoning that seeks to establish the relationship between causes and effects
 Analogical Reasoning
- Reasoning in which a speaker compares two similar cases and infers that both are true.

Persuading by Appealing to Emotions

Emotional Appeals

• Also referred to as pathos by Aristotle
• Intended to make listeners feel happy, sad, angry, guilty, afraid, proud, sympathetic, etc.
• These are often appropriate reactions when the question is one of value and policy.
• Below is a list of some of the emotions evoked most often by public speakers:
 Fear – of serious illness, natural disasters, sexual assault, economic hardship, etc.
 Compassion – for the physically disabled, battered women, neglected animals, starving children in Africa
 Pride – in one’s country, in one’s family, in one’s ethnic heritage
 Anger – at the actions of terrorists, at landlords who exploit student tenants, at vandals and thieves
 Guilt – about not helping people less fortunate, about not considering the rights of others

Generating Emotional Appeal

 Use emotional language
 Develop vivid examples
 Speak with sincerity and conviction
o It is the strongest source of emotional power.
o You have to feel the emotion yourself.

The NEW Me...2 months after leading a healthy lifestyle...

Yes...This is my second month (well, almost into my third month) of leading a healthy lifestyle. My routine hasn't changed. Improvements for this month:
1. I'm still doing my daily 30 minutes of cardio workout (without fail), plus the thirty minutes a week of weight training.
2. My dietary intake has now become automatic. I only eat rice once a day with a healthy serving of lean protein and greens.
3. I still have my snacks in between meals which would normally consist of fruits and a handful of nuts (like almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc). It really does help keep sugar at a normal level and prevents me from feeling hungry all the time.
4. I'm still drinking up to 2 litres of water every day (sometimes more if the workout was extra intense).
5. My weight is now reduced to 52 kgs (a reduction of 2 more kgs).
6. Had a fever and a bout of the sniffles and coughs but they have alleviated only after a week. It normally takes me 2 weeks and sometimes more to recover from this.
7. I even tried working out when I was fasting and the result was spectacular! Yes I do feel extra tired compared to normal days but now I know that fasting is not a good excuse for not exercising. Just reduce the intensity of the workout but keep it at a normal training time. For example, if on normal days I would run, on fasting days I would reduce it to a brisk walk but still maintain it at 30 minutes per session. And do it an hour before breaking fast.

And here, I would like to thank Doctor Oz and Doctor Roizen for creating such a good eye-opener on the importance of healthy eating and healthy living.

Before I started on this personal quest of healthy living, I read Doctor Oz's book, You On a Diet and it really opened my eyes on how the body actually treat the food that we consume everyday and how much food our body really need. Never have I felt a high level of love and respect towards my body before! It really is an excellent source of information and also a good book to get a laugh or two. The words in the book are as wacky as Bart Simpson on a high of Corntoz!

For those on a mission to slim down or just want to have a change of lifestyle from being unhealthy to being fit, I would suggest that you read this book before you start on your journey. Yeah, yeah....I know this book was published quite some time ago, but there's a revised edition with lots of new information in it.

Go ahead. You'll get a good read from it...

Rendang oh rendang...

My journey to weight loss was brought to a temporary halt last Tuesday.

I was fasting that Tuesday and after my daily 30-minutes jog at the gym, I decided to indulge myself in rendang pucuk ubi that I bought from kak Dib that morning. You know, as a treat for berbuka since I have been working hard working out at the gym that afternoon.

So, I cooked some rice for my kids and I. Set aside my portion and fried the rest for Anis and Muaz. It was a smart idea setting aside my portion first because when it was time to break fast, my oh my! Did I indulge! The rendang tasted so good with the piping hot rice that I was tempted to have more. If I didn't set my portions straight, God knows how many servings of rice I would have let myself eat.

Anyway, compliments to the chef, Kak Dib for creating a masterpiece. To those who are interested to order rendang minang of any sort, do leave a comment...

DEALING WITH NERVOUSNESS

We've all heard that the fear of death is second only to the fear of public speaking.
- Also known as stage fright, anxiety, “butterflies in your stomach”
- It is normal to feel nervous before doing something important in public.
- 76% of experienced speakers have stage fright before taking the floor.

“The difference between the professionals and the novices is that the professionals have trained the butterflies to fly in a straight line”

- Edwin Newman


WHY DO YOU FEEL NERVOUS?

 Your body is responding as it would to any stressful situation – by producing adrenaline.

Your body responds to stressful events (e.g., speeches, interviews, first dates, arguments with your spouse) in the same way it responds to physical danger. Your body springs into action preparing you for fight or for flight.




SYMPTOMS OF NERVOUSNESS

- heartbeat increases
- hands shaking
- sweaty palms
- sweating
- shaky voice
- dry throat
- dizziness
- muscle tension
- flushed skin
- constipated


There are three ways to deal with nervousness:

- Expect it
- Accept it
- Manage it


MANAGE NERVOUSNESS

1. Acquire speaking experience
2. Prepare, prepare, prepare
3. Remember that you will not die of public speaking. No one ever has!
4. Use the power of visualization
5. Realize that 90% of nervousness doesn't even show
6. Don’t expect perfection
7. Concentrate on communicating with your audience.
8. Be at your best physically and mentally
9. Use visual aids
10. Take a couple of slow, deep breaths before you start to speak.

THE SPEECH COMMUNICATION PROCESS

In order to give a better speech, you need to understand what goes on during the process of communication.

There are seven elements that we need to consider –

1. Sender (Speaker)
2. Message
3. Channel
4. Receiver (Listener)
5. Feedback
6. Interference
7. Environment (Situation)


SENDER

The sender is the speaker. A sender starts with what message he or she wishes to express and then must encode that idea into symbols (words) and signs (facial expressions, tone of voice, etc). Your success as a public speaker depends on:
• Knowledge of the subject
• Your personal credibility
• Your preparation
• Your manner of speaking
• Your sensitivity to the audience and environment
• ENTHUSIASM


MESSAGE

The message is whatever a sender (speaker) communicates to someone else (receiver).
• Your goal - to have your intended message be the message that is actually communicated.
• This depends on what you say (verbally) and how you say it (body language)
• Body language involves tone of voice, appearance, gestures, facial expression and eye contact.
• Make sure your body language does not distract from your verbal message.
• All messages are carried by a channel.


CHANNEL

• The channel is the means by which a message is communicated.

• For example the telephone, face-to-face, radio, television, email, etc.

• Public speakers may use one or more of several channels, each of which will affect the message received by the audience.

Consider the following situation:
A speech is given to the members of the Parliament by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The speech is carried to the nation by the channels of radio and television.
Explain how the speech is affected through the channels of the radio, television, face-to-face (direct channel).


RECEIVER

• The receiver is the listener. The receiver receives the communicated message through the channel.

• Everything a speaker says is filtered through a listener’s frame of reference.


- A frame of reference is the total of a person’s knowledge, experience, goals, values and attitudes. No two people can have exactly the same of reference, so the meaning of a message will be never be the same to a listener as to a speaker.

• A speaker must be audience-centered.


FEEDBACK

• Feedback is the signs the receivers projects while the sender is sending a message.

• Feedback allows the sender to know how his or her message is being received.

• Feedback is affected by one’s frame of reference.

Can you give examples of some kinds of verbal and nonverbal feedback that people in the audience usually give to a speaker?




INTERFERENCE

• Anything that impedes the communication of a message.

• It can be external or internal.

• External interference – traffic from outside the building, the clatter of the air-conditioner, students talking in the corridors, etc.

• Internal interference – a bite from a mosquito, worrying about a test coming up in the next period, a stomachache, etc.

• As a speaker, you must try to hold on to your listener’s attention despite these interferences.



ENVIRONMENT

• The environment is the time, place and emotional context the communication takes place in.

• Environments can place expectation and constraints on communication.

• Public speakers must be alert to the situation and occasion. Certain ceremonies need special speeches.

• Physical setting is also important – indoor, outdoor, in a small classroom, in a gymnasium, etc.