Presentations: Public Speaking

Presentations: Public Speaking

1. PAGES 428 - 431 and 29 - 59

2. Planning the presentation: "1) Define the purpose. 2) Analyse the audience. 3) Consider the context and setting. 4) Identify the main ideas. 5) Research and find supporting material for the message. 6) Plan and organise the material.

   • "Six basic questions to be answered when analysing the audience are: 1) How much does the audience know about the topic? 2) How much do they know about me and what do they expect from me? 3) What positions do the audience occupy in the organisation (power to make things happen or influence on others to make things happen)? 4) How involved is the audience in the topic or issue and how can the topic be related to audience interests? 5) What is the audience’s educational, cultural, ethnic, religious or economic background? 6) What are the audience’s shared values, preferences, likely prejudices and attitudes towards the topic?
   • "Decide the one message you want the members of the audience to remember. Prepare a one-sentence statement that links your subject and purpose to the audience’s frame of reference and focuses attention on the central purpose of the presentation.
   • "There are five basic logical patterns of organisation for oral presentations:
     • "1 - Chronological order. Three common chronological patterns are historical development, step-by-step patterns and past–present–future patterns of development.
     • "2 Spatial order. Geographical location is the most common use of this pattern.
     • "3 - Cause–effect order. This pattern is suited to a presentation where the goal is to achieve understanding or agreement. This order presents a causal relationship.
     • "4 - Problem–solution. This pattern is suited to persuasive presentations that propose a new policy or a specific course of action.
     • "5 - Topical. Different topics require different structures, but one that applies to almost any topic is the inductive sequence.

3. "Monroe’s motivated sequence (see page 430)- "An accepted organisational pattern for persuasive oral presentations" "A persuasive oral presentation is required when you present a new idea, a proposal for change or a new project.

   • Step 1 - Attention (gain attention and secure goodwill). Step 2 - Needs (Describe the problem and show reason for improving the problem). Step 3 - Satisifaction (Offer solutions). Step 4 - Visualisation (help audience visualise results to motivate acceptance and change). Step 5 - Action (Motivate audience to act).

4. "Nonverbal communication consists of the part of a message that is not encoded in words. The nonverbal part of the message tends to be less conscious and reveals the sender’s feelings, likings and preferences more spontaneously and honestly than the verbal part. If the verbal message does not match the nonverbal communication, there is a tendency to believe the nonverbal part of the message."

5. "Listening is the interpretative process that takes place with what we hear. Through listening, we comprehend, store, classify and label information. The key to effective listening in any context is mental alertness, physical alertness and active participation.

   • "Active listening focuses attention and provides feedback, allowing speakers to express their feelings and identify what is really happening. Skill in active listening enhances understanding and improves relationships with colleagues and professional contacts. It minimises misunderstanding and avoids wasted time, energy and resources due to miscommunication.

6. " three types of nonverbal message: 1) personal to the individual 2) common to a group of people or culture 3) universal to humankind.

   • "Personal nonverbal communication is the use of nonverbal actions in a way that is personal or unique to that person.
   • "Cultural nonverbal communication is characteristic of, or common to, a group of people. Cultural groups may evolve on the basis of nationality, gender, age, religion or other factors. Nonverbal communication is learned unconsciously by observing others in the society or group.
   • "Universal nonverbal communication is behaviour that is common to humankind. A person smiling with outspread arms and upturned open hands communicates welcome universally. Universally, facial expressions and gestures are indicators of emotion. "Universal nonverbal messages often show happiness, sadness or deep-seated feelings; for example, a smile or tears. Their basis is physiological change related to emotions, rather than rituals stylised by a society.

7. Seven common forms of business presentations include: prepared speeches; impromptu speeches; manuscript speeches; memorised speeches; oral briefings; team briefings; podcasts.

8. "Birdwhistell (1970) claimed that the average person actually speaks for a total of only 10 to 11 minutes daily and that the standard spoken sentence takes only about 2.5 seconds. He estimated that verbal components carry about one-third, and nonverbal components carry about two-thirds, of the social meaning of the situation. Mehrabian (1971, p. 44) commented that a person’s nonverbal behaviour communicates feelings or attitudes more than words. His equation is: Total feeling = 7% verbal feeling + 38% vocal feeling + 55% facial feeling.

   • "Argyle (1983) confirmed that research shows that ‘the non-verbal style had more effect than the verbal contents, in fact about five times as much; when the verbal and non-verbal messages were in conflict, the verbal contents were virtually disregarded’. Argyle outlined four different nonverbal communi- cation roles: "1 Communicating interpersonal attitudes and emotions. "2 Self-presentation. 3 Rituals. 4. "Supporting verbal communication.

9. Types of nonverbal communication

   • "Body movement (kinesic behaviour) - Body posture (the way a person stands, leans forward or back and moves the head), body movements (eye, head, hand, feet and leg movements) and facial expressions all affect the message.
   • "Physical characteristics - Physical characteristics, first impressions and images of others can be associated unconsciously with past experiences of people with similar characteristics. They are important parts of nonverbal communication."
   • "Touching behaviour - Touching can console or support the other person and show feelings such as affection, sexual interest or dominance. Hand gestures demonstrate feelings and convey thoughts and words through movement. A handshake, for example, can express either dominance or equality.
   • "Vocal qualities (paralanguage) - Paralanguage is that part of language associated with, but not involving, the word system. It consists of the voice qualities and vocalisations that affect how something is said rather than what is said. Vocalisations, the tone of voice, rate of speaking and voice inflection are an important part of the total message.
   • "Space (proximity) - Proximity means nearness, in terms of physical space. Hall (1969) identified four distances that people maintain between themselves and others: 1. Intimate space is 0–45 cm. 2. Personal distance is 45–120 cm. 3. Social distance is 1.2–3.6 m. 4. Public distance is 3.6 m to out of sight.
   • "Artefacts - Artefacts are objects used to convey nonverbal messages about self- concept, image, mood, feelings or style. Many artefacts are common to the group. Others (particularly clothing) are an individual, highly visible part of nonverbal communication that can create a positive or negative first impression."
   • Environment - Office space, factory layout, the sales area and conference venues have an impact on perceptions, morale and productivity. The environment should match expectations: an unsuitable environment can produce ‘noise’ that causes communication barriers.

10. Categories of body movement

    • Emblems - "Emblems are nonverbal acts learned through imitation designed to replace words.
    • Illustrators - "Illustrators are nonverbal acts that relate to and accentuate the spoken word.
    • Affective displays - "Affective displays are changes in facial expressions that display emotion.
    • Regulators - "Regulators are nonverbal acts, such as head- nods, that regulate communication between people."
    • Adaptors - "Adaptors are nonverbal acts performed unconsciously in response to some inner desire., such as scratching an itchy ear.

11. Vocalisations - "Vocal characterisers - Vocal characterisers include laughing, crying, sighing, yawning, clearing the throat, groaning, yelling, whispering. Vocal qualifiers - Vocal qualifiers include intensity, such as too loud through to too soft, and pitch level, from too high to too low. Vocal segregates - Vocal segregates are sounds such as ‘Uh huh’, ‘Um’, ‘Uh’ and ‘Ah’, silent pauses, and intruding sounds from the environment

12. "Mehrabian explains that ‘people are drawn toward persons and things they like, evaluate highly, and prefer; and they avoid or move away from things they dislike, evaluate negatively, or do not prefer’. He refers to this as the immediacy principle.

13. Listening

    • " listening occupied more time than any other communication activity. The ratio varies from 45% (adults) to 53% (college students), with speaking, reading and writing accounting for only 55% (adults) and 47% (college students).
    • "While hearing is a passive process, listening is a five-stage conscious, knowing response to the message in which the listener hears sounds, interprets those sounds and attaches meaning to the sounds in the message: Stage 1. Receiving the verbal and nonverbal messages. Stage 2. Understanding the speaker’s thoughts and emotions. Stage 3. Remembering and retaining the message. Stage 4. Evaluating or judging the message. Stage 5. Responding or reacting to the message.
    • "Hirsch (1986) divided the cognitive components of listening into 10 parts: making the physiological and neurological connections; interpreting the sounds; understanding the sounds; assigning meaning to the sounds; reacting to the sounds; receiving some sounds and ignoring others selectively; remembering what was received; attending to the sounds purposely; analysing the information presented; and filtering communication information on the basis of past experiences.
    • Types of listening
      • See page 41. "Discriminative listening (the most basic type of listening); "Comprehension listening (the next step of making sense; also known as content listening, informational listening and full listening); "Dialogical or conversational listening; "Biased listening (hearing only what the person wants to hear); "Evaluative or critical listening (evaluating and judging what the other person is saying); "Partial listening (intending to listen to the other person but then becoming distracted); "False listening (pretending to listen but not hearing what is being said; an old proverb says ‘There is none so deaf as those who won’t hear’); "Attentive ‘data-only’ listening (listening only to the content and failing to receive all the nonverbal sounds and signals, such as tone of voice, facial expression, reaction of speaker); "Active listening (listening— without two-way emotional involvement—to the verbal and nonverbal components of the message).
      • "In attending listening, listeners use their body language and words to provide feedback that assures the speaker of their total attention. Some ways of offering this feedback are: eye contact; posture; body movement. See page 44.
      • "Encouraging listening indicates that the listener is willing to do more than listen. Encouraging listening invites the speaker to say more and to disclose their thoughts and feelings, but without pressuring them.
      • "Reflective listening restates or mirrors to the speaker the feeling and content in the message. Reflective listening informs the speaker that the listener has heard and understands the intended message.
        • Techniques for reflective listening: "Paraphrasing focuses on the content rather than the feelings and helps to achieve accurate understanding of the content; "Reflective statements reflect feelings from the message and help the speaker to focus on the feelings; "Clarifying statements establish with the speaker that the listener’s understanding is correct; "Summarising lets the speaker know the listener understands their thoughts and feelings.
    • Barriers to listening (page 47) - "dichotomous listening, which occurs when ‘an individual attempts to assimilate information simultaneously from two different sources; "inattentiveness, not only on the part of the listener but also on the part of the speaker, who may either consciously or unconsciously confuse, distract or mislead the listener.
      • " six behaviours demonstrated by poor listeners: Nodders; earhogs; gapfillrs, bees, earmuffs, dart throwers.
      • "‘The average person normally speaks at a rate of 125 to 200 words per minute. However, the average listener can comprehend up to 400 words per minute.’ The difference between the speaking rate and comprehension may allow idle thoughts about holidays, sporting events, children and next weekend to create distractions.

14. "conversations move through five steps or phases: 1) Initiation phase to exchange greetings and open the channels of communication. 2) Rule-definition phase to determine the purpose of the interaction and the time it will take. 3) Rule-confirmation phase to gain agreement about the purpose and time. 4) Strategic development phase to discuss the actual topic of the conversation. 5) Termination phase to say farewell or to move on to another topic—that is, start another conversation.

15. Questions (see page 50)

    • "The outcomes from effective questions include: positive connections with clients, colleagues and other stakeholders; greater understanding of the needs of your clients; gathering of better information from a variety of sources; improved negotiation and conflict-management skills; capacity to receive positive and constructive feedback; facilitation of solution-oriented problem solving and decision making; acknowledgement and encouragement of others to cooperate and collaborate; ability to work more effectively with your team and help others to take responsibility for their actions.
    • " Open questions ask ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’ or ‘who’.

16. Feedback

    • "Different types of feedback used within organisations and businesses are informative feedback, immediate and specific feedback, positive feedback, negative feedback and no feedback at all.. See page 52.
    • "Standing at a 90° angle to the other person as you give or receive feedback indicates a cooperative stance, while facing the other person directly may indicate intimacy or aggression."
    • "Frame of reference is a person’s set of complex assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes that influence meaning or perception of a situation. Reframing recasts or reframes the words of the speaker to create new perspectives.

17. "Feedforward is information sent before the main message. "feedforward can carry out four functions in the communication process: 1) It opens the channels of communication and focuses attention on the coming message. 2) It previews the message to be sent by giving and receiving advance information. 3) It disclaims or denies a connection with the statement to follow. 4) It places the receiver of the message in a specific role, requiring them to respond in a certain way.

18. "People who exhibit assertive behaviour tend to demonstrate open, expressive and relaxed behaviour when negotiating, making requests, refusing unreasonable requests, standing up for their opinions, asking for favours, and giving and receiving compliments in a range of situations. They are able to build honest, fulfilling relationships. Such people feel comfortable with themselves and with others, and are able to satisfy their own needs and the needs of others.

    • "In contrast, people who exhibit aggressive behaviour may try to win at all costs, even to the point of humiliating others. They are often in conflict and may be disliked by others. At the other end of the scale, people who exhibit submissive behaviour are unable to assert themselves or promote their point of view. They are worried, anxious and lack confidence, and may be disliked because of their insecurity.
      • "The following acronyms provide a useful framework for giving specific positive or negative feedback assertively: The STAR acronym is used for positive feedback that confirms behaviour or outcomes: ST A R Situation or task (what the person was doing) is identified. Action (what they did) is discussed. Result (the outcome) or benefits of what they did is acknowledged. "The STAAAR acronym is used for constructive negative feedback meant to correct behaviours or actions that led to inappropriate results: ST AA AR Situation or task (what the person was doing, or should have been doing) is identified. Alternative action (what to do in the future) is discussed. Alternative result (the planned outcome) is identified to enable the receiver to apply the learning from feedback to future situations.