PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT SAMPLE ......J. Michael Hogan,Penn State University James R. Andrews,Indiana University Patricia Hayes Andrews,Indiana University Glen Williams,Southeast

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PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CIVICENGAGEMENT© 2008

J. Michael Hogan, Penn State UniversityJames R. Andrews, Indiana UniversityPatricia Hayes Andrews, Indiana UniversityGlen Williams, Southeast Missouri State University

ISBN-10: 0205562981ISBN-13: 9780205562985

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CHAPTER SURVEY

Public Speaking as CivicEngagement

Preparing Yourself to Speak

Speaking with Confidence

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, youshould

1. Understand the meaning andimportance of collaborativecommunication.

2. Be able to explain the natureand significance of thespeaker-listener partnership.

3. Know the key principlesinvolved in preparing yourselfto speak.

4. Understand how to deal withcommunication apprehensionand preparing yourself tospeak with confidence.

C H A P T E R

Preparing to Speak withCommitment and Confidence

55

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56 CHAPTER 3 Preparing to Speak with Commitment and Confidence

Public Speaking as Civic EngagementPreview. Communication models stress that the aim of communication is to get a response froman audience. As a form of civic engagement, however, public speaking is audience centered andassumes an equal, collaborative partnership between the speaker and listeners. For a speech to be truly successful, the audience as well as the speaker should derive some benefit from the exchange.

Some view communication as a one-way street. If the speaker gets what he or she isafter, according to this view, the speech is effective. But that’s only part of the pic-ture. In a democratic society, the true value of a speech must be judged by the out-come for all parties involved in the communication process: the speaker and thelisteners. In addition, a speech should be judged by its larger contributions to soci-ety. Does it contribute something useful to public discussion? Does it help the community resolve important controversies, or does it motivate members of thecommunity to do good things?

To communicate effectively, you must respect your listeners’ needs, sensitivities,and rights. You must know something about their predispositions, tastes, prejudices,capabilities, and knowledge. If you hope to get a response from your listeners, youneed to consider what characteristics they share as a group and what qualities indi-vidual members bring to the public speaking situation. Seeing public speaking as amutually beneficial experience for both speaker and listener means that taking ad-vantage of an audience—getting them to do something that is harmful to them, buysomething that is useless, or act in some destructive way—should never be yourgoal. Public speaking is a way of promoting the public good, and as such, it mustoccur within an ethical framework.

The Speaker-Listener Partnership in a Democratic SocietyMore than 40 years ago, communication scholar David Berlo, in his groundbreakingbook The Process of Communication, argued that all communication, includingpublic speaking, should be viewed as a process.1 That process is a two-way, recipro-cal exchange in which speaker and listeners exchange messages and negotiate mean-ings. In other words, the speaker, while primarily a sender, is also a receiver whoshould make adjustments based on the messages that come back from the audience.Listeners, while primarily receivers, are not passive—they send information abouttheir reactions to the speaker. (See Figure 3.1.)

This view of communication fits well within a broader perspective on publicspeaking as civic engagement. As a public speaker in a democratic society, your goalshould never be to manipulate your audience just to get your way. Rather, your aimshould be to join with your fellow citizens in deliberating about the best solutions toour common problems. During a question-and-answer period, for example, audiencemembers might ask questions, state their disagreement with the arguments you’veadvanced, or suggest alternatives to your proposals. As a speaker, you should recog-nize this exchange as an opportunity to learn more about your audience’s concernsand reactions to your speech. It is an opportunity to contemplate new informationand/or a new perspective.


57Public Speaking as Civic Engagement

Speaker(Sender/Receiver)

CONTEXT

Listeners(Receivers/Senders)

NoiseMessage*

Feedback*

Noise

CHANNEL

*verbal andnonverbal

Response/Effect

Figure 3.1An Audience-Centered com-municationModel

This process, this exchange, must also be understood in light of the variouschallenges it presents. For example, sometimes messages flow smoothly. At othertimes, noise—any kind of interference, from a squeaky microphone to hostile atti-tudes—may intervene to distort or interrupt the message flow. A hot, stuffy roomwill offer a greater challenge to a speaker than a comfortable setting. Furthermore,all of us filter messages though our own beliefs and values. We understand, believe,or act based partly on our own experiences, the values we hold, our age or sex, orour cultural practices. These factors will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5, wherewe consider audience analysis and adaptation. For now, just remember that the situ-ation in which you speak and the backgrounds and interests of the listeners can in-fluence the way a message is received. A good speaker will anticipate the nature andextent of these influences.

This process must also be understood in light of situational factors. Speeches al-ways take place in a context. If you were a student at Tulane University or theUniversity of New Orleans, the economic impact of hurricanes would be an inher-ently more interesting topic to you than it would be to a student at University ofWisconsin. If a fellow student was attacked at night while walking across campus,the issue of safety would undoubtedly concern you and other students in your audi-ence. If environmental activists have tried to stop logging in a nearby state forest byspiking trees or sabotaging equipment, you might expect students on your campusto have some understanding of radical environmentalism. In short, where and whenyou speak makes a big difference. A speech must be designed not only for a specificaudience, but also for a particular historical, political, or social context.

Viewing public speaking from a process perspective and as a part of human af-fairs yields important lessons. Both speakers and listeners must be involved in thecommunication process, and both also have some larger responsibilities to the com-munity. Speakers have an obligation to address serious matters of public concern,



while listeners have the responsibility to listen attentively and to critically yet fairlyevaluate the speaker’s ideas and proposals. If the speaker has been successful, boththe speaker and the listeners will benefit.

Much the same might be said about the speaker-listener relationship. If you giveyour listeners information they can use, then they will trust you to do the same onother occasions. Public speaking should be viewed as a shared experience with posi-tive results for all parties. As rhetorical scholar William Norwood Brigance once ob-served, we all have a right to free speech, but we also have a responsibility to deliver“useful goods to the listener.”2

Public speaking, in short, connects the speaker to the audience in an ongoing,collaborative partnership. It is not just something that you do to an audience, butrather something that depends on the active participation of the audience in thecommunication process.

Preparing Yourself to SpeakPreview. The overview of the basic principles of public speaking that follows will be developedin detail throughout the rest of this book. These principles will guide you in selecting a topic, es-tablishing credibility, analyzing the audience, discovering relevant material, fashioning argu-ments, delivering the speech, and determining the audience response.

This book is designed to help you acquire the abilities you need to speak. But,first, you must have some reason to speak. In your public speaking class, youmay speak because you’ve been given an assignment to do so. In life outside theclassroom, however, the need to speak goes deeper than that: it is part of yourresponsibilities as a citizen in a democracy. Our history is filled with examples ofpeople who felt the need to speak out, including some who risked their lives bydoing it. William Lloyd Garrison, the fiery nineteenth-century abolitionist, for ex-ample, spent much of his life speaking out against slavery, often facing hostilemobs and threats against his life. More than 30 years before the Civil War,Garrison described his determination to end slavery in the first issue of his famous abolitionist periodical, the Liberator: “I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch; and I will beheard!”3 Few of us are as passionately involved with an issue as William LloydGarrison. But as citizens in a democracy, we all have the right and the responsi-bility to speak out on matters of public concern.

Once you have made the decision to speak, you might think that the next step isto write the speech itself. But what about preparing yourself to speak? This is not justa trick of words. It is important to think about what you need to do to get ready togive a speech. Preparing yourself to speak means, first, making the decision to speakin public, then learning about the principles of effective and ethical public speaking.

Know YourselfYou are your most important asset as a public speaker. Your own beliefs, abil-ity, knowledge, and potential are the foundation on which any speech is built.However, very few people have speeches in their heads just waiting to be deliv-


59Preparing Yourself to Speak

ered. Getting ready to give a speech is hard work;it involves study, research, reflection, and a desireto contribute to the public dialogue. It begins withwhat you know and care about. In Chapter 6 weexamine ways to develop significant topics. Thekey word here is significant. Your speeches oughtto be about things that matter, things that are im-portant on your campus or in your community,things that affect you and your audience locally,nationally, or globally.

Many students react initially by thinking theydon’t have anything to talk about. But when you startto consider what is important to you—such as howthe knowledge you will gain as a student of literatureor history, or as a prospective teacher, lawyer, com-puter specialist, or manager will impact you and oth-ers, what problems you and your friends face as youtry to get an education, or what the future holds foryou and your audience in a globalizing world filledwith both opportunities and serious dangers—whenyou turn your attention to such matters, you willbegin to generate ideas for issues that you can addressin your speeches.

Although you might first canvass your own in-terests and concerns in deciding what to talkabout, you also need to think about another di-mension of yourself: your credibility. We’ve allheard the expression “If you could only see your-self as others see you.” As a speaker, you need todo just that—to try to see yourself as others do. We use the word ethos, a con-cept developed more than 2,000 years ago by the philosopher-rhetoricianAristotle, to describe how an audience perceives the character, intelligence, andmotives of a speaker.

Some speakers have a well-established ethos related to their expertise or experi-ences. When Dwight Eisenhower ran for president in 1952 and promised to bringthe Korean conflict to an end, people believed him because he had led the alliedarmies that defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. When space shuttle com-mander Eileen Collins talks about the hazards of space travel, lay audiences are in-clined to accept her views. These advantages of reputation, however, are notafforded to most of us. What you do to prepare for your speech and what you doduring the speech itself will most affect how the audience perceives you. Being wellprepared lets the audience know that you take them and your topic seriously andare in command of the facts. Being able to communicate directly and easily withyour audience reassures them that you can be trusted. In short, in preparing yourselfto speak, you must consider how you will be perceived and what you might do toimprove your own ethos.

Shuttle com-mander EileenCollins would likelybe very effectivewhen talking aboutspace travel be-cause she is berecognized by listeners as an expert.



Know Your AudienceSpeeches are delivered to specific audiences, and you must consider that audi-ence’s needs, interests, beliefs, and knowledge. Your knowledge of yourself mustbe supplemented by knowledge about those who will be listening to what youhave to say.

Knowing your audience makes it possible to adapt to their special needs or interests. If you wished to critique plans to reform Social Security that included al-lowing contributions to be invested in the stock market, for example, you might em-phasize different points, depending on the age of the audience. If talking to peopleabout to retire, you might emphasize the immediate impact of the reform proposalon benefit payments. If, on the other hand, you are talking to an audience of collegestudents, you might emphasize instead the long-term solvency of the system—whether Social Security will still be there for them when they retire in 40 or 50years. This doesn’t mean you would ignore the impact of the plan on age groups notrepresented in your audience, but only that the emphasis would change as you adaptto your listeners. Further, the United States is a country that encompasses peoplefrom many different cultures, not all of whom have the same priorities, the samevalues, the same experiences, or the same set of normative behaviors.

It would, however, be foolish to assume that everyone belonging to a particulardemographic group, such as older people or college students, will react in exactlythe same way to a particular message. But it is possible to make limited generaliza-tions about listeners based on their group characteristics. We’ll take this up in detailin Chapter 5, but the point made here is that you must consider carefully the char-acteristics of the audience that are relevant to the speech and take this understand-ing into account.

Adapting to your audience does not mean pandering to what your listenersmight want to hear. For example, in 1950 the virulent anticommunism spurred on by the Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, led to vicious, un-substantiated personal attacks on politicians, governmental officials, and other public figures, seriously threatening freedom of speech and political association.Criticism of McCarthyism was, however, considered very dangerous, possibly lead-ing to the destruction of one’s career and personal life. It was in such an atmospherethat Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine rose in the Senate to introduce “ADeclaration of Conscience.” “I speak,” she told her colleagues, “as a Republican. Ispeak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American.” Inspite of the risk of political backlash, she asserted that “those of us who shout theloudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequentlythose who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles ofAmericanism: The right to criticize; the right to hold unpopular beliefs; the right toprotest; the right of independent thought. The exercise of these rights,” she went onto say, “should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to alivelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merelybecause he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs.”4 Senator Smithdid not succeed in stopping Senator McCarthy and his supporters from their cam-paign of character assassination; it wasn’t until four years later that the Senate for-



mally censured McCarthy. But in making her case, Smith reminded her audience ofbasic values that they shared and offered hope to those who wished to restore civil-ity in public discourse.

As a speaker, you never set out to deliberately alienate your audience. In speak-ing your mind, however, you will sometimes tell an audience something they don’tespecially want to hear. It is important, of course, that controversial ideas be pre-sented respectfully and supported with convincing arguments and strong evidence.When presenting unpopular ideas, your persuasive challenge becomes greater.

Know the SituationThe setting for a speech can significantly influence how your audience responds toyou. You may be speaking in a comfortable or an uncomfortable physical setting.Or you may be close to your audience or separated from them by an orchestra pit.You may be speaking directly to them or using a microphone. You may be talking tothem first thing in the morning or right after lunch. Your audience may be there be-cause they are interested in what you have to say or because their attendance is re-quired. It is to your advantage to know in advance something about the setting inwhich you will be speaking so that you can anticipate potential problems and capi-talize on advantages that the setting might afford.

One of the most dramatic examples of the use of a setting by a speaker occurredshortly after Woodrow Wilson was elected president in 1912. What we now refer toas the State of the Union address was, at the time, called the annual message. SinceThomas Jefferson’s day, this message had been written out by the president, thensent to Congress, where it was read aloud by a clerk. It usually did not generatemuch excitement. Wilson decided to break with precedent and appear in person be-fore a Joint Session of Congress to deliver his annual message. While some deplored

Senator MargaretChase Smith ofMaine remindedher audience ofbasic values as shestood up againstcharacter assassi-nation and reck-less charges madeby SenatorMcCarthy and hisfollowers.



the break with tradition, Wilson’s speech captured national attention and generatedso much excitement that every president since has followed his example.5

In addition to the setting, the temporal context of your speech will influencehow it is received. Consider how much the events of September 11, 2001, changedthe context for George W. Bush’s speeches. After the terrorist attacks, political dis-agreements suddenly seemed petty, and some even thought it disrespectful or unpa-triotic to criticize the commander-in-chief. President Bush’s speeches, at least for atime, received more respectful and less partisan attention. By 2004, however, thecontext had changed again. In the midst of an election year, people again felt free to criticize the president on such issues as the War in Iraq and the state of the econ-omy. In retrospect, some even felt free to criticize how Bush had responded to theterrorist attacks.

On a smaller scale, you face the challenge of recognizing and adapting to whatis going on in your listeners’ world. Imagine, for example, that you are giving a classpresentation on the role of government in student aid. The student newspaper hasjust published a story detailing proposed cuts in student aid programs. It is likelythat your audience will be aware of this turn of events and will be listening for whatyou have to say about it. Before you speak, you need to be aware of what is hap-pening in your audience’s immediate world that is relevant to your topic.

Aim for Audience ResponseThink about the model of communication we presented earlier in the chapter. As aspeaker, your goal is to bring about some specific response from your audience. Thisprinciple is fundamental to everything else you will learn about public speaking, al-though it does not mean that you will resort to any means necessary to get that re-sponse. Still, knowing specifically what you want the audience to believe or do willhelp you determine what ideas to include in your speech. Do you want your audi-ence simply to understand a concept or to take a specific action? For example, ifyou were giving a speech about UNICEF, you could explain how and why it wasfounded and you could describe the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and the UNICEFgreeting cards programs—this might help listeners gain a better general understand-ing of what UNICEF is. If, however, you were to ask for donations, listeners wouldwant to know how their money will be spent. In this case, the speaker might spendmuch less time on such background information and concentrate instead on the dis-astrous famine and fatal epidemics in Africa, explaining how they affect young peo-ple, and describing in specific detail what UNICEF is doing to help hungry, sick, anddying children there.

One of the first things you should do in preparing yourself to speak is to deter-mine your specific purpose as precisely as possible, since it will affect all your otherchoices. That choice should be realistic, yet that does not mean you should neverthink big or take a long-range view. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who organized the firstwomen’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, advocated thatwomen should have the same rights as men, including the right to vote. It would beanother seventy years before women could vote in national elections, but Stanton atleast raised the issue in 1848 and started a national debate over women’s rights.6



There may be times when you will realize that yourviews are not widely accepted and that it is unrealis-tic to think you can change people’s mindsovernight. In such situations, you might aim for amore modest response—to get your listeners toadmit that there is some problem that needs to beaddressed, or to get them at least thinking about anissue that concerns you.

Discover Relevant MaterialAs you begin to work on your chosen speech topic,you will most likely have some information alreadyin your head. You may be building on your knowl-edge of the stock market, the frustrations with theeducational system that led your family to choosehomeschooling, or your experiences when volunteer-ing at a shelter for battered women. But even withthis kind of initial experience or knowledge, you willhave to learn a great deal more to become a crediblespeaker. Once you have decided on the specific pur-pose for your speech, you will still need to exploreother sources of information and supporting materialto back up your ideas. It is especially important torealize that in the process of learning more aboutyour topic, you might even change your position. Asyou do research, you may find that some of your preconceptions are wrong, or atleast questionable. As a public speaker you should always be open to the possibilitythat your own views may change.

Gathering pertinent information may begin with reading about an issue in ageneral news magazine, such as Time or Newsweek. These will give you a broadoverview and offer multiple perspectives. You also might search for materials on theWorld Wide Web, although you need to be careful when using information from theWeb. Since it is relatively easy to post material, many websites present highly biasedor even totally false information, rumors, or unsubstantiated gossip. Even the namesof websites can be misleading. If, for example, you were to come upon www.martinlutherking.org, you might think you have found a good source of biographi-cal information about the famous civil rights leader. In fact, that site is hosted byStormfront, a white-supremacist hate group. The Southern Poverty Law Center hasdescribed this site as “the first major hate site on the Internet ... created by formerAlabama Klan leader Don Black in 1995.”7 Unless you know an online source to behighly reliable (a government bureau, the New York Times or the Wall StreetJournal, or a professional journal, for example), it is best to confirm informationthrough other sources. Of course, you can always find reliable articles, books, andgovernment publications in your campus or local public library. You may also wantto interview experts, depending on the subject of your speech. Experts can be

It is always impor-tant to craft specificpurposes that willhelp you connectdirectly with youraudience and thatreflect your own beliefs.



quoted as sources, and often they can direct you to additional resources. Whateversources you use, they must be authoritative, reliable, and correctly cited, as we willdiscuss further in Chapter 8. The importance of using reliable sources and the crite-ria for judging websites are also discussed in that chapter.

Any topic of importance calls for research. All speakers, no matter how knowl-edgeable, can benefit from learning more about their topic. Obviously some willneed to engage in more research than others, but few can talk “off the top of theirhead” and hope to be effective.

Present a Reasonable ArgumentWhen you have decided what you hope to accomplish in your speech, you will needto set about framing ideas and finding material that supports those ideas and buildsa reasonable argument. You should seek information that will connect your topicwith your audience’s feelings, needs, and emotions—what is often referred to aspathos—and that makes logical sense. Remember that public speaking is a process:your purpose may change as you gather more information. As you learn more, how-ever, what you hope to accomplish will become clearer.

Consider the following example of how to develop an argument. You areabout to cast a vote in presidential elections for the first time. As you try to sort out the issues and where the candidates stand, you realize that there are alot of things going on in the campaign that do not really encourage you to thinkfor yourself. You would like to look at the issues and decide which personand/or party would exert the best leadership. There are a lot of irrelevant appealsfor your vote, however, and a lot of misinformation has been disseminated. You might wonder, for example, why you should vote for a candidate becauseyou are urged to do so by your favorite rock star or country music singer. Yousee the media paying a lot of attention to personal accusations and to who isahead in the latest polls. Much of what the candidates say about education orjobs is ignored by the media. You see 15- or 30-second ads that offer slogansand assertions with nothing to back them up. This state of affairs seems to youto trivialize the electoral process. As you mull this over, you determine that youwant to talk about presidential campaigns and, more specifically, about mediacoverage and advertising in presidential campaigns. Finally, you shape this into aspecific purpose—specifically describing the response you want from your audi-ence: I want my audience to look critically at the political information presentedto them during presidential campaigns and to work harder to become well-in-formed voters.

You then ask yourself, Why do I believe this is so? Why should my audienceagree with me? By answering these questions, you begin to form main ideas—ideasthat will be convincing—such as the following:

■ Relying on the advice of others can be a mistake.■ Campaign ads may be technically true but still be very misleading.■ Campaign news focuses on polls and other aspects of the “horserace” rather

than on the issues.



As you then set about studying the topic, these ideas may be modified ornew ones might emerge. As you conduct research, you will find specific data orrelevant information that will help you make these ideas more convincing to youraudience—that is, you collect supporting material. You might support your firstidea, for example, by

■ describing the lack of credentials and expertise among well-known celebritieswho have been politically active

■ quoting from real political experts on the content and effects of political ads andnews coverage

■ uncovering for your audience the sponsors of campaign material that is hostileto one candidate or the other and explain those sponsors’ stake in the election

This process helps you build your argument. As you begin to find relevant material,this material helps you refine your ideas and provides data to make those ideas moreconvincing to your audience. Consulting several different kinds of sources and al-ways looking for differing perspectives will help you build the strongest, most com-pelling argument possible.

Give Your Message StructureWell-organized speeches make it easy for the audience to follow the speaker’s argu-ment. They help the audience remember what has been said, and they give clear andconvincing reasons for responding as the speaker wishes. If your audience perceivesthat you are disorganized—if they cannot follow your ideas—they will have troubleaccepting your information and arguments and may doubt your credibility.

For an audience to follow your ideas, your speech must have structure. Yourideas must relate to one another logically. Taken together, they must present a coher-ent case in support of your argument. In an introduction, you will need to planways in which you can relate your topic to an audience, gain their attention and in-terest, and establish your own credibility. Usually you would include a preview andstate your thesis. The body of your speech, built around main ideas supported withevidence, needs to be planned carefully. You can help listeners move with yousmoothly from one idea to the next by devising strong transitions between yourideas and selecting places where it makes sense to summarize what has already beensaid. Finally, your conclusion, as the last word to the audience, will repeat the thesisof your speech, summarize your main ideas, and leave listeners with a memorablequotation or anecdote or challenge them to act.

The speech must form a pattern that is clear to your audience. Using ameaningful pattern of organization helps the audience take mental notes as you speak and remember what you have said. Your organizational pattern alsomakes clear to them how everything in the speech fits together, points to the de-sired response, and contributes to your ethos as a speaker. The many patternsavailable to you will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 9, but an example of a short speech that illustrates a simple organizational structure appears inHighlighting Organization.



Speak Directly with Your AudienceThe language you use and the way you use it can have a great impact on your audi-ence and the way it responds to your speech. By choosing language suitable to theaudience and the occasion, and by developing a conversational and direct speakingstyle, you will promote understanding and belief on the part of the audience.Suitable language keeps both the audience and your purpose in mind. It is languagethat is precise, clear, interesting, and appropriate to the situation in which yourspeech takes place. Beginning speakers sometimes believe that public speaking al-ways demands formal language, with the result that their speeches sound stiff. Wehave often had the experience of talking with a student who describes a particularevent or personal experience in an animated and natural way, then recounts thesame story in a stiff, awkward way when speaking to an audience.

It may help to think of public speaking as an enlarged conversation with friends.Speaking to an audience is not the same as a casual conversation. After all, you plana speech in advance, and it is more carefully organized than casual remarks. In aspeech, you also should avoid language that is too informal, such as the “fillers” wesometimes use in casual conversation—he “likes” and the “you knows” that clutter

Highlighting Organization

SPECIFIC PURPOSE: I WANT MY AUDIENCE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE USE OFEMINENT DOMAIN ILLUSTRATES THE PROBLEM OF CONFLICTING INDIVIDUAL VER-SUS COMMUNITY RIGHTS.

THESIS STATEMENT: THE GOVERNMENT’S USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN RAISESQUESTIONS OF HOW TO PROTECT INDIVIDUALS WHILE FURTHERING COMMUNITY

GOALS.

INTRODUCTIONI expect that there aren’t many people who don’t knowhow the Michael Jackson trial came out a few years ago.And I suppose most of us would be able to identify whatcelebrity movie stars are getting together or breaking up.If you watch television—the morning shows, the eveningnews, the talk shows—you learn a lot about famous peo-ple and their public and private lives. You also get someinformation on politics or international affairs. But howabout eminent domain? Even if you do understand what itis, do you get very excited about it? Probably not. Well, itinterests me because it has affected people close to me,and it could affect you and your family or friends. Theuse of eminent domain raises serious issues about howindividual rights conflict with community goals. Today I’d

like to tell you how I got interested in this problem, iden-tify some of the issues it raises, and explain why thereare no easy answers.

BODYI. I became interested in eminent domain for personal rea-

sons.A. Eminent domain is the right of public bodies (like the

city council) to condemn and buy property, even ifthe owner does not want to sell. A Supreme Courtdecision in 2005 gave cities broad power in exercis-ing eminent domain.

B. My grandparents live on a farm that was far out ofthe city when they first moved in, but it is nowwithin the city limits and the council is consideringallowing the school board to acquire property (in-cluding that belonging to my grandparents) tobuild a new regional school. My grandparents don’twant to sell their land and move from the housewhere they’ve always lived. So the eminent domainstory that took about 30 seconds to report on inthe nightly news has a real impact on people that Icare about.



everyday speech. Yet the same conversational style that you use in conversing withfriends may be perfectly appropriate in most public speaking situations. In addition,many of the personal experiences and stories you talk about with your friends mightwell work in your speech, depending on the topic.

Of course, all situations do not call for the same style of delivery. Some formaloccasions may call for manuscript speaking, in which you read a carefully preparedspeech to an audience. At other times you may be asked to speak on the spur of the moment, with little or no time for preparation; this is called impromptu speak-ing. On rare occasions, you may be expected to memorize your whole speech. Most often, however, you will be speaking extemporaneously—that is, with carefulpreparation but with minimal notes and a less formal, more direct, and audience-centered delivery.

No matter how much work you put into preparing yourself to speak, what theaudience finally sees and hears will determine their response. The best delivery doesnot call attention to itself; you don’t want the audience to pay more attention tohow you talk than to what you have to say. Good delivery, in most of the contextsin which you will speak, should be conversational and relaxed. If the delivery is

TRANSITION: SINCE I DO CARE ABOUT MY GRANDPARENTS, I’M CONVINCEDTHAT THE LAW OF EMINENT DOMAIN IS WRONG, RIGHT? WELL, MAYBE NOT.

II. The use of eminent domain raises serious questionsthat I have to think about no matter how it affects mepersonally.A. I love my grandparents, but I have to wonder if their

property rights outweigh the need to provide up-to-date facilities that will help children learn.

B. On the other hand, I worry about whether the pricepaid to owners will fairly compensate them for theloss of their property—including the emotional cost.

C. I know that this law will affect a lot of people otherthan my own grandparents, and the law can be usedto make way for Wal-Marts or strip malls. I’m notsure that this will always be in the public interest.

III. I raise these questions because this issue illustratesthat, even if there are no simple solutions, there areproblems that we have to face in our communities.A. I’m concerned about individual rights—my grandpar-

ents’ and all those who might be forced to sell prop-erty they want to keep.

B. But I’m also aware that there are needs that, if met,

will produce benefits for the entire community, suchas building good public schools.

C. Basically, I believe that we need to question easy so-lutions to problems—I recognize that, while the lawcould be good for a community, it could be abusedfor the profit of a few and not for the community as awhole.

CONCLUSIONBy the way, I don’t much care for Michael Jackson, but I dolike music. I’m not into celebrity watching, but I enjoy ad-venture movies and am really into special effects. More im-portant, however, I believe that I—all of us, really—need tounderstand that news stories that seem to get only passingattention may mean a lot to all of us. I admit that I don’thave a lot of answers. But in the days ahead in this courseI’ll be searching for some answers as I prepare speechesthat examine the big question that underlies this issue anda lot of others that face us today. It’s a big question thatmatters a lot to me: How can the rights of the communityand the rights of individuals be reconciled? I hope that to-gether, in this class, we might begin to answer it.



good, listeners can hear and understand what you say and will not find them-selves distracted by mannerisms, inappropriate language, or an overly dramatic presentation.

The overview of principles we have been discussing in this section will help youbecome an effective speaker and an engaged citizen. While they will be developed inmore detail in the rest of this book, they can serve as the foundation on which youcan begin now to prepare yourself to speak.

One other important factor needs to be considered at the outset. The prospectof getting up in front of an audience can make anyone nervous. The degree of nerv-ousness may vary from person to person, but feeling apprehensive is normal and tobe expected. This is something a speaker must face and deal with; in the next sec-tion we offer some practical advice on how to do just that.

Speaking with ConfidencePreview. Everyone experiences communication apprehension. It order to deal with it, you willneed to understand what communication apprehension is, ways to manage it, and how it canbenefit you.

No one was more universally admired than our nation’s first president, GeorgeWashington. Yet this heroic figure was extremely nervous when delivering his firstinaugural address. One senator who attended the ceremony observed that this“great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveledcanon or pointed musket.”8 His successor, the second president of the United States,was also terrified about delivering his inaugural address. After a sleepless night,John Adams felt ill and was afraid he might faint during his speech. He was soscared that he told his wife, Abigail, he was “in great doubt whether to say any-thing” at all “besides repeating the oath.”9

Understanding Communication ApprehensionWhen even national heroes suffer from communication apprehension, it is not sur-prising that the rest of us become nervous when asked to speak in public. In one fa-mous survey, it was discovered that people are more afraid of public speaking thanthey are of dying.10 Comedian Jerry Seinfeld joked about this finding:

According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Numbertwo is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the av-erage person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket thandoing the eulogy.11

However humorous this may sound, doctors at the Duke University MedicalCenter consider public speaking sufficiently stressful that they include it on a listof “mental stress tests.” Physicians use these tests in identifying those most atrisk for future heart problems.12 For many people, then, fear of public speakingis no laughing matter.


69Speaking with Confidence

Whether you call it speech anxiety, stagefright, or communication apprehension, youneed to understand this phenomenon for severalreasons.13 Not only can it become a significantbarrier to your personal success, but it can robyou of your voice as a citizen. Indeed, if you areafraid to speak out, you have no voice in ourdemocratic system.

Communication scholar James McCroskey,who has studied communication apprehensionfor more than 30 years, defines it as “an individ-ual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication withanother person or persons.”14 Most of us ex-perience only mild to moderate communicationapprehension; but for some, speaking anxietycan be quite severe—so severe, in fact, that they may avoid speaking at all.15 Fortunately,we can all learn to better manage our fears ofpublic speaking.

Managing Communication ApprehensionGreat leaders find ways to overcome their fearof speaking, no matter how momentous the oc-casion or how high the stakes. In 1859, for ex-ample, Abraham Lincoln faced the biggestchallenge of his young political career when he was invited to speak at the CooperUnion in New York City, a traditional proving ground for presidential candidates.Self-educated and with a “rough and tumble” style,16 Lincoln was hardly known asa great orator. Yet now his whole future—indeed, the future of the nation—restedon this single speech. A successful speech would make him a leading candidate forpresident; a poorly received speech could doom his career. As his law partner,William H. Herndon, recalled, “No former effort in the line of speech-making hadcost so much time and thought as this one.”17 In the end, that effort paid off. Afterputting off the sponsors long enough to carefully research and prepare his remarks,Lincoln delivered a tremendously successful speech—a speech that Harold Holtzeraptly characterized in the subtitle of his book Lincoln at Cooper Union: The SpeechThat Made Abraham Lincoln President.

How did Lincoln do it? Part of the answer, of course, lies in the extra time hetook to research and prepare his speech. But just as important was his firm convic-tion that he was right in taking the position he took: that the Republican Partyshould oppose the further spread of slavery in America. In other words, Lincoln wasthoroughly prepared and firmly believed in what he said, and those are the mostcritical factors in dealing with communication apprehension.

Sometimes speakers do not seem particularly invested in their topics. Perhapsthey view the speech as merely a course requirement or an unpleasant task

Lincoln was such asuccessful speakerbecause he pre-pared carefully andspoke with convic-tion about mattersof significance.



they must perform for their job. So they select their topic casually, giving very little thought to its importance to them or whether the audience might find it interesting. At other times, speeches fail because of inadequate preparation.Inadequate preparation may stem from a failure to find and focus the speechtopic early enough, or it could involve problems finding relevant or current information. Still other speakers suffer from a general tendency to procrastinate,putting things off until the last minute. Either of these problems—lack of com-mitment to your topic or inadequate preparation—may contribute to communi-cation apprehension. This leads to the two most fundamental principles incombating communication apprehension: addressing substantive issues to whichyou are committed and being well prepared.

Address Substantive Issues to Which You Are CommittedA genuine commitment to your topic can help you overcome the anxiety you mighthave about speaking in public, since you are more likely to speak with confidence ifyou are addressing a topic that really matters to you and your audience. As part of acommunity forum on health care, for example, an ER doctor might speak out on thecritical importance of finding ways to care for the uninsured—perhaps arguing thatuniversal health insurance would assure that everyone who needed health carewould get it and thereby create a more humane society. A student whose roommatehas been attacked outside the school library might make an impassioned plea to agroup of campus administrators, asking them to fund more lighting, police patrols,and campus escort services. Because of the commitment of these speakers to theirtopics, any communication apprehension they may have felt at the start of theirspeeches would likely fade as they focused on their arguments and the importance of persuading their audiences.

Be Well PreparedThere is no better psychological defense for dealing with communication apprehen-sion than honestly being able to say to yourself that you are well prepared. Youhave selected a topic of interest and value to you as well as your audience. You havedone your homework, perhaps even conducting an audience survey. You have de-voted significant time and effort to gathering information and to broadening yourunderstanding of the subject. You have carefully organized your speech into a clear,coherent, and unified whole. You have practiced by going over your speech—aloud—several times, timing yourself and fine-tuning your ideas. You have askedfriends for feedback. You feel confident that there is very little more you could havedone to prepare for your speech.

Reminding yourself of your careful preparation can be reassuring and evenliberating as you grapple with feelings of anxiety. Your delivery will reflect yourcareful preparation, and the audience will sense that you have worked hard outof respect for their time and attention. Also remember that your audience sharesresponsibility for the success of your speech. You have a right to expect that.Just as you have prepared well and met your responsibilities as a speaker, youraudience, too, has a responsibility to listen carefully and constructively to whatyou have to say.



Focus on Civic Engagement

Speaking with Conviction

A small community in southern Indiana had begun to ex-perience a serious problem with homelessness andpoverty. Although there were three shelters for housingthe poor at night, during the day they wandered thestreets—trying to find jobs, food, and warmth.

One woman, Shirley, had once worked as the directorof a day shelter for the poor when she resided in Arizona.Now she was convinced that such a shelter was urgentlyneeded in her new hometown in Indiana. She decided toapproach the administrative board of the church to whichshe belonged. Her goal was to persuade them to donatesome space in the church’s basement, which had a kitchenand restroom facilities, as well as a large dining hall, sothat a day center for the poor could be established. As sheprepared her presentation, she pored over figures onhomelessness and poverty—studying the trends and look-ing specifically at how and why the problem had grown inIndiana. She reflected on her experiences in Arizona andreread some books on poverty by such experts as RubyPayne and David Shipler. She carefully organized her infor-mation and arguments and practiced her speech aloudseveral times. She also knew her audience very well, sincethey were all fellow members of her church. As a result,she was able to anticipate some of the kinds of questionsand concerns they would likely bring to the meeting. Howcould the church afford it? What would be the risks? Howmight other citizens in the community react? How wouldthis endeavor affect church membership?

On the day of her speech, Shirley felt somewhat anx-ious. She knew she had to wait until the board’sevening meeting to make her presentation, and the dayahead loomed long. She maintained her routine thatday—eating lightly but well, taking a brisk walk, andthen practicing her speech one last time. She remindedherself of the gravity of the problem. She thought aboutthe human beings she had encountered—each with adifferent story—those striving to get their lives back ontrack following a period of incarceration, the womenwho were escaping abusive relationships, the mentallyill who needed structure and regular medication, andthe children who had never known a home. Armed withher convictions, her painstaking preparation, and herdeep desire to connect with the audience, Shirleywalked toward the boardroom, determined to speak asconvincingly as possible on behalf of those who couldnot speak for themselves. She still felt some level ofanxiety, but she felt a far greater desire to share herconvictions and ideas—and hopefully, ultimately, tomove her audience to action.

Source: Personal narrative of one volunteer, Bloomington, IN,June, 2005. For sources that informed this woman’s knowledgeabout poverty, see Ruby K. Payne, A Framework forUnderstanding Poverty (Highlands, TX: Aha! Process, 1996),and David K. Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004).

The best way to reduce speech anxiety is to address topics that genuinely con-cern you and to be well prepared for your presentation. In addition, you might em-ploy a variety of other strategies for managing communication apprehension. As yougive more speeches, you will no doubt find strategies that work especially well foryou. For now, however, let’s examine some of the specific strategies that experiencedspeakers have found helpful for dealing with communication apprehension.18

Develop a Positive AttitudeWhat do you think of when you imagine yourself making a speech? Do you pic-ture yourself stumbling over your own words, dropping your note cards, or freez-ing as you attempt to respond to a listener’s question? Research has clearly



shown that people with high speech anxiety tend to have more negative thoughtsbefore the delivery of a speech than people who are comfortable speaking.19 Itstands to reason, then, that developing more positive thoughts may help in man-aging or reducing anxiety.

When you dread making a speech, when you think of it as a burden or somethingthat you “have to do” for a class or for your job, you are more likely to develop se-vere communication apprehension. What if you learned to view it differently: as anopportunity to change minds, to share what you know, or to make a real difference inthe community where you live? The principle here is simple: speakers who anticipatesuccess rather than failure suffer less apprehension about speaking.

Practice Your SpeechIdeally, you should practice over a period of a few days, not a few hours. It is al-ways a mistake to put off rehearsing your speech until the last minute. Prepare yourspeech well in advance and give yourself ample time to practice. You may be able toget a friend or a few friends to listen to your speech. Practicing early and often is thekey here. No one can tell you exactly how many times to practice or what tech-niques might work best for you. As you give more speeches over time, you will learnwhat approach works best for you.

Anticipate the Speech SituationThere are times in life when it is nice to be surprised, but before or during apublic speech is not one of them. As we have said before, effective speakersknow their audiences. Gathering information about your audience and the speak-ing situation before you speak helps you to focus on the audience right from thestart. Whenever someone invites you to make a speech, try to obtain as much in-formation as you can. If you are addressing a community group that holds regu-lar meetings, ask permission to attend one of those meetings, to get a feel for theroom and the typical audience, and to note how they interact. If the organizationhas a Website, you will also want to visit that, and you can ask the person whoinvited you to speak to respond to a few questions before the speech. Figure 3.2provides some basic questions that you might want to ask about your audienceand the speech situation.

Practice Active ListeningActive listening can be a powerful tool for managing communication apprehen-sion.20 Rarely do you make a speech under circumstances in which you arrive,immediately stand up and talk, then quickly depart. More likely, your speech willbe part of a longer program, meeting, or banquet, and others will speak beforeyou. Listening closely to those speakers will draw your attention away from yourown anxieties and may even give you ideas about last-minute changes to yourown speech. In your speech class, you will be listening to other speakers beforeand after you make your speech. Instead of fretting over your notes, strive to lis-ten carefully to those who speak before you. You might learn something, and



hopefully you also will find yourself a bit more relaxed when it is your turn tospeak. In addition, you might be able to reference something in another speechthat complements your own in some way.

Exercise for RelaxationIf you feel tense and nervous before you speak, you can do some simple physical ex-ercises to relax. One excellent way to relax is by breathing deeply. Deep breathingallows you to take in a large quantity of air, giving you a good supply of oxygenand the potential for enhanced vocal control. You will also want to breathe deeplybefore you speak and to continue breathing deeply and regularly while you are de-livering your speech for better vocal support and ongoing relaxation.

Isometric exercise, which involves tensing and then relaxing specific muscles,can also be a useful relaxation technique. Try clenching and unclenching your fists,pressing your legs firmly together and then relaxing them, or squeezing the palms ofyour hands together as if you were trying to flatten a piece of clay. Alternatively, you

Figure 3.2

Collecting Information about Your Audience

Some Guiding Questions

1. Does the audience expect me to address a particular aspect of a topic?

2. What is the audience composition?a. audience sizeb. age (range and distribution)c. sex (mixed or largely same sex)d. race/ethnicitye. values (religious, political, economic, etc.)

3. What is the speaking environment like?a. size and arrangement of roomb. availability of podium, blackboard, flip chart, microphonec. degree of formalityd. location of building (do I need to get a map?)e. parking issues?

4. Are there any time constraints?

5. Will questions follow the speech?

6. What is the anticipated length of the entire meeting? When should I arrive?

7. Can I arrive early or check out the setting ahead of time?



can push your leg, arm, or foot against some immovable object, such as a wall,table, or even the podium. After you have pressed firmly, release the muscle, relax-ing it as completely as possible. These isometric exercises are subtle—you can dothem without being noticed, even in the middle of your speech. They can also beused before and after the speech.

Finally, performing aerobic exercise before your speech can help reduce com-munication apprehension. Aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, running, orswimming, is not only good for your cardiovascular system and general well-being,it also helps reduce tension and brings communication apprehension into a manage-able range.

Acknowledge the Potential Benefits of Moderate Communication ApprehensionSome people have serious problems with speech anxiety and are virtually incapaci-tated by their fear of speaking.21 Most of us, however, can learn to manage ourspeech anxiety, and experienced speakers even find ways to channel their nervousenergy in positive directions. They are able to do this, in part, because they have de-veloped specific techniques that work for them. Some speakers, for example, begintheir speaking day with meditation, prayer, a two-mile run, or a quiet walk.Everyone will benefit from getting a good night’s rest and eating a light, nutritiousmeal before making a speech. Wearing comfortable clothes that make you feel goodabout yourself also will contribute to a positive mental attitude. What is importantis to learn what helps you most in managing your feelings of anxiety.

In most speaking situations, however, a little anxiety can be a good thing, forthat little spurt of adrenaline can energize your mind and body, keep you alert, andperhaps even contribute to a more dynamic delivery. As you gain experience as apublic speaker, you will become more comfortable and confident standing up beforean audience, and eventually you might even come to anticipate and welcome thatadrenaline rush that we all feel when we speak in public.

Maintain a Sense of PerspectiveNo matter how well you prepare for any speech, bad things can happen. The micro-phone may fail. The person who introduces you may mispronounce your name. Youmay get something under your contact lens, or drop one of your note cards. By prepar-ing well you can reduce the likelihood that something will go wrong, but you will neverhave complete control over the situation. Do not be intimidated by that fact. The un-predictability is what makes public speaking both challenging and interesting.

You need to maintain a sense of perspective. Prepare well, do your best, be flexi-ble, and pay attention to feedback from your listeners. Even if, in your judgment, yourentire speech goes badly—that is, you feel disappointed in your performance—youshould view it as a learning experience. Concentrate on what you learned. Get readyto have another go at it. No matter how brilliantly or poorly you think you per-formed, it is important that you view each speech as a chance for personal growth. Ifyou are truly committed to speaking out, you will have other opportunities to speakon the subject.


By employing any or all of these strategies for managing communication appre-hension, you can become a more poised and confident speaker.

Summary■ A speech is successful only if it benefits both speaker and audience.

■ You must have a collaborative approach to preparing and presenting your speech.

■ Basic principles for preparing yourself to speak:

■ examining your own knowledge, ability, beliefs, and potential (know yourself)

■ discovering the audience’s needs, interests, beliefs, and knowledge (know youraudience)

■ understanding how the setting and other outside factors may influence thespeech (know the situation)

■ devising a clear purpose that reflects the desired response (aim for audience re-sponse)

■ exploring potential sources of information (discover relevant material)

■ using language and delivering the speech in a manner suitable to the audienceand the occasion (speak directly with your audience)

■ practicing a well-prepared presentation frequently enough to give yourself oralcommand of the speech (develop confidence through practice)

■ Understanding what communication apprehension is and how to manage it willhelp you gain confidence.

■ Communication apprehension is a normal reaction to speaking in public.

■ Commitment to your topic and thorough preparation are fundamental to build-ing your confidence.

■ A positive attitude, practice, anticipating the situation, listening actively, exer-cise, acknowledging the benefits of apprehension, and maintaining a sense ofperspective will also help you overcome apprehension.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND REFLECTION1. Explain the significance of the speaker-listener partnership. Offer one example of how the

speaker and listener are mutually interdependent.2. What are the most important things you will do to prepare yourself to speak responsibly

and ethically?3. In your view, are any of these elements more important than others? Why or why not?4. As you learn to give speeches, what do you imagine will be your greatest challenge? How

might you begin to grapple with it?5. What is meant by communication apprehension?6. This book suggests that commitment and preparation are the most significant factors in

reducing communication apprehension. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

75Summary


ENDNOTES1. The process perspective is widely referred to as the “transactional perspective.” David K.

Berlo, The Process of Communication (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960).2. William Norwood Brigance, Speech: Its Techniques and Disciplines in a Free Society, 2nd

ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961), 20.3. Cited by James Brewer Stewart, Wendell Phillips: Liberty’s Hero (Baton Rouge:

Louisiana State University Press, 1986), 46.4. Margaret Chase Smith, “A Declaration of Conscience,” Washington, DC, June 1, 1950,

http://gos.sbc.edu/s/chasesmith.html (accessed August 29, 2005).5. Robert Alexander Kraig, Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical

Statesman (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), 131–33.6. See Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her: A Critical Study of Early

Feminist Rhetoric, 2 vols. (New York: Praeger, 1989), 51–58.7. T. K. Kim, “Electronic Storm: Stormfront Grows a Thriving Neo-Nazi Community,

2005, www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=551 (accessed August 20, 2005).8. James Thomas Flexner, George Washington and the New Nation: 1783–1793. (Boston:

Little, Brown, 1969), 188.9. Letter to Abigail Adams, March 17, 1797, in John Adams: A Biography in His Own

Words, ed. James Bishop Peabody, 359 (New York: Harper and Row, 1973).10. “What Are Americans Afraid Of?” Bruskin Report 53 (July 1973): 8.11. Jerry Seinfeld, SeinLanguage (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), 120.12. “Mental Stress Test Indicator of Future Cardiac Problems,” Bloomington Herald-Times

(June 5, 1996), A6.13. A great deal of research during the past three decades has focused on communication ap-

prehension. See, for example, James C. McCroskey, “Oral CommunicationApprehension: A Summary of Recent Theory and Research,” Human CommunicationResearch 4 (1977): 78–96. More recent articles include Ralph R. Behnke and Chris R.Sawyer, “Milestones of Anticipatory Public Speaking Anxiety,” CommunicationEducation 48 (1999): 165–72; Behnke and Sawyer, “Public Speaking Anxiety as aFunction of Sensitization and Habituation Processes,” Communication Education 53(2004): 164–73; Amy M. Bippus and John A. Daly, “What Do People Think CausesStage Fright? Naive Attributions about the Reasons for Public Speaking Anxiety,”Communication Education 48 (1999): 63–72; and Rebecca B. Rubin, Alan M. Rubin,and Felecia F. Jordan, “Effects of Instruction on Communication Apprehension andCommunication Competence,” Communication Education 46 (1997): 104–114.

14. McCroskey, “Oral Communication Apprehension,” 78.15. James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond, “The Impact of Communication

Apprehension on Individuals in Organizations,” Communication Quarterly 27 (1979):55–61.

16. Waldo W. Braden, Abraham Lincoln: Public Speaker. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana StateUniversity Press, 1988), 3.

17. Harold Holtzer, Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham LincolnPresident (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004), 28.

18. See Joe Ayres, “Speech Preparation Processes and Speech Apprehension,”Communication Education 45 (October 1996): 228–35, for an interesting study on howthe nature of speaking preparation is vital to the quality of the speech as delivered.



19. Joe Ayres and Tim Hopf, Coping with Speech Anxiety (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993),5–21.

20. In the interpersonal communication and interviewing literature, active listening refers toa listening approach in which the listener participates in the conversation by summariz-ing, paraphrasing, and occasionally interrupting the speaker with clarifying, supportivequestions. We are using the term in a different way here.

21. James McCroskey, An Introduction to Rhetorical Communication, 7th ed. (Boston: Allynand Bacon, 1997), 39–61.

77Endnotes


PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT SAMPLE ......J. Michael Hogan,Penn State University James R. Andrews,Indiana University Patricia Hayes Andrews,Indiana University Glen Williams,Southeast

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