Public Speaking Terms: Definitions and Concepts

Public Speaking Terms and Definitions

Public speech: A sustained formal presentation made by a speaker to an audience.

Audience: The specific group of people to whom the speech is directed.

Audience analysis: A study made to learn about the diverse characteristics of audience members and then, based on these characteristics, to predict how audience members are apt to listen to, understand, and be motivated.

Audience feedback: Nonverbal and verbal cues that indicate audience members’ reaction to what the speaker is saying.

Speaking context: The physical, cultural, historical, and psychological factors in the setting in which your speech is presented.

Physical setting: The location, room size, seating arrangement, distance between audience and speaker, time of day, and room temperature.

Cultural setting: The values, beliefs, meanings, and social mores of specific groups of people to which your audience members belong.

Historical setting: Events that have already occurred that are related to your speech topic, to you as a speaker, or to previous speeches given by you with which audience members are familiar.

Psychological setting: The feelings, attitudes, and beliefs of individual audience members.

Speaker: The source or originator of the speech.

Speech planning process: The system that you use to prepare a speech.

Speech making: The process of presenting a speech to the intended audience.

Speech effectiveness: The extent to which audience members listen to understand, remember, and are motivated to act on what the speaker said.

Audience-centered: Considering who your listeners are and how your message can best be tailored to their interests.

Macrostructure: The overall framework you use to organize your speech content.

Microstructure: The specific language and style choices you use as you frame your ideas and verbalize them to your audience.

Ethics: A set of moral principles that a society, group, or individual holds that differentiate right from wrong and good behavior from bad behavior.

Crediting ideas: Giving the sources of information you use.

Plagiarism: The unethical act of representing another person’s work as your own.

Audience analysis: The study of the intended audience for your speech.

Audience adaptation: The process of tailoring your speech information to the needs, interests, and expectations of your listeners.

Subject: A broad area of expertise, such as movies or renewable energy.

Topic: Some specific aspect of a subject.

Brainstorming: An uncritical, non-evaluative process of generating associated ideas.

Concept mapping: A visual means of exploring connections between a subject and related ideas.

Credibility: The perception that you are knowledgeable, trustworthy, and personable.

Survey: A canvassing of people to get information about their ideas and opinions.

Two-sided items: Survey items that force the respondent to choose between two answers.

Multiple response items: Survey items that give the respondent several alternative answers from which to choose.

Marginalizing: Ignoring the values, needs, and interests of certain audience members, leaving them feeling excluded from the speaking situation.

Stereotyping: Assuming all members of a group have similar behaviors or beliefs simply because they belong to the group.

Demographic diversity: The range of demographic characteristics represented in an audience.