The new edition offers a revolutionary digital experience--McGraw-Hill Connect Lucas and Connect Lucas Plus. The Connect Lucas products allow students and instructors to access all course materials including a complete media and research library, study aids and speech preparation and assessment tools from a single place, connectlucas.com. With Connect Lucas, students use the traditional printed text. Specially marked icons in the text guide students to the media-rich, interactive features available at connectlucas.com. Connect Lucas Plus allows students and instructors to access the fully-integrated, media-rich textbook from connectlucas.com. As students read the book online, linked icons guide them to embedded media-rich, interactive features.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Art of Public Speaking
By far the leading speech textbook of our time, The Art of Public Speaking has defined the art of being the best for more than 10 million students and instructors. Whether a novice or an experienced speaker, every student will learn how to be a better public speaker through Lucas' clear explanations of classical and contemporary theory and thorough coverage of practical applications.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Purpose Of A Speech Outline
So you've been asked to prepare a speech for an upcoming event. Should you just wing it and do whatever comes to mind when the event arrives or would you be better off creating a speech outline? Hopefully you answered the latter. This article will cover the advantages of creating a speech outline for any public speaking affair that you have coming up.
No matter how much experience somebody has giving public speeches, you can bet your money that public speakers of every level create a speech outline before giving their presentation. This isn't to say that public speakers actually refer to the outlines while giving a speech, but they are fully aware of the outline that they took the time to create. Creating an outline for your speech guarantees that you are prepared to deliver a speech that will get the job done with flying colors. Ask any successful person, in any field, what some of the keys to their success are, and you will discover that the majority of them will tell you in one way or another that preparation has always been a key to their success.
Preparation is not the only reason to create a speech outline before giving a speech. Keeping your audience engaged is another important reason to create an outline. From an audience's perspective, nothing is worse than sitting at somebody's presentation and listening to continuous ramblings. When you take the time to prepare an outline for your upcoming speech, your speech will flow well, stay on point, and keep your audience on their toes just dieing to know what you're going to say next.
Finally, preparing a speech outline will allow you to give a speech without having to constantly refer to notes. Sounds a little strange, right? The truth of the matter is that when you take the time to create your own outline for an upcoming speech and review it a few times, that outline is constantly in your head during your speech. As a result, you will find yourself being able to give a speech that will have a nice tempo simply because you will not have to refer to a piece of paper with your outline on an ongoing basis during the course of your speech.
As you can see, a speech outline is a good idea, even for seasoned public speakers. It helps you to be prepared, keep on point and flow from one topic to the next with ease, and keep a good tempo to your speech. These are key components of being perceived as a successful and engaging public speaker.
No matter how much experience somebody has giving public speeches, you can bet your money that public speakers of every level create a speech outline before giving their presentation. This isn't to say that public speakers actually refer to the outlines while giving a speech, but they are fully aware of the outline that they took the time to create. Creating an outline for your speech guarantees that you are prepared to deliver a speech that will get the job done with flying colors. Ask any successful person, in any field, what some of the keys to their success are, and you will discover that the majority of them will tell you in one way or another that preparation has always been a key to their success.
Preparation is not the only reason to create a speech outline before giving a speech. Keeping your audience engaged is another important reason to create an outline. From an audience's perspective, nothing is worse than sitting at somebody's presentation and listening to continuous ramblings. When you take the time to prepare an outline for your upcoming speech, your speech will flow well, stay on point, and keep your audience on their toes just dieing to know what you're going to say next.
Finally, preparing a speech outline will allow you to give a speech without having to constantly refer to notes. Sounds a little strange, right? The truth of the matter is that when you take the time to create your own outline for an upcoming speech and review it a few times, that outline is constantly in your head during your speech. As a result, you will find yourself being able to give a speech that will have a nice tempo simply because you will not have to refer to a piece of paper with your outline on an ongoing basis during the course of your speech.
As you can see, a speech outline is a good idea, even for seasoned public speakers. It helps you to be prepared, keep on point and flow from one topic to the next with ease, and keep a good tempo to your speech. These are key components of being perceived as a successful and engaging public speaker.
How To Write A Speech Is Like Grade School Writing
How To Write A Speech Is Like Grade School Writing
Have you been asked to prepare and give a speech and have not a clue where to begin when it comes to writing your speech? Do not fear. Learning how to write a speech is just like going back to grade school writing class. This article will demonstrate how easy it is to write a speech for any upcoming public speaking event that you may have.
Somehow, somewhere along your life, you have come to believe that writing a speech is somehow difficult or that you are no good at it. Nothing could be further from the truth once you realize that writing a speech is just like writing a grade school paper. The secret to writing a well crafted speech can be summarized with a single word: structure.
The structure to a great speech is simple to implement. To begin your speech, you need an introduction. The introduction should begin with a statement about the topic in general followed by another sentence introducing the specific topic you will speak about. The third sentence of your speech should vaguely mention the points you will discuss during your speech. Finally, the last sentence of your introduction should state what the purpose of the speech will be. Specifically, what can the audience expect to learn from your speech?
So the introduction is done. Now you need five to seven points that you are going to speak about. If you completed your introduction correctly, your five to seven points should have been vaguely mentioned in the third sentence without having given away too much information about the points. The next five to seven paragraphs should individually discuss a single point. You only need to expound on each point an additional three to four sentences. The final sentence of each body paragraph should conclude the point you were writing about and if possible, attempt to introduce the next paragraph.
Finally, you'll have your conclusion. The conclusion should summarize the purpose of your speech. Briefly mention the main points you covered in each of your body paragraphs and conclude your final paragraph with a general statement about the topic you covered.
That's all there is to it. Learning how to write a speech really is as simple as going back to your grade school days and following the simple format that you learned then. Start with your introduction, follow that with one paragraph per point that you will cover in your speech, and conclude your speech with a well crafted conclusion. You can now see that the process truly is simple.
Have you been asked to prepare and give a speech and have not a clue where to begin when it comes to writing your speech? Do not fear. Learning how to write a speech is just like going back to grade school writing class. This article will demonstrate how easy it is to write a speech for any upcoming public speaking event that you may have.
Somehow, somewhere along your life, you have come to believe that writing a speech is somehow difficult or that you are no good at it. Nothing could be further from the truth once you realize that writing a speech is just like writing a grade school paper. The secret to writing a well crafted speech can be summarized with a single word: structure.
The structure to a great speech is simple to implement. To begin your speech, you need an introduction. The introduction should begin with a statement about the topic in general followed by another sentence introducing the specific topic you will speak about. The third sentence of your speech should vaguely mention the points you will discuss during your speech. Finally, the last sentence of your introduction should state what the purpose of the speech will be. Specifically, what can the audience expect to learn from your speech?
So the introduction is done. Now you need five to seven points that you are going to speak about. If you completed your introduction correctly, your five to seven points should have been vaguely mentioned in the third sentence without having given away too much information about the points. The next five to seven paragraphs should individually discuss a single point. You only need to expound on each point an additional three to four sentences. The final sentence of each body paragraph should conclude the point you were writing about and if possible, attempt to introduce the next paragraph.
Finally, you'll have your conclusion. The conclusion should summarize the purpose of your speech. Briefly mention the main points you covered in each of your body paragraphs and conclude your final paragraph with a general statement about the topic you covered.
That's all there is to it. Learning how to write a speech really is as simple as going back to your grade school days and following the simple format that you learned then. Start with your introduction, follow that with one paragraph per point that you will cover in your speech, and conclude your speech with a well crafted conclusion. You can now see that the process truly is simple.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
How To Choose Public Speaking Topics
There may come a time when you are asked to give a public speech to a specific group of people without being told what the speech should be about. What are you supposed to do in this case? Are you expected to come up with public speaking topics off the top of your head? This is a lot easier said than done sometimes and can be outright frustrating at other times for those who are not used to this. This article will provide you with the information you need when considering a public speaking topic.
When looking to come up with a topic to speak about, you will obviously need to understand how to choose an appropriate topic. The emphasis is on appropriate. For example, if you are speaking to a young group of children, you clearly don't want to choose a topic that may contain themes or concepts that are not meant for their age group. It's important that you carefully consider who your audience is when choosing a topic to speak about.
Once you have considered who your audience is, the next step is researching what topic you are going to speak about. This is quite simple thanks to the Internet. A simple search using your favorite search engine will generate a huge selection of public speaking topics for you to choose from. By viewing the search results and the titles of the websites that are given to you, you can quickly find websites that will give you an endless amount of ideas. As a result, you will never be short on ideas when looking for a topic to speak about to your chosen audience.
Public speaking topics that are sure to be a crowd pleaser always revolve around the personal needs of your audience. We all crave to be liked, made to feel important, have great health, and better the lives of our family. These are just a few emotionally triggered topics that will always generate a great response from your audience. When searching for a topic to speak about, try to pick a topic that will better the lives of your audience and you won't go wrong.
It should be clearly obvious to you now that choosing public speaking topics is nothing to fear. Take into consideration who your audience is, use the Internet to research potential topics, and always try to choose a topic that will better the lives of your audience. Follow these guidelines and it won't matter if you're given a topic to speak about or not. You'll always know the solution when you're left to come up with a topic all on your own.
When looking to come up with a topic to speak about, you will obviously need to understand how to choose an appropriate topic. The emphasis is on appropriate. For example, if you are speaking to a young group of children, you clearly don't want to choose a topic that may contain themes or concepts that are not meant for their age group. It's important that you carefully consider who your audience is when choosing a topic to speak about.
Once you have considered who your audience is, the next step is researching what topic you are going to speak about. This is quite simple thanks to the Internet. A simple search using your favorite search engine will generate a huge selection of public speaking topics for you to choose from. By viewing the search results and the titles of the websites that are given to you, you can quickly find websites that will give you an endless amount of ideas. As a result, you will never be short on ideas when looking for a topic to speak about to your chosen audience.
Public speaking topics that are sure to be a crowd pleaser always revolve around the personal needs of your audience. We all crave to be liked, made to feel important, have great health, and better the lives of our family. These are just a few emotionally triggered topics that will always generate a great response from your audience. When searching for a topic to speak about, try to pick a topic that will better the lives of your audience and you won't go wrong.
It should be clearly obvious to you now that choosing public speaking topics is nothing to fear. Take into consideration who your audience is, use the Internet to research potential topics, and always try to choose a topic that will better the lives of your audience. Follow these guidelines and it won't matter if you're given a topic to speak about or not. You'll always know the solution when you're left to come up with a topic all on your own.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Three Public Speaking Tips For The Nervous Speaker
Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of many great people than having to give a presentation or speech in front of a crowd, no matter the size of the audience. Taking the time to learn some public speaking tips can go a long way when it comes to calming the nerves of somebody who is about to speak in front of a group of people. This article will cover three simple things you can do to prepare for your public speaking engagement and ensure that your speech is a crowd pleaser.
A sure fire way to guarantee success when speaking publicly is to only give speeches on topics that you are familiar with. You should know more about the topic that you are going to speak about than the actual amount of information you will share with your audience. Furthermore, the topic should ideally be something that you not only know about in depth, but you need to be sincerely interested in the topic. Your enhanced knowledge and passion for the topic will convey sincerity and excitement about the topic to your audience and keep your audience engaged.
As silly and as difficult as this may sound, practice your speech as often as you can. Hearing yourself speak out loud can be awkward but the simple act of practicing your speech will help you avoid potential stumbles when you give your speech live. Be sure to also focus on your breathing and limiting as many "hmms" as you can from your speech. Practicing your speech over and over will help to make sure that your live presentation goes as smoothly as possible.
Finally, use movement when giving your speech. Avoid sitting or standing in a single place while speaking. Staying in a single position while speaking can make it more difficult for your audience to maintain interest. Move around, use hand movements, and use voice inflections to keep your audience engaged in what you are speaking about. It is even advisable to create audience participation if the topic or atmosphere warrant it.
If you follow these three public speaking tips, you are sure to be viewed as a great public speaker to your audience. Know your topic inside out, practice out loud before your public speaking date, and move around and use voice inflections when speaking to your audience. No longer will you have to let public speaking strike fear into your heart when somebody asks you to give a speech to a small or large audience.
A sure fire way to guarantee success when speaking publicly is to only give speeches on topics that you are familiar with. You should know more about the topic that you are going to speak about than the actual amount of information you will share with your audience. Furthermore, the topic should ideally be something that you not only know about in depth, but you need to be sincerely interested in the topic. Your enhanced knowledge and passion for the topic will convey sincerity and excitement about the topic to your audience and keep your audience engaged.
As silly and as difficult as this may sound, practice your speech as often as you can. Hearing yourself speak out loud can be awkward but the simple act of practicing your speech will help you avoid potential stumbles when you give your speech live. Be sure to also focus on your breathing and limiting as many "hmms" as you can from your speech. Practicing your speech over and over will help to make sure that your live presentation goes as smoothly as possible.
Finally, use movement when giving your speech. Avoid sitting or standing in a single place while speaking. Staying in a single position while speaking can make it more difficult for your audience to maintain interest. Move around, use hand movements, and use voice inflections to keep your audience engaged in what you are speaking about. It is even advisable to create audience participation if the topic or atmosphere warrant it.
If you follow these three public speaking tips, you are sure to be viewed as a great public speaker to your audience. Know your topic inside out, practice out loud before your public speaking date, and move around and use voice inflections when speaking to your audience. No longer will you have to let public speaking strike fear into your heart when somebody asks you to give a speech to a small or large audience.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Three Public Speaking Techniques To Improve Your Speeches
Without communication, it would be beyond difficult to get by in our everyday lives. We communicate with one another each and every day but when it comes to giving a speech to an audience, even an audience of our peers and coworkers, we tend to find this a difficult thing to do. Taking the time to learn some simple public speaking techniques can help you overcome such difficulties. This article will offer three public speaking techniques that are bound to help you with any speech you give in the future.
The first technique to improving your public speaking is knowing ahead of time what it is you want to communicate to your audience. This requires considering who your audience is, what it is that you want to communicate to your audience, and how you might best get your message across to your audience. Taking the time to carefully consider the 'what', the 'who', and the 'how' before you begin creating your speech will help you to better communicate with your audience.
The second technique for improving your public speaking is to be prepared. Now that you have taken the time to carefully consider what it is that you want to communicate and how, you need to prepare yourself for success. This is done by taking the thoughts you came up with from the previous step and creating an outline on a piece of paper of what you'll be covering. There's no need to be super detailed about this. You should already be familiar with your topic and as such, a simple outline highlighting the points you will cover should be plenty.
The final technique to giving quality public presentations is keeping the message simple. Most likely, your audience doesn't know a quarter of what you know about the topic that you will be speaking on. In addition to that, you probably won't have near enough time to cover everything that you know either. Therefore, keep it simple. Pick five to seven points that you will want to cover and give enough information where it is understood, but don't overload your audience with information either.
These three public speaking techniques will help you to form a base foundation for improving your public speaking. Think ahead of time what you want to communicate, prepare yourself with a simplified outline of the speech, and keep it simple. These public speaking techniques, when combined, will help you to relax when speaking in front of a crowd of your peers while delivering a quality speech.
The first technique to improving your public speaking is knowing ahead of time what it is you want to communicate to your audience. This requires considering who your audience is, what it is that you want to communicate to your audience, and how you might best get your message across to your audience. Taking the time to carefully consider the 'what', the 'who', and the 'how' before you begin creating your speech will help you to better communicate with your audience.
The second technique for improving your public speaking is to be prepared. Now that you have taken the time to carefully consider what it is that you want to communicate and how, you need to prepare yourself for success. This is done by taking the thoughts you came up with from the previous step and creating an outline on a piece of paper of what you'll be covering. There's no need to be super detailed about this. You should already be familiar with your topic and as such, a simple outline highlighting the points you will cover should be plenty.
The final technique to giving quality public presentations is keeping the message simple. Most likely, your audience doesn't know a quarter of what you know about the topic that you will be speaking on. In addition to that, you probably won't have near enough time to cover everything that you know either. Therefore, keep it simple. Pick five to seven points that you will want to cover and give enough information where it is understood, but don't overload your audience with information either.
These three public speaking techniques will help you to form a base foundation for improving your public speaking. Think ahead of time what you want to communicate, prepare yourself with a simplified outline of the speech, and keep it simple. These public speaking techniques, when combined, will help you to relax when speaking in front of a crowd of your peers while delivering a quality speech.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Public Speaking Exercises Can Help You Too
If you hold any position of authority at your job or if you happen to be self-employed, it is inevitable that there will come a time where you will be asked to give a presentation to a group of people. If public speaking is something that you are not really accustomed to, you may feel a sense of anxiety and literally lose sleep wondering how you're going to overcome your fears. This article will aim to provide public speaking exercises that you can use to make your public speaking engagement a positive experience.
Love them or hate them, public speaking exercises can really improve your public speaking abilities. The first exercise is to tape yourself with a voice recorder or camcorder. A camcorder will give you the advantage of hearing how you sound in addition to seeing how you look when speaking. Recording and reviewing yourself will provide you with fastest improvements in your public speaking. While this exercise will undoubtedly be your least favorite exercise, it is the most effective and will provide the fastest improvements.
The second exercise is to practice tongue twisters before giving your speech. You may think that sounds silly. After all, what do tongue twisters have to do with public speaking? Of all the public speaking exercises that exist, only by practicing tongue twisters out loud can you improve your diction in such a short period of time. If nobody can clearly understand what you're saying, you can expect your audience to quickly tune you out and ignore what you have to say, no matter how useful or important your presentation is.
The final exercise is all about relaxation. Relaxation can be achieved with purposeful breathing. Before going on stage, inhale deeply through your mouth and exhale very slowly through your nose. Breathing in this manner will help you to relax and calm your nerves. When you're relaxed, you appear very confident to your audience while simultaneously appearing as though you're a complete natural when it comes to speaking in front of groups of people.
Remember that most people fear public speaking and the fact that you are doing what they fear will automatically put you in a positive spotlight. Public speaking exercises like recording yourself, perfecting your diction, and focusing on your breathing will all contribute to you looking like a pro. No longer will you have to experience anxiety or lose any sleep if you commit to practicing the exercises that you have learned here.
Love them or hate them, public speaking exercises can really improve your public speaking abilities. The first exercise is to tape yourself with a voice recorder or camcorder. A camcorder will give you the advantage of hearing how you sound in addition to seeing how you look when speaking. Recording and reviewing yourself will provide you with fastest improvements in your public speaking. While this exercise will undoubtedly be your least favorite exercise, it is the most effective and will provide the fastest improvements.
The second exercise is to practice tongue twisters before giving your speech. You may think that sounds silly. After all, what do tongue twisters have to do with public speaking? Of all the public speaking exercises that exist, only by practicing tongue twisters out loud can you improve your diction in such a short period of time. If nobody can clearly understand what you're saying, you can expect your audience to quickly tune you out and ignore what you have to say, no matter how useful or important your presentation is.
The final exercise is all about relaxation. Relaxation can be achieved with purposeful breathing. Before going on stage, inhale deeply through your mouth and exhale very slowly through your nose. Breathing in this manner will help you to relax and calm your nerves. When you're relaxed, you appear very confident to your audience while simultaneously appearing as though you're a complete natural when it comes to speaking in front of groups of people.
Remember that most people fear public speaking and the fact that you are doing what they fear will automatically put you in a positive spotlight. Public speaking exercises like recording yourself, perfecting your diction, and focusing on your breathing will all contribute to you looking like a pro. No longer will you have to experience anxiety or lose any sleep if you commit to practicing the exercises that you have learned here.
