1. Public Speaking Chapter Four
Listening to Speeches

2. Listening
to select a sound is to single out a message from several competing messages
a listener has many competing messages to sort through, including personal thoughts
your job as a public speaker is to motivate your listeners to focus on your message
to attend to a sound is to focus on it
most people’s average attention span while listening to someone speak is 8 seconds
your choice of supporting material is often the key to gaining and maintaining attention

3. Listening
to understand something, people assign meaning to the information that comes their way
it is known that people understand what they hear by relating it to something that they have already seen or heard
as a speaker, you should clearly explain your ideas in terms and images that your listeners understand

4. Listening to remember is to recall ideas and information
typically, the best way to determine if an audience has been listening it to determine what they can remember
Your goal as a public speaker is to develop and deliver a speech that audience members will listen and respond to.

5. Barriers to Effective Listening
Information Overload
Everyone has the potential to become an effective listener.
The problem is that we listen so much that instead of getting better at it, we are getting better at “tuning things out” because we are tired of listening to so many things.

6. Barriers to Effective Listening
What you can do as a speaker:
make sure your speech has a good balance between new information and supporting material
a speech that has too many facts, definitions, or ideas makes listening difficult
pace the flow of new ideas and information
30% of your speaking time should be presenting new ideas
70% of your speaking time should be spend supporting these ideas with examples and stories (interesting ones!)

7. Barriers to Effective Listening
what you can do as a listener:
the key to being a good listener is to recognize when you are NOT being a good listener and adjust
make a special effort to concentrate on the information that you are hearing
look at the speaker
sit up straight
remain focused on the message

8. Personal Concerns
Your own thoughts are the biggest competitors for your attention when you are a member of an audience
what you can do as a speaker:
use “wake up” messages (such as “Now listen…”)
use good eye contact
use appropriate volume and vocal variation
speak with appropriate gestures for emphasis

9. Personal Concerns What you can do as a listener:
stop the mental conversation that you are having with yourself about ideas that are not related to the speaker’s message
be aware of thoughts, worries, and daydreams that are competing for your attention
once you are aware that you are off task, return your attention to what the speaker is saying

10. Outside Distractions What you can do as a speaker:
be aware of anything that might distract your listeners’ attention
how are the chairs arranged? (does the arrangement allow for a clear view of you and your materials?)
is there distracting or irrelevant information on the whiteboard?
check out the room ahead of time (if possible)
look where your audience will be seated and look for possible distractions
then, reduce or eliminate them
while speaking, politely discourage whispering or talking

11. Outside Distractions What you can do as a listener:
be on the lookout for potential distractions
move your seat, if necessary
if you need to, close the blinds, turn off the lights, etc. (anything that might help the speaker and prevent distractions)

12. Prejudice
Prejudice is preconceived opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about a person, place, thing, or message
When you prejudge a message, your ability to understand it decreases
Ways to prejudge a message:
a Democrat, while listening to a Republican speaker, may listen differently to the message because of political differences
making snap judgments based on a speaker’s appearance
too readily accepting what a speaker says because of the way he or she looks, sounds, or dresses

13. Prejudge What you can do as a speaker:
do your best to get your audience’s attention at the beginning of your message
make sure you are not using examples, words, or phrases that could be misinterpreted
when you are speaking to a group that might be critical or hostile of your message, be sure to use careful language, sound reasoning, detailed arguments, detailed and convincing evidence
strong emotional appeals will not work in these types of situations

14. Prejudice What you can do as a listener:
be aware of your preconceived notions
try to avoid becoming so critical of a message that you don’t listen to it or are so impressed that you decide too quickly that the speaker is trustworthy without examining the evidence

15. Differences Between Speech Rate and Thought Rate
Most people talk at a rate of 125 words a minute, but have the ability to listen to up to 700 words a minute
some studies claim people can listen to up to 1,200 words a minute
the problem that this presents is that this gives audience members time to ignore a speaker periodically – and eventually stop listening

16. Differences Between Speech Rate and Thought Rate
What you can do as a speaker:
build in message redundancy / have appropriate internal summaries in speech
use clear transitions
be well organized
make your major ideas clear

17. Differences Between Speech Rate and Thought Rate
What you can do as a listener:
use your mental power to stay focused on the message
periodically make a mental summary of what a speaker is saying to increase your ability to remember the information

18. Receiver Apprehension
Receiver apprehension is the fear of misunderstanding or misinterpreting the spoken messages of others.
If you experience receiver /listener apprehension, you may have difficulty understanding all that you hear because your fear creates “noise” that may interfere how much information you comprehend

19. Receiver Apprehension
What you can do as a speaker:
be more redundant
offer clear preview statements
include appropriate summaries when making transitions
summarize key points at the end of your speech
use visual presentation aids

20. Receiver Apprehension
What you can do as a listener:
work harder to try to comprehend a message
use a tape recorder to record a lecture
(BUT ASK PERMISSION FIRST)
summarize mentally what you hear
take accurate notes

21. How to Become a Better Listener
Listen with your eyes as well as your ears
nonverbal cues play a major role in communicating a message – some have even estimated that 93% of the emotional context of a speech is conveyed through nonverbal cues
Accurately interpret nonverbal messages
a speaker’s facial expressions will help you identify the emotions being communicated
posture and gestures reinforce the intensity of an emotion
get a good view to increase nonverbal cue understanding

22. How to Become a Better Listener
consider nonverbal cues in context
look for clusters of cues
look for cues that communicate liking, power, and responsiveness
Adapt to the speaker’s delivery
to be a good listener, you must adapt to a speaker’s idiosyncrasies
do not mentally criticize a speaker, focus on the message

23. How to Become a Better Listener
at the same time, just because a speaker is polished and sounds good, does not mean that his or her message is credible
Listen mindfully
be conscious of whether or not you are actually paying attention to a speaker
Monitor your emotional reaction to a message
if you become angry at a word or phrase that s speaker uses, your listening comprehension decreases
don’t let a speaker’s message close down your mind

24. How to Become a Better Listener
Avoid jumping to conclusions
give a speaker time to develop and support his or her main point before you decide whether or not the message has any value
Be a selfish listener
find a way to benefit from the information that you are listening to
ask yourself “What’s in it for me?” and “How can I use this information?”

25. How to Become a Better Listener
Listen skillfully
identify your listening goal
listen for major ideas
practice good listening methods
adapt to listening styles as necessary
be an active listener

26. How to Become a Better Listener
Identify your listening goal
there are at least four major listening goals:
listening for pleasure
you listen to something just for the fun of it
to empathize
make an attempt to feel what the speaker is feeling (stop, look, listen, imagine, check for understanding)
to evaluate
making a judgment about the content
to gain information
to learn something

27. How to Become a Better Listener
Listen for major ideas
facts are useful only when you can connect them to a principle or concept
in speeches, facts and examples are used to support major ideas
try to summarize the major ideas that the specific facts support
Practice Listening
listening skills do not develop automatically – you need to practice

28. How to Become a Better Listener
Understanding your listening style
listening styles are preferred ways of making sense out of spoken messages
people-oriented listeners are comfortable listening to others express feelings and emotions
action-oriented listeners prefer information that is well organized, brief, and accurate
content-oriented listeners prefer messages that are supported with facts and details
time-oriented listeners like short and succinct messages

29. How to Become a Better Listener
Become and active listener
an active listener is one who remains alert and mentally re-sorts, rephrases, and repeats key information when listening to a speech.
re-sort – seek ways to rearrange the speaker’s information into a new, more logical pattern
rephrase – summarize key points or information that you want to remember into your own words – you will remember the information better
repeat – repeat key points that you want to remember
go back to essential ideas and restate them to yourself

30. Improving Your Note-taking Skills
It is difficult to remember the details of a long speech unless you have taken notes.
When you couple note taking with good listening skills, your ability to remember information is greatly increased.
To improve your note-takings skills:
prepare – come prepared to take notes, even if you aren’t sure that you will need to
determine whether you need to take notes

31. Improving Your Note-taking Skills
decide on the type of notes you need to take – this will depend on what you will need to do with the information after the speech
make your notes meaningful –
beware of taking too many notes
leave a blank area in your margin to use while reviewing your notes – this can help to sort through / retain pertinent information

32. Listening and Critical Thinking
Critical listening is the process of listening to evaluate the quality, appropriateness, value, or importance of the information you hear.
Critical listening is a mental process of making judgments about the conclusions presented in what you see, hear, and read.
the goal of being a critical listener or a critical thinker is to evaluate information and to make a choice – to assess the quality of information and the validity of the conclusions presented

33. Listening and Critical Thinking
Separate facts from inferences
Facts are based on something that has been proven by direct observation.
An inference is a conclusion based on partial information or an evaluation that has not been directly observed.
Facts are in the realm of certainty, whereas inferences are in the realm of probability and opinion
This is where most arguments in public speaking are!

34. Listening and Critical Thinking
Evaluate the Quality of Evidence
Evidence consists of the facts, examples, opinions, and statistics that a speaker uses to support a conclusion.
without credible supporting evidence, you should not agree with a speaker’s conclusions
some speakers use examples
if the examples are not typical or if only one examples out of many is offered, you should question the conclusion

35. Listening and Critical Thinking
speakers might also use opinions
the best opinions come from reliable, credible sources (people who have experience, credentials to make a statement about the topic)
a statistic is a number that summarizes a collection of examples
think about if the statistics are reliable, unbiased, recent, representative, and valid before believing the speaker’s conclusion

36. Listening and Critical Thinking
Evaluate the underlying logic and reasoning
an effective critical thinker listens not only for evidence, but also for the overall structure of the logic that the speaker uses to reach a conclusion.
Logic is a formal system of rules applied to reach a conclusion.
reasoning is the process of drawing conclusion from evidence within the logical framework of arguments
when a speaker is trying to change your behavior, listen carefully to the logical or structure of the argument

37. Listening and Critical Thinking
a study of communication principles and skills not only helps you to become a better public speaker, but also a better consumer of messages
this is a benefit that you will use for the rest of your life – in various situations

38. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Your critical thinking and listening skills will help you evaluate not only the speeches of others, but also your own speeches.
To make a judgment about the value of something, it is important to use criteria for what is and what is not effective or appropriate.
Rhetorical criticism is the process of using a method or standards to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of messages.

39. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Rhetoric is the process of using symbols to create meaning to achieve a goal.
as a public speaker, you use symbols to create meaning in the minds of your listeners and to achieve a goal (to inform, to entertain, to persuade)

40. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Understanding Criteria for Evaluating Speeches
Your public speaking teacher will undoubtedly have a rubric or evaluation form for speeches, but there are two fundamental goals for what constitutes a “good” speech:
it is effective
it is ethical

41. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
The message should be effective:
to be effective, the message of a speech should be understandable to listeners and should achieve its purpose
if listeners fail to comprehend the speaker’s ideas, the speech fails
as you listen to speeches, a fundamental piece to look at in determining the success of a speech is whether or not you understood the message
another way to evaluate the effectiveness of a message is to assess whether it achieved its intended goal
this an only truly happen if the goal of the speech is clear (which, unfortunately, is not always the case)

42. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
The message should be ethical
if a speaker’s message is clearly understood by the audience and also gets the reaction the speaker desired, but the speaker has used unethical means to achieve the goal, the message might be effective, but it was not appropriate
an ethical public speaker focuses not only on achieving the goal of the message, but also doing so in an ethical way (while being sensitive and responsive to listeners)

43. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Identifying and analyzing rhetorical strategies:
symbols are words, images, and behaviors that create meaning for others
public speakers use symbols to achieve their goals
rhetorical strategies are methods and techniques that speaker use to achieve their speaking goals
in order to enhance your listening skills, you should be more aware of how message influence your behavior (i.e. – rhetorical strategies)

44. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
some speakers use unethical strategies to achieve their goals, such as misusing evidence, relying too heavily on emotion to persuade, or fabricating information
the more clearly you can identify and analyze the speaker’s methods, the more effectively you can assess whether the message and the messenger are worthy of your support

45. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Giving Feedback to Others
to criticize a speech is to discuss the speech – identifying both strengths and aspects that could be improved.
to give effective feedback:
be descriptive – in a neutral way, describe what you saw
be specific – make sure your descriptions are precise enough to give the speaker a clear iamge

46. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
be positive – begin and end your feedback with positive comments
be constructive – give the speaker suggestions or alternatives for improvements
be sensitive – use “I” statements rather than “you” statements
be realistic – provide usable information

47. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
Giving feedback to yourself:
you are the most important critic of your speeches
look for and reinforce your skills and speaking abilities – try to recognize your strengths and skills as a public speaker
evaluate your effectiveness based on your specific speaking situation – be flexible and adapt principles and practices to specific speech situations

48. Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches
identify one or two areas for improvement – after each speaking opportunity, identify what you did right and then a suggestion or two about ways to improve