Introduction to Presentational Speaking

Why Does This Class Matter?

Why Does This Class Matter?

Why Does This Class Matter?

Four categories of human communication:

All communication involves the following elements:

– Source– Receiver– Message– Channel– Shared meaning– Context, goals, outcome

Communication Process Defined:

• Source (sender): person who creates message– Speaker transforms ideas and thoughts into

messages and sends them to receiver, or audience

– Encoding: process of organizing message, choosing words and sentence structure, and verbalizing message

Communication Process Defined:

• Receiver (audience): recipient (individual or group) of source’s message– Decoding: process of interpreting message– Audience members decode meaning of

message selectively, based on individual experiences and attitudes

– Audience conveys feedback: response to message, verbal and non-verbal

Communication Process Defined:

• Message: content of communication process—thoughts and ideas put into meaningful expressions– Can be expressed both verbally (through

sentences and points of speech) and nonverbally (through eye contact and gestures)

Communication Process Defined:

• Channel: medium through which speaker sends message – E.g., sound waves, air waves, electronic

transmission• Noise: anything that interferes with

communication process between speaker and audience so that message cannot be understood

Communication Process Defined:

• Shared meaning: mutual understanding of message between speaker and audience– Lowest level of shared meaning exists when

speaker has merely caught audience’s attention

– Higher degree of shared meaning is possible as message develops

Communication Process Defined:

• Context: anything that influences speaker, audience, occasion, and speech– E.g., recent surrounding events, physical setting,

order and timing of speeches, and cultural orientation of audience members

– Consideration of audience, occasion, and overall speech situation when planning speech

– Audience-centered approach: each phase of speech preparation process is geared toward communicating meaningful message to audience