Be honest – how often do you talk to yourself? OK, so a few special people talk to themselves almost exclusively. But most of us only talk to ourselves occasionally and usually just to rehearse what we really want to say to others. We spend our "talking time" speaking to others. And every time we talk to (with) someone we are engaged in public speaking. Whether standing before a large audience in an auditorium, getting our point across to a few people in a meeting, or in a one-on-one conversation, it's all public speaking. Studies show we communicate professionally by speaking five times more often than we do by writing. The only communication skill we use more frequently than public speaking is listening to other speakers.
Public speaking has two distinct aspects. It involves the
physical presence of an audience; the individual or group we are trying
to inform, entertain, motivate or persuade. It also involves
oral and physical communication requiring that words, ideas and images be communicated by our voice and other dimensions of physical presence. The techniques associated with these aspects of communication are the substance of this workshop.
