Public speaking is the process of communicating in person with a live audience.

Public speaking, also called forensics, oratory or oration, has traditionally been defined as speaking in person to a live audience. Today, the term can also refer to speaking to an audience through digital technology.

Confucius, a philosopher and a prominent public-speaking scholar, believed that good speech should impact individual lives, regardless of whether they were in the audience. He believed that someone in power could influence the world through words and actions.

Public speaking has many purposes. Each purpose calls on slightly different approaches and techniques. The main purposes of public speaking are Teaching, Persuasion, and Entertainment.

Public speaking was studied in Ancient Greece and Rome, where prominent thinkers analyzed it as a central part of rhetoric.

Aristotle indicated three speech purposes: deliberative (political speech), forensic (courtroom speech), and epideictic (speech of praise or blame).

Cicero too defined three purposes for public speaking: judicial (courtroom speech), deliberative (political speech), and demonstrative (a ceremonial form of speech, close to Aristotle’s epideictic).

Today, the art of public speaking has been transformed by digital technologies, such as videoconferencing, multimedia presentations, and other non-traditional forms of presentation.

Purpose of public speaking

The main objective of public speaking is to evoke a change in the thoughts and actions of the audience. The function of public speaking is determined by the speaker’s intent, but it is possible for the same speaker, with the same intent, to deliver substantially different speeches to different audiences.

Public speaking is frequently directed at a select and sometimes restricted audience, consisting of individuals who may hold different perspectives. This audience can encompass enthusiastic supporters of the speaker, reluctant attendees with opposing views, or complete strangers with varying levels of interest in the speaker’s topic. Proficient speakers recognize that even a modest-sized audience is not a uniform entity but rather a diverse assembly of individuals.

Broadly, public speaking aims to either reassure an anxious audience or to alert a complacent audience of something important. Once the speaker has determined which of these approaches is required, they will use a combination of storytelling and informational approaches to achieve their goals.

Persuasion

Persuasion is a term derived from the Latin word “persuādēre.”

Persuasive speaking aims to change the audience’s beliefs and is commonly used in political debates. Leaders use such public forums in an attempt to persuade their audience, whether they be the general public or government officials.

Persuasive speaking involves four essential elements: (i) the speaker or persuader; (ii) the audience; (iii) the speaking method; and (iv) the message the speaker is trying to convey. When attempting to persuade an audience to change their opinions, a speaker appeals to their emotions and beliefs.

Various techniques exist for speakers to gain audience support. Speakers can demand action from the audience, use inclusive language like ‘we’ and ‘us’ to create unity between the speaker and the audience, and choose words with strong connotations to intensify a message’s impact. Rhetorical questions, anecdotes, generalizations, exaggerations, metaphors, and irony may be employed to increase the likelihood of persuading an audience

Education

Public speaking can transfer knowledge to an audience. TED Talks are an example of educational public speaking. The speakers inform their audience about different topics, such as science, technology, religion, economics, human society, and psychology. TED speakers can use the platform to share personal experiences with traumatic events, such as abuse, bullying, grief, assault, suicidal ideation, near-death encounters, and mental illness. They may attempt to raise awareness and acceptance of stigmatizing issues, such as disabilities, racial differences, LGBTQ rights, children’s rights, and women’s rights.

Studies have shown the benefits of teaching public speaking strategies to students in an academic setting include a higher level of self-confidence and helps to render community well-being with access to a variety of information. Harvard University offers a range of courses in public speaking including persuasive communication and personal narratives. With the continued popularity of academic conferences and TED talks taking place worldwide, public speaking has become an essential subject in academia for scholarly and professional advancement. Additionally, work meetings and presentations require proficiency in public speaking to actively formulate ideas and solutions, and modern technology helps companies to release information to a wider audience.

Intervention

The intervention style of speaking is a relatively new method proposed by a rhetorical theorist named William R. Brown. This style revolves around the fact that humans create a symbolic meaning for life and the things around them. Due to this, the symbolic meaning of everything changes based on the way one communicates. When approaching communication with an intervention style, communication is understood to be responsible for the constant changes in society, behaviors, and how one considers the meaning behind objects, ideologies, and everyday life.

From an interventional perspective, when individuals communicate, they are intervening with what is already a reality and might “shift symbolic reality.”  This approach to communication encompasses the possibility or idea that one may be responsible for unexpected outcomes due to what and how one communicates.

This perspective widens the scope of focus from a single speaker who is intervening to a multitude of speakers all communicating and intervening, simultaneously affecting the world around us.