Page 19 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Preface

Public speaking is a dynamic transaction “between one and many”—between
the one who is speaking and the many who are listening. The meaning of the
message emerges from the relationship between speaker and audience. Speakers
cannot succeed without knowing their audience, and no audience member can
benefi t by just passively receiving a message. Both speaker and audience—and
the transaction between them—are essential to the process. As teachers and as
authors, we focus on the transactional nature of successful public speaking.
Public speaking is also an art, a science, and a skill—one that can be learned,
improved, and polished. We encourage our students to think of public speak-
ing as a learning experience—they don’t have to be perfect at the outset! We
also encourage them to think of their speech transactions as a refi ned exten-
sion of their everyday conversations, and we offer them the tools to become the
speakers they want to be. Public speakers can draw on a vast body of infor-
mation, ranging from classical rhetorical theories to empirical communication
research. In this book we include traditional topics, such as logos, ethos, and pa-
thos and current ones, such as research on cultural diversity, the role of nonver-
bal communication in delivery, and the appropriate uses of technology in public
speaking.
Today’s students of public speaking will face many different speech situations
in their lives, and they will face audiences of increasing cultural, demographic,
and individual diversity. Throughout this book, we focus on ways to adapt to
audiences to have the best chance of being heard and understood. We stress the
responsibilities and ethical issues involved in being a good public speaker. And
we discuss how to be a good audience member: one who knows how to listen, be-
have ethically, and critically evaluate the message being presented. In sum, we
attempt to provide students with a broad understanding of the nature of public
speaking as well as the specifi c skills they need to become successful, effective
public speakers, both as college students and throughout their lives.

Features of the Book

Bringing Visual Life to the Text This edition of Between One and Many con-
tinues the tradition we pioneered with our very fi rst edition—bringing visual life
to the art and science of public speaking. We have moved with the advance
of technology from VHS tapes in the fi rst three editions, to CD-ROMs in the
fourth and fi fth editions, to a fully developed online presence. With the popu-
larity of YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace, today’s students are accustomed to
viewing their video content online—so we embrace this trend. We now provide
students with the same type of content found on the Speech Coach CD in a new
Web-based Online Learning Center Web site. In addition to the usual videos of
sample speeches found with most texts, the innovative Web site provides video
segments on the role of public speaking in the lives of people with whom students
can identify, concrete skills for mastering speech anxiety, examples of delivery
techniques, and concrete advice on the proper role of visual aids, including the
frequently misused Microsoft PowerPoint™. The text and Online Learning Cen-
ter Web site are coordinated, and each of the eight sample student speeches
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