Oral Communication

The audience plays a critical role in public speaking, giving the speaker a chance to attain his main aim. The main goal of the speaker is to awake the interest of the audience and ensure that they are getting the message. The topic of public speaking should be relevant to the audience to make them fully participate; the development of the content highly depends on the audience, for example, for a youthful audience the speaker should use various aspects that bring out message. The delivery of speech depends on the audience (Lucas, 1998). For example, speech meant for children should involve repetitions, use of examples and illustrations.

It is essential to be well-prepared for a public speech since lack of proper preparations may lead to boredom among the audience. First, identify the audience as this will influence your content choice, organization and presentation. After identifying all these aspects, the speaker should practice the presentation of the topic (Beebe & Beebe, 2006). Presentation determines the success of the speech. Failure during presentation ruins the whole process. It is important to identify few leaders of the group, who play an important role in determining whether the topic is interesting or not. They will node and use other gestures. Pick examples that are relevant and exercise on the whole presentation. If one is planning to use audiovisual tools, their functioning should well-checked..

My first public speaking experience was filled with anxiety.  I struggled to put away nervousness and deliver the message to the audience who, I noticed, were not nodding. From this, I realized that the confidence displayed while presenting is critical in influencing the audience. One method to deal with anxiety is to pick up few people in the group who will participate in the process by cheering and nodding (Fraleigh Tuman & Arkle, 2009). It usually helps in dealing with anxious moments. A speaker should also be introduced to the audience prior. It is crucial to pick few examples related to the audience experience, take a few deep breaths, speak on topics that you are an expert in and exercise well on the topic.