This advanced public speaking textbook is designed to encourage you as a speaker and to help you sharpen your skills. It is written to feel like you are sitting with a trusted mentor over coffee as you receive practical advice on speaking. Grow in confidence, unleash your personal power and find your unique style as you learn to take your speaking to the next level--polished and professional.

Instructors: The Third Edition includes a set of test banks which are not available to the public. For access to these resources, please contact Dr. Barbara Tucker at btucker@daltonstate.edu.

Exploring Public Speaking: The Free College Public Speaking Textbook began as the brainchild of Dr. Kris Barton, Chair of the Department of Communication at Dalton State College. It also was made possible through a generous Textbook Transformation Grant in 2015 from Affordable Learning Georgia, a highly successful program of the University System of Georgia. Dr. Barton asked me to help him author/compile the text.

The goal was to provide a high-quality, usable, accessible, and low-cost textbook for the hundreds of students who take COMM 1110 at Dalton State College every year. This course is required of all degree-seeking students. We have been able to save students hundreds of thousands of dollars already with this text. Unexpectedly and happily, the text has also been downloaded close to 14,000 times (as of August 2018) all over the world and has been adopted at many other institutions.

Dr. Barton and I worked on creating the textbook from July 2015 until May 2016, with the goal of going live with the text in Summer of 2016. Tragically Dr. Barton passed away in early May, a reality that still does not seem real. He has been greatly missed as a friend, colleague, father, scholar, teacher, and mentor.

The launch of the book proceeded; however, due to the loss of Dr. Barton, the ancillaries were not finished. In Summer 2017 I took on a significant revision and updating which I named the Second Edition. I included in that edition information on college student success in the appendices. In January 2018, a colleague, Matthew LeHew, and I won a grant from the University System to create the ancillaries and improve the format for more accessibility. I decided to remove the “Dalton State” from the title and most examples for wider appeal. An appendix on library research retains the information for specific use of Roberts Library on our campus.

Over 90% of the book is original with Dr. Barton, me, or other colleagues at Dalton State College. Some parts, specifically from Chapters 9, 10, and 15, are adapted from another open resource public speaking text whose author prefers not to be cited.

This Third Edition, along with including necessary updates and being formatted with different software, includes four more appendices: one on online speaking, one on APA, one on humor and storytelling in public speaking, and one on Dalton State’s Library. I have also tried to clarify concepts, to provide “case studies” to show the rhetorical process, and include more outlines and examples.

We think this book is especially useful in coverage of PowerPoint, audience responsiveness, ethics in public speaking, special occasion speeches, and structure of speeches. Three ancillaries are available: electronic “flash cards” for study, Powerpoints on the 15 main chapters, and test banks for the 15 main chapters.

Thank you for downloading Exploring Public Speaking, and the co-authors and I truly wish you happy teaching and learning with it. We welcome input. If you choose to use it, let us know at btucker@daltonstate.edu.

The Public Speaking course was developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in September 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides and is also named OCM013. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Team LeadJessica Papajcik                                Stark State College   Content ContributorsJames Jarc                                        Central Ohio Technical CollegeJanny Nauman                                  North Central State CollegeCarrie Tomko                                     University of Akron LibrarianAllen Reichert                                   Otterbein UniversityReview TeamLaura Garcia                                     Washington State Community CollegeJasmine Roberts                               Ohio State University

By this point, you’re probably aware that delivering your speech is only one part of the public speaking process. Clearly, it’s a critical part of the process, and most likely, the only part that your audience will see, so it’s important to get it right. Strong, confident delivery can help you build rapport and trust among your audience. Supporting your speech with effective presentation aids will help increase audience interest and hopefully understanding of your important ideas. This section will go over several strategies for how to make the most of your time in the spotlight, on stage, in class, or in the corporate boardroom. Part one of this topic deals with the actual delivery of the speech. Part two of this section deals with the development and use of presentation aids. Upon completion of this unit, students should be equipped with practical strategies that they can use to deliver dynamic, engaging, and memorable speeches, no matter the situation. Of course, it takes practice to develop good speech delivery habits, so students should be encouraged to take extra time to form these skills. With support and guidance, even the most timid students can make great strides toward developing a strong “presence” that audiences will really respond to! 

Scholars and practitioners agree that between 50-65% of the information that we communicate with others is done through nonverbal channels... That is, all of the ways that we communicate without using words.  Whether it’s a smile or a smirk; eye contact and a nod; gestures, or touch...they all send a message. This section introduces students to the ways in which nonverbal communication is used at an interpersonal level as well as in the public speaking context. As public speakers, students will learn to use nonverbal communication to develop rapport with their audience, to demonstrate confidence and competence, and to deliver clear, engaging, and memorable speeches. Developing strong nonverbal communication habits takes practice, and this chapter includes educational activities designed to help students hone their skills. When used effectively, nonverbal communication can support the words that are being said and improve the effectiveness of the message. When used poorly, nonverbal cues can confuse the audience, or worse, may send the message that the speaker is unprepared, uninterested, or even deceitful. This section provides information that will help students understand the best ways to use nonverbal techniques to become a more confident and engaging presenter. 

There are many important reasons to study public speaking. This opening section explores public speaking in the modern age as well as the many benefits associated with becoming a competent speaker.  This section also explains the process of public speaking and the different models of communication. Ethics is explored as well as the ethical choices public speakers and listeners must make. Last, this section introduces the National Communication Association’s Credo for Ethical Communication as well as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in relation to free speech.

If you’re like most people, the thought of giving a speech in front of a group of people probably makes you nervous, anxious, and perhaps even fearful. In fact, speaking in public is consistently ranked among people’s top fears, more so than flying, drowning, creepy-crawly critters, and zombies (Ingraham, 2014)! Understandably, public speaking can be challenging for even the most seasoned speaker, and there are many factors that go into communication apprehension (CA) and public speaking anxiety (PSA). This chapter will discuss some of the differences between communication apprehension, public speaking anxiety, glossophobia, as well as general social anxiety, along with the causes and symptoms of each. Additionally, this section offers some techniques for understanding and managing your fears or nervousness, while presenting exercises for reducing your speaking anxiety. This section also features resources that will help you build your confidence as a speaker, and teach you to present like a pro! 

If you’re like most people, the thought of giving a speech in front of a group of people probably makes you nervous, anxious, and perhaps even fearful. In fact, speaking in public is consistently ranked among people’s top fears, more so than flying, drowning, creepy-crawly critters, and zombies (Ingraham, 2014)! Understandably, public speaking can be challenging for even the most seasoned speaker, and there are many factors that go into communication apprehension (CA) and public speaking anxiety (PSA). This chapter will discuss some of the differences between communication apprehension, public speaking anxiety, glossophobia, as well as general social anxiety, along with the causes and symptoms of each. Additionally, this section offers some techniques for understanding and managing your fears or nervousness, while presenting exercises for reducing your speaking anxiety. This section also features resources that will help you build your confidence as a speaker, and teach you to present like a pro! 

Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy is a contemporary, interdisciplinary public speaking textbook that fuses rhetoric, critical/cultural studies, and performance to offer an up-to-date resource for students. With a focus on advocacy, this textbook invites students to consider public speaking as a political, purposeful form of information-sharing.

From audience analysis to giving a presentation, Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking will guide students through the speech making process. The authors focus on the process of speech making because they have created this book to be a user-friendly guide to creating, researching, and presenting public speeches. While both classic and current academic research in public speaking guide this book, the authors believe that a new textbook in public speaking should first, and foremost, be a practical book that helps students prepare and deliver a variety of different types of speeches — and that is the primary goal of this book.With practicality in mind, the authors developed, Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking, as a streamlined public speaking textbook. Many public speaking textbooks today contain over twenty different chapters, which is often impossible to cover in a ten-week quarter or a sixteen-week semester; this textbook is eighteen unique chapters. The fifteen chapters are divided into four clear units of information: introduction to public speaking, speech preparation, speech creation, and speech presentation.