Conclusion
Conclusion
This chapter has been designed to be informative but also serve as a bit of a pep talk. Many students face this course with trepidation, for various reasons. However, as studies have shown over the years, a certain amount of tension when preparing to speak in public can be good for motivation. A strong course in public speaking should be grounded in communication research, the wisdom of those who have taught it over the last 2,400 years, and reflecting on your own experience.
John Dewey (1916), a twentieth-century education scholar, is noted for saying, “Education does not come just from experience, but from reflecting on the experience.” As you finish this chapter and look toward your first presentation in class, be sure to give yourself time after the experience to reflect, whether by talking to another person, journaling, or sitting quietly and thinking, about how the experience can benefit the next speech encounter. Doing so will get you on the road to becoming more confident in this endeavor of public speaking.
Something to Think About
- Investigate some other communication models on the Internet. What do they have in common? How are they different? Which ones seem to explain communication best to you?
- Who are some public speakers you admire? Why? (Do not name deceased historical figures whom you have not heard personally or face-to-face.)
- When this class is over, what specific skills do you want to develop as a communicator?
- What behavior done by public speakers “drives you nuts,” that is, creates “noise” for you in listening to them?
- When you experience communication anxiety, what happens in your body and mind?
