Invitational Speaking

Imagine you are seeking input from member of your work team on how to best meet a sales or production goal.  You have a few ideas of what could be done but you know others might have better ideas and you need everyone’s support if you are to accomplish the goal.  What would you do?  Might you simply inform people of the goal and let them do their part?  Might you attempt to inspire them with a motivational speech in order to raise their awareness of the stakes and inspire each person to give a little more? Or might you invite them to understand the problem, consider it from a number of different perspectives and perhaps share their ideas for how to best accomplish the goal?

Invitational speaking is a type of public speaking in which a speaker enters a dialogue with an audience in order to clarify positions, explore issues and ideas, or articulate beliefs and values (Griffin, 2015).  Invitational speaking has its roots in dialogic communication and feminist rhetoric.  Sonya Foss and Cindy Griffin introduced the discipline to a more interactive approach toward speaking which included inviting listeners to share their perspective while the speaker facilitated the discussion to move toward a deeper level of understanding.  They grounded this approach in feminist principles of equality, immanent value and self-determination (Foss and Griffin, 1995).

Invitational speaking

A type of public speaking in which a speaker enter a dialogue with an audience in order to clarify positions, explore issues and ideas, or articulate beliefs and values

While informative speaking aims to educate and persuasive speaking seeks to influence listeners toward a specific action or viewpoint, invitational speaking offers a different approach. Scholars have debated the validity of this mode, with some arguing that all communication is inherently persuasive. Yet, there remains something compelling about the practice of invitational speaking. In a democratic society—where citizens must consider diverse viewpoints, evaluate alternatives, and make informed decisions—the ability to listen with the goal of understanding is an essential skill that deserves cultivation. Invitational speeches allow students to discover new views and recognize that while they are not experts on all subject matter, they can still share their perspectives with confidence and authority.  Invitational speaking affords speakers the chance to both experience and participate in public dialogue that is at the core of our nation’s democracy.  Students gain experience listening and responding in ways that promote civil discourse.  A wonderful byproduct of using invitational speeches is the energy brought to speech day in the form of interesting topics and lively interaction between and among students.

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PPSC COM 1150 Public Speaking Copyright © by Dr. Barbara G. Tucker and Katie Wheeler, MA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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