Public Communication
Course Outcome: Demonstrate appropriate research, organizational and delivery skills for public communication.
Public communication by definition is one to many. This is probably the part of the class that made you save this class for last. Or maybe you are one of the few who enjoy public speaking. Much of the anxiety for public speaking stems from a lack of preparation. This unit is designed to help you prepare your speeches so that they aren’t quite so intimidating. When you saw this class was a requirement, many of you may have wondered when you will ever use these skills. Even if you never again have to give a public presentation, the skills of outlining your thoughts, relating to your audience, and delivering a strong message through confident delivery will still help you in your future career or everyday life. Some careers have obvious public speaking components – a teacher or politician to name a few. How about a computer software engineer? A computer scientist may need to use public communication skills when presenting a new software they have developed, or perhaps presenting at a professional conference. Even if they don’t do those things, there may be a meeting where they are expected to speak on what they are working on or pitch a new software idea. Having these thoughts organized, researched, and delivered confidently will certainly help the engineer’s case.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to…
- Write a general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis statement for a speech
- Identify the parts of the introduction and conclusion in a speech
- Recognize the main points of the speech
- Identify connective statements in a speech
- Explain nonverbal aspects of speech delivery
