Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

• Cindy L. Griffin
• Colorado State University
• Public Speaking Online Lecture Series
• February 26, 2003

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Overview Public Speaking As Public Dialogue

• What is public speaking as public dialogue?
• Service learning
• Invitational speaking
• Benefits

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Public Dialogue The civil exchange of
ideas and opinions among public groups about
topics that affect the public.
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The importance of dialogueto interact, to
connect, and to exchange information with other
people.
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An Ethic of CivilityCare and concern for
others, the thoughtful use of words and language,
and the flexibility to see the many sides of an
issue.
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To engage in a public dialogue is to
recognize the speaker and the audience are
equally important, that both have opinions,
feelings and beliefs
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Reinforces an audience-centered approachto
acknowledge your audience by listening to the
unique, diverse, and common perspectives of its
members before, during and after the speech.
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Why We Enter the Public Dialogue

• We decide to speak
• We are asked to speak
• We are required to speak
• Understand that culture has a powerful affect on
  communication
• Our nationality
• Ethnic heritage
• Our gender

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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

• Service Learning

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Service Learningtakes students out of the
classroom, applies the concepts taught in the
classroom to the outside world, and engages the
material in hands-on ways.
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Different Service Learning Models

• Solution or problem-based service-learning
  (consultant model)
• Activity-based service learning
• Information-based service-learning

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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue through
Service Learning

• Higher caliber of speeches
• Students make a personal connection
• Wide-range of perspectives
• Students stay and volunteer
• Students see real world connections

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SampleTopic Neighbor to NeighborGeneral
Purpose To informSpecific Purpose To inform
my audience about the programs offered by
Neighbor to Neighbor.Thesis Statement Programs
offered by Neighbor to Neighbor include mortgage
counseling, rental assistance and transitional
housing.Main points I. Mortgage
counseling. II. Rental assistance. III.
Transitional housing.
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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

• Invitational Speaking

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Invitational speaking isa type of public
speaking in which a speaker enters into a
dialogue with an audience in order to clarify
positions, explore issues and ideas, or
articulate beliefs and values.
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Goals of Invitational Speaking
Informative Speech Persuasive Speech Invitational Speech
To inform my audience of the history of the Equal Rights Amendment. To persuade my audience that we should pass the ERA. To invite my audience to understand the powerful impact that ratifying the ERA could have on us all.
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Why Give an Invitational Speech?

• People have profoundly different positions
• Political issues
• Social issues
• Religious or spiritual issues
• We are not able to persuade
• They are not going to change
• We are not going to change

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Why Give an Invitational Speech?

• We want to go beyond informing
• Gain a more complex understanding of the issues
• Open up a space for dialogue
• Options
• Stop communicating
• Try to persuade
• Communicate from an invitational perspective

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Communicate from an Invitational Perspective

• Invite them into our world view
• And try to see the world as they do
• Dialogue about our differences
• To gain a better understanding
• Willing to communicate by creating a particular
  type of environment

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An Invitational Speaking Environment

• Conducive to an open dialogue
• Your position is ONE viable stance
• Alter traditional roles of speaker/audience
• Audience expresses their views
• Three conditions must exist

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Establishing an Invitational Speaking Environment

• Condition of equality
• You see the audience members as holding valid
  perspectives and positions that are worthy of
  exploration.
• Condition of value
• Recognize that the views of the audience,
  although different from the speakers, have
  inherent value.
• Condition of self-determination
• Recognize that the members of your audience are
  experts in their own lives, or that people know
  what is best for them and have the right to make
  choices about their lives based on this knowledge.

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Two Types of Invitational Speeches

• Invitational speeches to articulate a position.
• You invite an audience to see the world as you
  do and to understand issues from your
  perspective.
• Invitational speeches to explore an issue.
• You attempt to engage your audience in a
  discussion about an idea, concern, topic, or
  plan of action.

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Speeches to Articulate a Position

• To invite my audience to consider the idea that
  women pioneers should be represented in history
  textbooks.
• To invite my audience to consider some of the
  positive lessons that can be taught with the
  ethical use of guns.

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Invitational Speeches to Articulate a Position

• You share information with the audience
• But an open dialogue occurs
• Richer understanding of a complex issue
• Invite the audience to enter your world
• Return the gesture

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An Invitational Speech to Explore an Issue

• Gather information to understand the subject more
  fully
• You have thoughts about a plan/action
• They are not set-in-stone
• They might be tentative

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Invitational Speeches to Explore an Issue

• To invite my audience to explore, and to explore
  myself, three theories of evolution and creation
  and their role in public education.
• To invite my audience to explore, and to explore
  myself, the positive and negative aspects of
  cloning endangered animals.

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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

• Benefits

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Standardization Many of the Same Skills are
Learned

• Critical Thinking
• Distinguishing between different types of
  speeches
• Organizational patterns
• Five canons of rhetoric
• Principles of Persuasion
• Delivery
• Reasoning effectively and ethically

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New Skills Students Learn

• Audience-centered
• Culture
• Language
• Listening styles

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New Skills Students Learn

• Facilitating an open dialogue
• Reasoning used in ALL types of speeches
• Mythos in addition to
• Logos, Ethos, and Pathos
• Invitational speech option
• To explore an issue or articulate a position
• Open dialogue
• New way of using language

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Public Speaking as Public Dialogue

• Benefits

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Benefits

• Difficult to maintain speech files
• Move beyond common speeches
• Beer-oriented speeches
• Legalization of marijuana or hemp-oriented
  speeches
• Lowering the legal drinking age

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Benefits

• Assessment of student academic achievement still
  present
• Transferability of course to other schools
• Different types of speeches
• Reasoning
• Listening
• Language
• Diversity

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Benefits

• Service Learning
• Meets requirements at Universities
• Makes public speaking real
• Keeps instructors more engaged

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Benefits

• Public Speaking as Public Dialogue
• Teaches students to TALK about their differences
  OPENLY
• Teaches students and faculty to be interested in
  diverse standpoints and positions
• It helps us all make real world connections

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Public Speaking As Public Dialogue

• Questions