What Makes an Effective Public Speaker
What makes an Effective Public Speaker
What Makes an Effective Public Speaker?
Abraham Lincoln during one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Charleston, Illinois, Sept.18, 1858
A First Look
- Who do you think are powerful public speakers?
- Why do you feel this way?
- What skills do they have that make them effecitve?
Barack Obama’s Three Best Public Speaking Skills
Transcendence, repetition and gestures/voice
- What do you think?
- Is President Obama an intelligent man?
- Why do you think so?
- When he speaks what does he do well?
- What could he do better?
- Do you think he gets nervous when speaking?
Other Clips to Reflect on
Excerpt Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech
- What do you think?
- What does he do well?
- What techniques does he use?
- How is he different from President Obama?
Malala Yousafzai’s Noble Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
- What do you think?
- What does she do well?
- What techniques does she use?
- How is she different form the other speakers we have seen?
Atticus Finch’s Closing Argument from “To Kill a Mocking Bird”
- Explain a bit about what the case is about beforehand.
- What do you think?
- What did he do well?
- What techniques did he use?
- How is he different from the other speakers we have seen?
Reflecting on what's been Learned
- With a partner, list the public speaking techniques you observed and the speaker who used them.
- Share your list with the entire class.
- Create a master list of public speaking skills the group s identified and post this somewhere. This list can then be expanded in future lessons.