Public Speaking – So What, Who Cares?

If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.
– Warren Buffet, American business magnate

If you are a student, public speaking may be the most important class you take.  Some of you expect public speaking will be part of your future–maybe you are going into business, teaching, or politics, and you will be expected to give speeches on a regular basis.  Even if you don’t expect to be delivering formal speeches, all careers require some public speaking – for example, training others at work, speaking to clients, or explaining things to patients.

Here are a few more reasons having good presentation skills is important to you.

Employers Seek Good Communicators

Getting ahead of the next curve requires courage and communication:
Courage to determine the next bold move, and communication to keep the troops committed to the value of moving forward.
Rallying stakeholders to move together in a common course of action is all part of the innovation and survival process.
Leaders at every level in an organizationneed to be skillful at creating resonance if that organization is to control its own destiny.
― Nancy Duarte, Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

Employers want to hire people who are good communicators. Learning to develop your public speaking skills will help you to be employable and to succeed in your future career.  The Conference Board of Canada lists communications skills as the top attributes employers want to see on resumes.

Public Speaking Skills Helps with Career Improvement

Public speaking is not just essential to get the job but to keep and advance in a job. Surveys of college graduates reported oral and written communication skills, public speaking, group leadership, and motivating and managing others were most essential for career improvement. In a Gallup Alumni survey, graduates reported they wished they had more communication training to help them once they have graduated.

Public Speaking is a Part of Your Civic Responsibility

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world.
Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead, American Cultural Anthropologist

Speaking up for what you believe in is an important part of being in a democracy. This is not all about you. The opportunities you have been given and the education you are receiving can be used to help others. Boyer, in an article titled Civic Education for Responsible Citizens, suggests at the heart of a good education is civic engagement. Students should “develop responsible ways of thinking, believing and acting.”  

You Can Make a Difference

Take a look at how others have spoken out and made a difference.

Watch this excerpt from Greta Thunburg. At age 16, she spoke at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019.

Watch Greta’s full speech on YouTube (2 mins)).

At age 19, Zach Wahls stood before the Iowa House Judiciary Committee to talk about his experience of growing up with same-sex parents.

Watch Zaach Wahls Speaks about Family on YouTube (3 mins)

Amanda Gorman at 22-years-old read her poem, The Hill We Climb at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Watch Amanda Gorman reads inaguration poem, ‘The Hill We Climb’ on YouTube (6 mins)

Presentational Literacy Helps You Share Your Ideas

Chris Anderson, from TED Talks, reminds us of the campfires of old have become the fires of the internet where ideas can spread. More than ever presentational literacy is important. (Heads up, there is an embedded ad in this video)

Watch We can help you master pubic speaking – Chris Anderson on YouTube (5 mins)

Public Speaking Allows You to Tell Your Story

Each of us has a story to tell.  Think about a tough time you went through and how you came out stronger having been through that experience.  What if you could take that experience and use it to help others push through?

Think about how you had to learn something the hard way.  What if you could tell others about what you learned so they don’t make the same mistake?

Think about a historic event you witnessed: 911, Global Pandemic, Race Riots. What if you could tell others what you witnessed so they could see history as more than words on a page?

A lot of public speaking is just people telling their stories. Here examples.

Go to National Public Radio’s This I Believe and find a story.

Go to the Moth, the Art and Craft of  Storytelling, and watch one of the speeches. This club in New York City had now gone international. (Think of a coffeehouse meets poetry slam meets comedy club. )

Public Speaking Can Help You Grow as a Person

When most people think about public speaking, they think about what they are giving to others. Very few people think of public speaking in terms of what they get. You will find when you deliver a speech, you gain knowledge, you gain confidence, and you gain a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Speech coach Martin McDermott helps his students think about what they will gain by asking them, “What will go right when you speak?”

• I will learn about public speaking, a workplace skill in great demand.
• I will stand up to one of the greatest fears human beings face.
• My audience will learn something valuable from me they can apply to their lives.
• I will experience power and self-confidence I didn’t know I had.
• I will see myself in a new and more positive light.
• I will share interesting parts of myself, and others will come to know and like me.
• I will discover a hidden talent for speaking.
• I will grow as a person. So What, Who Cares?

One of the things you should do as you write a speech is to ask, “So what who cares?” Who is going to listen to your speech and why they should care about what you are saying?

You should care because public speaking is not a class you take, it is what you do to get your message across. It is not about getting a grade; it is about learning to develop important skills that will help you accomplish your goals. It is not about you as a professional, having to give a speech; it is about you having an opportunity to share your message. It is not about you as a teacher having to teach, but about students who need to learn.

So what, who cares? Hopefully, you care. Hopefully, you care enough about yourself to try to be the best version of yourself.

What happens from this point on, is up to you.

Be skillful in speech,that you may be strong.
Merikare, Egyptian Pharoah

Bonus Features

Watch Happy National Speech and Debate Education Day from Jared Padalecki!

Attribution & References

Except where otherwise noted, this chapter is adapted from “Public Speaking–So What, Who Cares?” In Advanced Public Speaking by Lynn Meade, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

References

Aras, K. (2012). The nuts and bolts of public speaking: Practical tools for powerful presentations. Retrieved from http://www.thecommunicationfactory.com/seminars/skills/PublicSpeaking.php  ↵

Boyer, E. L. (1990). Civic education for responsible citizens.  Educational Leadership, 48(3), 4-7. http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199011_boyer.pdf

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. (2001).  de Oratore. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (2nd ed.). Ed. Bizzell, Patricia, & Herzberg, Bruce.

Colby, A, Ehrlich, T. Beaumont, E. & Stephens, J. (2011). Educating undergraduates for responsible citizenship. Change, 35 (6) (2003): 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380309604127

Elder, L. & Paul, R. (2008). Critical thinking: Strategies for improving student learning, Part II. Journal of Developmental Education, 32 (2).  34-35.  https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ868666.pdf

Gallup (2014). Measuring college and university outcomes. Measuring College and University Outcomes (gallup.com)

Quintilian. Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory J. S. Watson. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1856. Print.

McDermott, M. (2014). Speak with courage. Bedford St Martin.

National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2020). The top attributes employers want to see on resumes. https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/2020/the-top-attributes-employers-want-to-see-on-resumes/

Snippe, E. (2016). 101 quotes to inspire speakers. https://speakerhub.com/blog/101-quotes

Wieges, J. C. (2011). Civic engagement in the public speaking classroom. [Dissertation, Iowa State University]. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1198&context=etd

Zekeri, A.A. (2004). College curriculum competencies and skills former students found essential to their careers. College Student Journal, 38, 412-422. (no doi).

University of Minnesota Library Open Resource Textbook. (2013). Speaking in personal and civic contexts in communication in the real world: An introduction to communication studies.  https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/12-1-speaking-in-personal-and-civic-contexts/