The method or action of making a speech to a live audience is public speaking. Alternatively, it is called oratory or prayer. Public speech is generally interpreted as formal, face-to-face solo talking to a group of listeners. Public talking has historically been seen as a stream of the art of persuasive action. The conduct will serve specific purposes like educating, convincing, and entertaining. However, depending on the speaking ambiance, different approaches, systems and rules can be adopted.
The art of public speaking had been evolved in Greece, Rome, and Latin America. The creation and evolutionary history of public speech were inspired by leading scholars in these ancient countries. At present, plenty of innovation continues to transform public-speaking art through modern technology such as immersive presentations, videoconferencing and other non-conventional modes.
The idea of public speaking can be to communicate information, narrate a story, inspire people to act or encourage listeners. Intentionally, this style of speech is organized with three principal causes i.e. to educate, to convince and to entertain. Knowing when it is most successful in public speaking, and how it is done suitably is key to understanding its importance. Professionals also speak to the media about the industry and commercial activities. Such speakers can be recruited individually, or by certain ways, through the services of a speaker’s workplace. In the professional world, public speaking plays a major role. 75% of all occupations are assumed to include some sort of public expression.
History
Public speaking research originally began in ancient Athens about 2,500 years ago. People were expected to speak as part of their civic responsibilities, including speaking at the Legislative Assembly and in court of laws sometimes to defend themselves as there were no attorneys for the common Athenian.
Greece:
Although there is evidence of ancient Egypt’s public speaking training, the first known piece on oratory, written over 2,000 years ago, belonged to ancient Greece. This study evolved ideas derived from ancient Greek orators’ activities and observations. Aristotle was the first to document oratory teaching using authoritative rules and templates. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, his focus on oratory contributed to prayer becoming an integral part of a liberal arts discipline. The ancient Greek historical works of literature depict the ways they learned and created the practice of public speaking millennia ago.
Rhetoric was the main component of design and speech delivery in ancient Greece and Rome, both of which were essential ingredients of private and public use by people. Citizens in Ancient Greece spoke for themselves rather than allowing people to speak with them, similar to today’s lawyers. Any citizen who wanted to thrive in politics, law or social life had to practice public speaking techniques. A community of rhetoric trainers termed Sophists first introduced rhetorical techniques that were popular for teaching students how to communicate accurately using the strategies they had established.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle formulated their public speaking ideas independently from the Sophists and presented these concepts to students who sought to acquire rhetoric skills. Plato and Aristotle taught these concepts in the institutions they established viz., The Academy and The Lyceum. While Greece eventually lost political independence, the Romans embraced almost uniformly the Greek culture of public speaking cult.
Rome:
Roman orators emulated and modified the ancient Greek methods of public speaking in the Roman Republic’s political upswing. Rhetorical training evolved into a systematic framework, including guidance in grammar (poet study), preliminary experiments (progymnasmata) and training on public speeches (declamation) in both investigative and consultative genres.
Cicero had a powerful influence on the Latin rhetoric style and had a huge emphasis on a liberal education in all fields of liberal arts humanistic study that also catered to philosophy. The blend of charm and humor, the appeal to the sentiments of the listener, and the use of digressions were other spheres of study.
Oratory in the Roman Empire, though less important to political life than in the Republic’s days, remained focused in law and became a popular leisure activity. Famous orators in ancient Rome became entertainers and deemed very wealthy and influential people in society. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Latin style was the predominant form of worship. Nevertheless, the Latin style of prayer began growing out of favor after World War II as the trend of decorative speech could be seen as unrealistic. This cultural change possibly had to do with the emergence of the scientific method and the insistence on speaking and writing in a normal fashion. Even formal oratories are far less opulent today than they were in the Classical period.
Public speaking course
Famous speeches by some of the greatest orators in the world, such as Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Theodore Roosevelt, etc., gave voice when people were submerged in despair, motivated the iota of courage to the scared and, above all, turned the course of world history.
A prominent public speaking training center understands the teaching methods vary from person to person. The participants have unique qualities and aspirations. The institute strives to bring out the best of them in their self-belief and conviction through positive encouragement and re-enforcement along with the specific crash course modules. All individuals have the right to express themselves. By training in verbal and non-verbal communication, public speech expert aims to improve this power of expression.
The niche institutes all over the world provide the students with the scope to enact live on stage at the end of every session. Just as one can’t really learn to swim by practicing theories or observing swimming clips, the relevant crash course stresses on the real measure when students can confidently perform on what they have learnt. To develop oratory skills, the educational instructor is bound to organizing and educating the students. The sessions culminate in the students performing on a Live Stage. The teachers are ever watchful in considering the abilities of the youth and therefore, help them to be the best.
The duration of public speaking crash course is about three days to a week, which commonly constitutes nearly 12 classes by way of session to session workshops. The participants should be graduates and undergraduates, passionate about oration and stage friendly. They should be extrovert, carrying a strong and positive personality along with decent command over English language and excellent communication skills.