Comsats University Islamabad Lahore Campus

QUESTION#1:

Explain how a speaker's personal characteristics influence the meaning of his or her
spoken words.

It takes a lot of practise to become a good public speaker. Being a good public speaker requires a
lot more than most people think. An effective speaker must be able to convey information while
both entertaining and engaging the audience.

Here are some qualities of good speakers that can help anyone to better manage their resources
and be more successful.

 CONFIDENCE:
Confidence is huge when it comes to public speaking. Being confident in your delivery
will allow you to be seen as an expert on your topic. Your audience will be more likely to
trust you and therefore, trust the material that you are putting out there. Confidence
makes you credible, knowledgeable, and believable. In order to truly show confidence,
you have to be confident enough to be yourself during your presentation. If you can be
yourself in front of an audience, they are going to be more likely to feel like they can
relate to you.

 PASSION:
Why would an audience want to hear about your story if you yourself don’t seem
passionate about it? Let your audience know why you do what you do. Why do you love
what you do and why do you want to share your message? If an audience can see and feel
your passion, they will be more interested in hearing what you have to say.

 THEY ARE WELL PREPARED:

One of the most important qualities of a good speaker is the ability to be prepared. When
conducting any kind of public speaking, you are generally given a topic to focus on. This
may be for the purpose of sharing your ideas, elaborating on your company, or just to
spread the word about a certain issue. If you are speaking, whatever topic you have been
asked to cover, it is important that you are well prepared and can captivate your audience.

 ABILITY TO TELL A STORY:

A presentation is more effective and engaging when it doesn’t feel like a presentation.
Know how to tell your story to your audience. Give them the context for all of the
information you are sharing. Rather than simply sharing facts and formal pieces of
information, share your experiences and your stories that have lead you to where you are.
If it isn’t your own story, share other stories or experiences from history or from people
that you know. Stories help people retain more information because they are more
engaged with your presentation.
  AUDIENCE AWARENESS:
Make sure before going into your presentation that you know the audience that you’re
presenting to. You should know who they are and what they do. By knowing this
information, you’ll be better able to connect to them and present to them in a way that
you feel they would respond to.

QUESTION#2:

When is an extemporaneous presentation desirable? When should a speech be read?

Discuss.

The spoken word differs from the written. Audiences for public speeches do not have the benefit
of being able to go back and re-read sentences. They cannot look at a page and see section
headings or new paragraph indentations. Public audiences have a more limited capacity to
comprehend complicated ideas and to take in long sentences and difficult or dense language.
Public speakers have to compensate for these limits by using the principles of repetition of
content, clarity of structure, and simplicity of language.

Extemporaneous speeches are developed through outlining ideas, not writing them out word-for-
word. They are practiced ahead of time, rehearsed and re-rehearsed.

Extemporaneous delivery allows speakers to make eye contact with the audience—one of the
best ways to connect with them and keep them involved in the speech. Eye contact is an
important way to establish a speaker's credibility. when a speaker relies too much on notes, they
are potentially losing their audience and running the risk of looking unprepared.

QUESTION#3:

One's manner of dress, choice of hairstyle, physical characteristics, and the like are
personal. They should have no influence on any form of oral communication
Discuss.

Personal appearance is an often-disregarded part of communication and presentation skills.

When you are speaking in public, you may be representing your organization or just yourself. It
is still you at the front. It is you that the other person, group or audience sees and before you
have time to open your mouth and say anything, certain assumptions, both consciously and
subconsciously, have been made.

 Clothes and Grooming:

Perhaps the most obvious element of personal appearance, and certainly the easiest one to
change, is what you wear and how well-groomed you look.
  Facial Expressions:
It is your duty—to yourself as well as to the organization that you represent—to convey a
calm, friendly and professional exterior, whatever you may feel inside. Try to smile and
appear optimistic and confident. More to the point, try to convey how you (should) feel
about a subject in which you are an expert: at least interested and capable.

 Body Language:
The way you sit and stand, your gestures and your facial expressions will say far more
about you and how you are feeling at any given time than the words you are using. When
individuals are nervous or uneasy, their behavioural 'bad habits' become more
pronounced.

QUESTION#4

By description perhaps by example), identify good and bad postures and walking
practices for speaking.

Walking with the right technique and posture isn’t difficult. But it does involve being mindful of
how you move. Walking is an activity that involves your entire body. To fully understand how to
walk correctly, it helps to focus on each part of the body, from head to toe.

 Keep your head up:

When you’re walking, focus on standing tall with your chin parallel to the ground and
your ears aligned above your shoulders. Keep your eyes forward. Focus on an area about
10 to 20 feet ahead of you while you walk.

 Keep your shoulders down and back:

Your shoulders also play a key role in your walking posture and technique. Bring your
shoulders up high in a shrug-like motion, then let them fall and relax. Try to keep your
shoulders loose and relaxed, not tensed up toward your ears or slouched forward.

 Engage your core:

Your core muscles also play an important role when you’re walking, and help you move
more easily.

 Swing your arms

As you walk, gently swing your arms back and forth at your sides.
Don’t swing your arms across your body.
Don’t swing your arms up too high. Keep them around your midsection, not around your
chest.

 Step from heel to toe

 Maintain a consistent heel-to-toe movement. This entails striking on your heel first,
pushing from your heel to your toe, and pushing out of the step with your toe. Avoid
taking flat-footed steps or landing on your toes first.

QUESTION#5:

Explain how facial expressions can miscommunicate.

Many times we don’t realize how stiff we are being. When we talk to someone in person, we
naturally use facial expressions without even thinking about it. We laugh, we nod, we smile, we
grind our teeth – and this happens quite subconsciously.

When we go on stage however, our state of mind shifts. We get anxious and those expressions
which used to come so natural are gone because of nervousness or anxiety.

Facial expressions are important to match your content. When you are talking about something
positive, a big smile will help deliver your message much more effectively rather than saying a
happy sentence with a straight face.

QUESTION#6:

Discuss (or demonstrate) some good and bad techniques of using visuals.

Visual aids can enhance your presentations - they can increase the audience's understanding of
your topic, explain points, make an impact and create enthusiasm.

 Clarify and show examples.

 Highlight what you're saying.
 Make a point memorable.
 Make your diagrams interesting — but not self-explanatory
 Enhance your credibility.
 Engage the audience and maintain their interest.
 Make something easier for the audience to understand.
 Balance what you say with what your presentation delivers.

QUESTION#7:

"We are born with voices-some good, some bad, and some in between. We have no
choice but to accept what we have been given." Comment.

A good voice is a basic requirement for effective communication. The voice, like physical
gestures, should not detract from the listener's ability to focus on the content. It should not, draw
attention away from the message. Voices that cause such difficulties generally fall into these
areas of fault:
  Lack of pitch variation
 Lack of variation in speed
 Lack of vocal emphasis
 Unpleasant voice quality

QUESTION#8:

Explain the principal differences between written and oral reports.

The key difference between written report and oral report is that written reports present the
findings or results of an issue in a more formal way, whereas oral reports involve face-to-face
communication of findings and results of an issue.

WRITTEN REPORT:

 Able to present information more clearly.

 Details and information can be presented in a more organized manner.
 Reports help in decision-making.

ORAL REPORT:

 Oral reports save time, especially since they have very simple structures.
 Immediate feedback is received when presenting oral reports.