ORAL COMMUNICATION
Very few people who do not sweat and become nervous when asked to speak in public wether prepared or not. The ability to speak in public is perceived to be inborn but the truth is speak effectively in formal or informal gathering (Eunson, 2012).
FORMS OF ORAL COMMUNICATION
There are many different occasions/circumstances whereby one is required, force, or feel the urge to speak or to address people. The number of audience can be small or big. The following situations may require oral communication (Eunson, 2012).
· Presentations
· Informal work related discussions
· Persuading colleagues
· Airing feedback
· Informal social conversation
· Listening
· Following instructions
· Networking
· Instructing, explaining and demonstrating
· Negotiating with clients and employers
· Conflict resolution
· Chairing/leading discussions
· Building relations with fellow team members.
.
I. Understand your audience:
The main reason for communication is to successfully deliver message from messenger/sender/speaker to listener/receiver/audience ( Razmjou, & Ghazi, 2013). For communication to be effective, the speaker should understand and know his/her audiences. This can be achieved by researching about your audiences before delivering of the message/speech. It’s important for the speaker to know the following things about his/her audiences, their preferences, shared values, likely prejudices and bling sport interests and their prior knowledge of the subject and level of their education (Razmjou,2013) ). All this information will help you to prepare adequately.
II. Understand the circumstances around your talk:
For a speaker to deliver a good speech he/she must know and understand the occasion who situation. Each occasion has a special message. For example you will use a calm and ensuring and sympathising tone and different body signs in a funeral, where in a wedding you will use a bubbly tone, etc. When you understand the situation you will be in 0a position to prepare your speech well by doing enough research so as to meet the requirement and expectations of the audience. (Elder,1994).
III. Understanding the venue and size of the audience:
The venue and size of audience affect delivery of message. If the venue is too small, dirty and hot, people will not concentrate for long because of poor air circulation and many audience will leave before the end of speech; if it is too big the speaker may feel as if he in edge of silence (Watson,2000). The size of audience determines the choice of language and tone to use and even gesture to incorporate. The bigger the size the more creativity it requires to connect with them. The size of audience will also determine the mode of delivery of message, ie use of microphones and other audio visual aids. (Eunson,2012).
IV. Brainstorming the topic:
A speaker may be required to give a speech on a topic which he/she might be familiar with or totally a new idea. In both cases the first step is to write down all what you know about the subject and what you want to know. This will help you to know what exactly you want to research on. Brainstorming helps you in identifying the theme of your talk. (Elder,1994).
V. Get the hard information:
A good speech must have a very good and strong backup/evidence. It’s very important for a speaker to research on what others have said or done about the same thing. This will help the speaker to get his/her talks right. A backup/reference will show/prove why your idea is achievable or not, if it’s important or not or it can bring any change or impact or not, depending on what others have said or done about it. It will also show or prove that your speech is not based on hearsay or rumours (Watson,2000). Elder (1994) argued that --- the value of facts and figures is two folds. They lend authority to your speech and they increase your confidence. The speaker can use facts, statistics, quotes and opinions to back up your speech.
Planning and structuring:
For you to deliver your message effectively you will need to organise and plan it well. You should ask yourself the following questions to guide you in organising your work.........what do you want say and how can you say it?, what are the audiences expectations?, what do they need to hear and what do you think they should hear?. Answering this questions will help you to come up with a good structure of your message.
Time Planning
The speaker should manage his or her time well. This is done through allocation of enough time for planning and preparation, rehersal and actual talk (Eunson, 2012).
Content Planning
The content is divided in to three parts namely Introduction, Body and Conclusion.
Introduction
How you introduce your message will determine wether the listeners will give you their full attention or not. How can a speaker grub the listeners full attention?(Elder,1994).
· Start with something which will grab the attention of the audience i.e a question, image, facts e.t.c
· Tell them what you are going to tell them
· Tell them your stand or point of view.
Body
This part follows introduction. The speaker should do the following....... (Eunson,2012).
· Starting delivering your message point by point or bit by bit
· You can use a graphic for demonstration and presentation
· When connecting or moving from one point to another use transitional words and phrases
· Repeat the key points
· Add information towards the end ,this is because the audience already have an idea of what you are talking about
· Avoid boring recitation facts
· Be creative, add humour, give lively examples, ask questions, change tone
Conclusion
This is the final part of the content .The following can be done........ (Elder, 1994).
· Summarise information from introduction and body
· Emphasize your points
· You can have a dramatic finish or a low –key finish
Practice
The quality of a speech depends on the time spend in practice. The speaker should spend quality time practising his/her speech in order to do corrections and to remember it well hence avoiding making some silly mistakes. The speaker should practice in the following areas;
Elder,B. (1994) communication Skills: Australia, Macmillan education Australia pty ltd.
Eunson,B.(2012).Communicating in the 21st century 3rd edition.Australia:John Wiley & sons.
Razmjou, L., & Ghazi, J. A. (2013). Listening practice influence on the use of communication strategies in oral translation. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(9), 1645-1650. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1445143169?accountid=39715
Gonyeau, M. J., Trujillo, J., & DiVall, M. (2006). Development of progressive oral presentations in a therapeutics course series.American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 70(2), 10-36. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211255164?accountid=39715
Very few people who do not sweat and become nervous when asked to speak in public wether prepared or not. The ability to speak in public is perceived to be inborn but the truth is speak effectively in formal or informal gathering (Eunson, 2012).
FORMS OF ORAL COMMUNICATION
There are many different occasions/circumstances whereby one is required, force, or feel the urge to speak or to address people. The number of audience can be small or big. The following situations may require oral communication (Eunson, 2012).
· Presentations
· Informal work related discussions
· Persuading colleagues
· Airing feedback
· Informal social conversation
· Listening
· Following instructions
· Networking
· Instructing, explaining and demonstrating
· Negotiating with clients and employers
· Conflict resolution
· Chairing/leading discussions
· Building relations with fellow team members.
.
I. Understand your audience:
The main reason for communication is to successfully deliver message from messenger/sender/speaker to listener/receiver/audience ( Razmjou, & Ghazi, 2013). For communication to be effective, the speaker should understand and know his/her audiences. This can be achieved by researching about your audiences before delivering of the message/speech. It’s important for the speaker to know the following things about his/her audiences, their preferences, shared values, likely prejudices and bling sport interests and their prior knowledge of the subject and level of their education (Razmjou,2013) ). All this information will help you to prepare adequately.
II. Understand the circumstances around your talk:
For a speaker to deliver a good speech he/she must know and understand the occasion who situation. Each occasion has a special message. For example you will use a calm and ensuring and sympathising tone and different body signs in a funeral, where in a wedding you will use a bubbly tone, etc. When you understand the situation you will be in 0a position to prepare your speech well by doing enough research so as to meet the requirement and expectations of the audience. (Elder,1994).
III. Understanding the venue and size of the audience:
The venue and size of audience affect delivery of message. If the venue is too small, dirty and hot, people will not concentrate for long because of poor air circulation and many audience will leave before the end of speech; if it is too big the speaker may feel as if he in edge of silence (Watson,2000). The size of audience determines the choice of language and tone to use and even gesture to incorporate. The bigger the size the more creativity it requires to connect with them. The size of audience will also determine the mode of delivery of message, ie use of microphones and other audio visual aids. (Eunson,2012).
IV. Brainstorming the topic:
A speaker may be required to give a speech on a topic which he/she might be familiar with or totally a new idea. In both cases the first step is to write down all what you know about the subject and what you want to know. This will help you to know what exactly you want to research on. Brainstorming helps you in identifying the theme of your talk. (Elder,1994).
V. Get the hard information:
A good speech must have a very good and strong backup/evidence. It’s very important for a speaker to research on what others have said or done about the same thing. This will help the speaker to get his/her talks right. A backup/reference will show/prove why your idea is achievable or not, if it’s important or not or it can bring any change or impact or not, depending on what others have said or done about it. It will also show or prove that your speech is not based on hearsay or rumours (Watson,2000). Elder (1994) argued that --- the value of facts and figures is two folds. They lend authority to your speech and they increase your confidence. The speaker can use facts, statistics, quotes and opinions to back up your speech.
Planning and structuring:
For you to deliver your message effectively you will need to organise and plan it well. You should ask yourself the following questions to guide you in organising your work.........what do you want say and how can you say it?, what are the audiences expectations?, what do they need to hear and what do you think they should hear?. Answering this questions will help you to come up with a good structure of your message.
Time Planning
The speaker should manage his or her time well. This is done through allocation of enough time for planning and preparation, rehersal and actual talk (Eunson, 2012).
Content Planning
The content is divided in to three parts namely Introduction, Body and Conclusion.
Introduction
How you introduce your message will determine wether the listeners will give you their full attention or not. How can a speaker grub the listeners full attention?(Elder,1994).
· Start with something which will grab the attention of the audience i.e a question, image, facts e.t.c
· Tell them what you are going to tell them
· Tell them your stand or point of view.
Body
This part follows introduction. The speaker should do the following....... (Eunson,2012).
· Starting delivering your message point by point or bit by bit
· You can use a graphic for demonstration and presentation
· When connecting or moving from one point to another use transitional words and phrases
· Repeat the key points
· Add information towards the end ,this is because the audience already have an idea of what you are talking about
· Avoid boring recitation facts
· Be creative, add humour, give lively examples, ask questions, change tone
Conclusion
This is the final part of the content .The following can be done........ (Elder, 1994).
· Summarise information from introduction and body
· Emphasize your points
· You can have a dramatic finish or a low –key finish
Practice
The quality of a speech depends on the time spend in practice. The speaker should spend quality time practising his/her speech in order to do corrections and to remember it well hence avoiding making some silly mistakes. The speaker should practice in the following areas;
- Rehearse your full content
- Visit the venue and try to deliver your message , identify any barrier or anything which you can take advantage of.
- If you will be using audiovisual aids for presentation practice using them before due day
- Record yourself and then play the video ,this will give you a genuine picture of yourself and you will note where you need to improve
- Practice on the use of your voice, how you pronounce words, practice more those words which you find hard to pronounce. Articulate words clearly to bring out the correct meaning. Check on the voice pitch , your voice should not be too low nor too low.
Elder,B. (1994) communication Skills: Australia, Macmillan education Australia pty ltd.
Eunson,B.(2012).Communicating in the 21st century 3rd edition.Australia:John Wiley & sons.
Razmjou, L., & Ghazi, J. A. (2013). Listening practice influence on the use of communication strategies in oral translation. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(9), 1645-1650. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1445143169?accountid=39715
Gonyeau, M. J., Trujillo, J., & DiVall, M. (2006). Development of progressive oral presentations in a therapeutics course series.American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 70(2), 10-36. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211255164?accountid=39715