Performance Perspectives on Public Speaking

The challenge

Many undergraduates, especially first-generation and rural students, start college without much background or instruction in public speaking, and even students with training still struggle. Some deal with speaking apprehension or get stuck preparing their materials; others believe common misconceptions about the “mystique” of public speaking. Either way, they aren’t ready for the presentations their careers will ask of them. My goal was a print-based, in-person training that could be handed to any facilitator to run.

What I made

I began with an analysis of the learners and the learning context to narrow the audience and the problem. Because I wanted learners to write better speeches, I then did a task analysis of speechwriting and delivery, which picked out the specific steps most likely to give them trouble. A design document set the outcomes and learning objectives, and I built the assessments and evaluation tools to align with them before writing any content. That led to a two-session structure, with each session focused on its own objectives and content. The package includes a facilitator’s guide with an agenda and script pages, a participant guide, a workshop PowerPoint, and assessment quizzes.

What I learned

The task analysis made me look at speechwriting in a very granular way, and that pointed directly to the content the program needed. Writing objectives and assessments first did the same: once I knew what students should learn and how they would be evaluated, it was clear what to include. The content grew loosely out of work I was doing for a university at the time, and I’m confident in its approach. The guide was never run by a facilitator new to the material, though, which is the use it was designed for.