EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING

INTRODUCTION

EFFICIENCY, WHAT IT IS

Ours is the age of efficiency. Everywhere men are devising the most efficient methods of performing the operations of their callings. Business men seek the most efficient system of filing and bookkeeping, the manufacturer organizes his labor force and machinery so that every ounce of effort gives the greatest possible return in goods. The railroads are replacing steam with electric power, and surgeons spend many hours planning the best way to remove an appendix in the shortest time.

Mechanical inventors speak of a machine as efficient when it does its work without loss of power. If a hundred pounds of steam pressure are applied to it, the full hundred pounds are accounted for in valuable engine power. There is no waste. Any instrument is efficient when it gets the most work from a given amount of effort.

When we attempt to apply the idea of efficiency to public speaking, we find that it is best expressed by the word "effective." The two words "efficient" and "effective" have, to be sure, very much the same significance. "Effective," however, throws the emphasis a little more upon the tangible result, upon the effect produced by any instrument. Now speech is one of our most use

ful instruments. It is employed to carry messages from one mind to many others. If it carries the message truly and forcefully, it is effective; but if it loses part of the message or gives it in such weak form that it does not impress the other mind at all, it is ineffective. Speech, then, is an instrument through which one mind works upon others. It ought to be made most effective.

EFFECTIVE SPEECH, THOUGHT, AND EXPRESSION

Probably the most remarkable product of nature, in its centuries of evolution, is the human mind; and the second wonder of the universe is the communication of the thoughts and feelings of one mind to others by means of the voice in speech and by means of the body in gesticulation. Each man is limited in the position he may assume in the world by the development of his mind. If he has stored up in it a reliable memory of many experiences, if his judgment is well trained, if his ideas are good and his will is strong, then is he a source of tremendous power. But to exert it upon others, to make his ideas their ideas, to lead them to accept his judgments, and to bend them to his will, his speech must be efficient. It must transfer to others, without loss, the complete creations of his brain.

Each of us is therefore a source of power. But we are unable to get the full benefit of it unless we can express all our ideas well. What good would it have done. the American people if Patrick Henry had felt immeasurable indignation at the wrongs England was heaping upon the colonists, but had not been able to give them eloquent tongue in his famous "Appeal to Arms"? A business manager may know precisely how he can organ

ize his corporation so that the community will benefit in better commodities and the stockholders reap larger dividends; but to put his ideas into operation, he must first, by exposition and argument, win over the board of directors. He must be able to make clear to the proper people what is perfectly clear to him. In short, no argument is necessary to prove that a speaker who wishes to influence others, either in conversation or conference, in court of law or on pulpit or platform, must be able to express his entire thought and purpose by means of speech.

NATURE OF THESE LESSONS

The object of this course is to develop effective speech. Incidentally the student will be led to improve his general mental habits; he will be trained to systematic reading, research, and thought. But the attention will be directed primarily to the organization and delivery of speeches. It would be ridiculous to suppose that a man who needs training in speech-making can become eloquent merely by spending a few minutes a day reading a book on public speaking in the privacy of his home or office. Speech is an art which can be mastered only by much practice under competent direction. These lessons will give simple explanations of the principles of speech-making and they will outline practical directions for exercises; but the student must do his own practicing; he must actually make speeches as directed. There can be no doubt that the best way to learn to speak is by daily lessons under the direct, personal guidance of a teacher of the art. But if a student who cannot follow the ideal course will carefully carry out the written directions to be found in these lessons, he ought steadily to improve. If he

perseveres, there will be no limits to his attainments save those set by his own general capacity. The ancients had a saying which is true, "The poet is born, but the orator is made." By patient practice, you can make of yourself a successful speaker.

In order that the student may have a general idea of the development of effective speech, we shall enumerate the broader requirements for success.

QUALITIES OF GOOD SPEAKING TO BE DEVELOPED

1. Clear Organization of the ideas in the mind of the speaker is the first necessity. The speaker has an object to accomplish by his speech and he selects ideas and groups them so that they will be best understood and retained by the audience which will act upon them.

2. Retention of the Well-Organized Ideas During Delivery is next necessary. This is related to self-possession, ease, and confidence.

3. Mastery of Language.-Even though the ideas may be clear and well organized in the mind of the speaker, he must have a large vocabulary and skill in the choice and arrangement of words to express his ideas.

4. Technical Control of Voice in Speech and of Body in Gesture. Some men cannot speak for more than a few minutes without becoming hoarse or having their voices "break." Their voices may be monotonous and unexpressive or weak, without carrying power. Their gestures may also be awkward. Such deficiencies must be overcome.

All these excellencies cannot be attained at once. The lessons begin with the matter of clear thinking and the organization of ideas.