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Similarities and Differences between Public Speaking and Conversation
    Today, we will talk about the similarities and differences between public speaking and conversation.
    First, similarities between public speaking and conversation.
    How much time do you spend each day talking to other people? The average adult spends about 30 percent of her or his waking hours in conversation. As you will see, there are many similarities between daily conversation and public speaking.
    You will have spent much of your life perfecting the art of conversation. You may not realize it, but you are already employ a wide range of skills when talking to people. These skills include the following:
    1. Organizing your thoughts logically. Suppose you were giving someone directions to get to your house. You would take your listener systematically, step by step, from his or her house to your house. You would organize your message.
    2. Tailoring your message to your audience. You are geology major. Two people ask you how pearls are formed. One is your roommate; the other is your nine-year-old niece. You answer as follows:
    To your roommate: "When any irritant, say a grain of sand, gets inside the oyster’s shell, the oyster automatically secretes a substance called nacre, which is principally calcium carbonate and is the same material that lines the oyster’s shell. The nacre accumulates in layers around the irritant core to form the pearl."
    To your niece: "Imagine you’re an oyster on the ocean floor. A grain of sand gets inside your shell and makes you uncomfortable. So you decide to cover it up. You cover it with a material called mother-of-pearl. The covering builds up around the grain of sand to make a pearl."
    3. Telling a story for maximum impact. Suppose you are telling a friend about a funny incident at last week’s football game. You don’t begin with the punch line ("Keisha fell out of the stands right onto the field. Here’s how it started..."). Instead, you carefully build up your story, adjusting your words and tone of voice to get the best effect.
    4. Adapting to listener feedback. Whenever you talk with someone, you are aware of that person’s verbal, facial, and physical reactions. For example:
    You are explaining an interesting point that came up in biology class. Your listener begins to look confused, puts up a hand as though to stop you, and says "Huh?" You go back and explain more clearly.
    Each day, in casual conversation, you do all these things many times without thinking about them. You already possess these communication skills. And these are among the most important skills you will need for public speaking.
    To illustrate, let’s return briefly to one of the hypothetical situations at the beginning of this lecture. When addressing the school board about the need for a special teacher:
    You organize your ideas to present them in the most persuasive manner, You steadily build up a compelling case about how the teacher benefits the school.
    You tailor your message to your audience. This is no time to launch an impassioned defense of special education in the United States. You must show how the issue is important to the people in that very room—to their children and to the school.
    You tell your story for maximum impact. Perhaps you relate an anecdote to demonstrate how much your child has improved. You also have statistics to show how many other children have been helped.
    You adapt to listener feedback. When you mention the cost of the special teacher, you notice sour looks on the faces of the school board members. So you patiently explain how small that cost is in relation to the overall school budget.
    In many ways, then, public speaking requires the same skills used in ordinary conversation. Most people who communicate well in daily talk can learn to communicate just as well in public speaking. By the same token, training in public speaking can make you a more adept communicator in a variety of situations, such as conversations, classroom discussions, business meetings, and interview’s.
    Now let’s look at the differences between public speaking and conversation.
    Despite their similarities, public speaking and everyday conversation are not identical. Imagine that you are telling a story to a friend. Then imagine yourself telling the story to a group of seven or eight friends. Now imagine telling the same story to 20 or 30 people. As the size of your audience grows, the manner in which you present the story will change. You will find yourself adapting to three major differences between conversation and public speaking:
    1. Public speaking is more highly structured. It usually imposes strict time limitations on the speaker. In most cases, the situation does not allow listeners to interrupt with questions or commentary. The speaker must accomplish her or his purpose in the speech itself. In preparing the speech, the speaker must anticipate questions that might arise in the minds of listeners and answer them. Consequently, public speaking demands much more detailed planning and preparation than ordinary conversation.
    2. Public speaking requires more formal language. Slang, jargon, and bad grammar have little place in public speeches. As angry as she is about industrial pollution, when Wilma Subra speaks to a congressional committee, she doesn’t say, "We’ve damn well got to stop the greedy creeps who pollute whole communities just to make a few more bucks." Despite the growing informality of all aspects of American life, listeners usually react negatively to speakers who do not elevate and polish their language when addressing an audience. A speech should be "special."
    3. Public speaking requires a different method of delivery. When conversing informally, most people talk quietly, interject stock phrases such as "like" and "you know," adopt a casual posture, and use what are called vocalized pauses ("uh," "er," "urn"). Effective public speakers, however, adjust their voices to be heard clearly throughout the audience. They assume a more erect posture. They avoid distracting mannerisms and verbal habits.
    Just now, we have talked about the similarities and differences between public speaking and conversation. With study and practice, you will be able to master these skills and expand your conversational skills into speechmaking.