Quotations on communication

Give your comments on the quotations below.

· There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first to get into your subject,

then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience.

· There are two types of speakers: those that are nervous and those that are liers.

· Much speech is one thing, well timed speech is another.

· Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.

· There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.

· Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.

· The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.

· All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.

· There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you give.

· As long as there are human right to be defended; as long as there are great interests to be guarded; as long as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will public speaking have its place.

B

Read the following statements about public speaking; choose the most impressive ones and comment on them in small groups of 3-4 students.

Did you know?

· Studies have shown that professionals consider communication skills more important than technical skills, and that effective speaking before a group is considered to be the main indicator of likely career advancement.

· A study done at the University of Minnesota revealed that if you stand up and give a presentation using visual aids, your audience is 43% more likely to be persuaded and is willing to pay 26% more for the same product or service.

· Words alone account for 7% of the impact in face-to-face communication, voice quality 38%, and visual factors 55%.

· It has been estimated that an audience will forget more than 75% of what they hear within 24 hours.

· Thomas Jefferson suggested that the most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Concise language reflects the principle of KISS – ‘Keep It Short and Simple’.

· Most people speak at a speed of 120-200 words per minute. But the mind can absorb information at 600 words per minute.

· Of all the information the mind stores, 75% is received visually, 13% through hearing, and 12% through smell, taste and touch.

· Visual aids improve learning by 200%, retention by 38%, and understanding complex subjects by 25% to 40%.

· The attention span of the average audience member is 12 seconds.

· Research shows that people generally prefer low voices to high-pitched ones. In a recent study at Wake University, North Carolina, Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts were found to have the lowest and sexiest voices.

· The human brain processes images 400,000 times faster than text and a presenter who uses visuals in their talk will improve audience recall on average by 400%. Use of colour makes visuals 85% more memorable.

· The longest speech in the House of Commons was six hours long, a record set in 1828.

· The shortest Presidential inaugural speech was given by George Washington in 1789. It was 135 words long.

· William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech with 8,445 words. He died the next month of pneumonia from being exposed to the cold and wet during his speech.

C

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1335