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Channel
The means by which messages and feedback are transmitted between speaker and audience.
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Context
The specific environment or situation in which the public speaking transaction takes place.
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Decoder
A listener who assigns and creates meaning from the speaker's words and behaviors.
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Encoder
The speaker who creates meaning by taking ideas and translating them into various perceptible ideas and translating them into various perceptible codes such as words, gestures, facial expressions, pictures, and tone of voice; the sender.
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Feedback
Verbal and nonverbal messages sent from a listener, or listeners, to the speaker.
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Frame of Reference
An individual worldview based on background, age, education, gender, values, politics, economic status, culture, occupation, health and ethnicity that influences the creates of speaker's message and the listener's interpretation of the message.
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Interpersonal Communication
The exchange of messages between two people who have some sort of relationship with one another.
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Mass Communication
The delivery of a message from one source to a large audience through a form of mass media.
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Message
The verbal and nonverbal content that the speaker transmits to listeners.
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Noise
Anything that prevents the audience and the speaker from understanding each other's messages.
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Public Speaking
The exchange of messages between one speaker and an identified set of listeners for a specific purpose on a specific occasion.
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Reciever
The person who receives the sender's message; an audience member; a listener.
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Rhetoric
Public speaking, especially for persuasive purposes.
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Sender
A person motivated to send a message; the speaker.
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Small Group Communication
The exchange of messages between a small number of people gathered for a specific purpose.
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Transactional Communication
A communication situation in which messages flow in two directions simultaneously, with the speaker and the listeners both acting as senders and receivers.
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Audience Analysis
The process of gathering and analyzing demographic and attitudinal data about the audience with the intention of shaping the speech for that specific group of listeners.
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Body
The middle section of the speech; the place where the thesis is developed.
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Civility
A code of decency base don showing respect, honesty, fairness, and tolerance to others; it enhances the speaker's relationship with the listeners.
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Conclusion
The final part of the speech that summarizes the ideas communicated in the speech body and suggests a take-away.
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Ethics
Standards of right and wrong, according to a particular society; a speaker who is perceived as ethical is more likely to enjoy the audience's trust, respect, and confidence.
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General Speech Purpose
The broad intention of the speech-to inform, to persuade, or to mark a special occasion.
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Introduction
The first major part of the speech wherein the speaker prepares the listeners for the body of the speech.
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Listenability
The degree to which a speech is easy to listen to; achieved through speaker actions that make ti easier for the audience to listen.
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Main Points
A major idea within the speech that supports the thesis; main points are related to one another, are organized according to a recognizable pattern, and comprise the body of the speech.
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Preparation Outline
An outline that presents a speaker's thoughts in one place; it lets the speaker plan the order of the ides while ensuring that those ideas relate to one another logically are well balanced, and are adequately supported.
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Speaking Outline
A briefer version of the preparation outline from which the speaker practices and perhaps even presents; it contains only notations of the speech ideas in the order they'll be presented.
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Strategy Keys
One category of listenability keys; listener-centered choices a speaker makes in advance of the presentation about the topic, audience, and occasion.
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Structure Keys
One category of listenability keys; speaker actions that organize the speech ideas and communicate with them in a way that listeners can follow and understand.
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Style Keys
One category of listenability keys; speaker actions that create the deliver of the speech.
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Support Keys
One category of listenability keys; speaker actions that substantiate, enhance, and reinforce the message in a way that engages listeners and helps them understand, believe, or act.
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Take-Away
A suggestion for further thesis-related thought or action, given in the conclusion.
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Thesis
The one or two sentences typically offered in the introduction of a speech that state exactly what the listeners should know, do, or believe by the end of the speech; the point the speaker is trying to make and how he or she intends to make it.
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Topic
The subject matter of the speech.
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Adrenaline
A natural hormone that helps the body adjust to sudden stress; increased levels of adrenaline are what makes the body feel "nervous" prior to a public speech.
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Communication Orientation
An approach to public speaking that relies on the familiar goal of conveying ideas to other people; this approach is in contrast to a performance orientation, wherein speakers perceive the speech as a performance and the audience as a group of critics.
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Important Conversation
The style of conversation used when talking to someone you respect; it is the style of conversation preferred for most public speaking situations.
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Perceptions
The brain's process of gaining awareness through the organization and interpretation of sensory input; interpretation of the world that is based on such sensory input.
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Performance Orientation
An approach to public speaking wherein the speaker perceives the speech as a performance and the audience as group of critics; this approach is in contrast to a communication orientation, wherein the speaker relies on the familiar goal of conveying ideas to other people.
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Speaker's Energy
The preferred label (rather than "nervousness or "anxiety) for the rush of adrenaline many speakers feel prior to a public speech.
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Considerateness
The goal of minimizing the information-processing demands on one's listeners.
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Literate/Written Style
A style of language appropriately used when expressing ideas through the written word; this style is in contrast to the oral (or conversational) style people use when talking with one another.
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Oral/Conversational Style
The style of language people rely on when talking with one another; this style is in contrast to the literate style people use when expressing ideas through the written word.
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Brainstorming
A technique for generating a large number of ideas; it can be used for finding a speech topic or a solution to a problem.
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False Thesis
A sentence that appears to be a thesis statement but fails to narrow the topic and provide a clear direction for how the body of the speech will be developed.
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Mind Map
A developmental technique for illustrating, linking, and documenting ideas and showing how they are connected.
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Speeches to Inform
One of three general kinds of speeches; it helps listeners understand new or useful ideas from the world around them.
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Speeches to Mark Special Occasions
One of three general kinds of speeches; examples include the celebration of important people, places, or events and speeches of inspiration.
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Speeches to Persuade
One of three general kinds of speeches; it aims to create, change or reinforce the thinking or actions of others.
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Personal Speaking Goal
One specific, measurable skill that a speaker focus on for a particular presentation for continued speaking improvement.
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SWOT Analysis
A tool that businesses and organizations use to distinguish themselves from their competitors and successfully complete in their markets according to their strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. Public speakers can use a version of this took to help identify talents and opportunities in public speaking.
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Attention Material
The opening words of a speech used to capture the attention of the audience and draw them into the topic; it must be appropriate and relevant to the audience, topic, and occasion.
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Audience Connection
The technique of openly relating the content of a speech to the needs and wants of the listeners; it engages audience members and convinces them that the speech is worth their listening time.
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Feed-Forward
A message that tells listeners that an important message, such as the thesis or a main point, is about to occur.
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Literal Question
A concrete question that requests an actual answer.
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Rhetorical Question
A question that inspires thought without requiring an answer.
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Self-Deprecating Humor
A type of humor that uses oneself as the object of the humor; it is one of the most successful types of humor for public speaking, especially for Western audiences.
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Speaker Credibility
A perceived quality a speaker earns through displaying knowledge, preparation, confidence, an d a commitment to ethics and civility.
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Clincher
The last set of words a speaker leaves with the audience; it is most effectively planned in advance and delivered with warmth and confidence.
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Conclusion
The final part of the speech that summarizes the ideas communicated in the speech body and suggests a take-away.
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Heckler
A person in the audience who draws attention away from the speaker by interrupting with inappropriate or rude questions or comments.
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Lead Feet
A mental trick whereby speakers imagine that their feet are made of lead so heavy that they could not move even if they wanted to; it helps keep feet planted at the conclusion of a speech.
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Paraphrase
A rewording of another person's ideas in simpler terms; it changes the order of the other person's words but not the content.
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Q&A
"question-and-answer: session, wherein audience members query the speaker or make comments on the speaker's content at the end of the speech.
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Charisma
A speaker's great personal charm or magnetic personality that draws the attention of listeners.
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Ethos
The perceived quality based on a speaker's character that directly influences the listeners' willingness to receive and accept the speaker's ideas. It's one of three classical persuasive strategies identified by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
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I-Language
A way to engage the audience through the use of first-person pronouns such as me, I, and our.
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