Stand Up, Speak Out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking, v. 1.0

Speaking Ethically

Sam wanted to present a speech on medical errors. He has procrastinated. Two days before the speech, he realized that no matter how hard he worked, his speech would be weak, and he could not do it justice. Instead of choosing a less technical topic or narrowing to one specific kind of medical mistake, he decided to push through it. He could make up for the scant and superficial content by wearing hospital scrubs, borrowed from his brother-in-law, and by sliding his glasses down his nose to make it easier to see his notecards and to match the stereotype of a health care provider.

1. Did Sam treat the audience with respect?
2. Name several things Sam should have done differently.
3. What would you do if you were Sam’s instructor?

End-of-Chapter Assessment

1. According to Albert Mehrabian, which is the correct breakdown for how humans interpret a speaker’s message?

   1. 55 percent face, 38 percent vocalics, and 7 percent words
   2. 93 percent face, 7 percent vocalics, and 0 percent words
   3. 40 percent face, 40 percent vocalics, and 20 percent words
   4. 7 percent face, 55 percent vocalics, and 38 percent words
   5. 38 percent face, 7 percent vocalics, and 55 percent words

2. Darlene is preparing a speech for her public speaking class. She goes to the library and does her research. She then prepares a basic outline and creates five notecards with basic ideas to use during her speech. What type of delivery is Darlene using?

   1. impromptu
   2. extemporaneous
   3. manuscript
   4. memorized
   5. elocutionist

3. Which form of vocalics is concerned with the highness or lowness of someone’s speech?

   1. pitch
   2. rate
   3. volume
   4. pauses
   5. pronunciation

4. In his speech on landscape architecture, Jimmy uses the word “yaad” instead of the word “yard.” What type of articulation problem does Jimmy exhibit?

   1. substitution
   2. omission
   3. distortion
   4. addition
   5. surrogate

5. Which of the following is a recommendation for creating and using notes during a speech?

   1. Include only key words to trigger your memory.
   2. Read from your notes as much as possible.
   3. Never show your notes to your audience.
   4. Write in small letters on your notes so that your audience can’t see them.
   5. Do not rehearse with your notes or your delivery will become “stale.”

6. Effective speech delivery can be summed up in which term?

   1. vocalics
   2. physical manipulation
   3. self-presentation
   4. conversational quality
   5. paralanguage

Answer Key

1. a
2. b
3. a
4. a
5. a
6. c