Public speaking

Introductory speech to the GLAM-WIKI 2015 conference by Lily Knibbeler, acting Director General of the Royal Library of the Netherlands

Public speaking, also called oratory, is the act or skill of delivering speeches on a subject before a live audience.[1]

Public speaking has played an important cultural role in human history. Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher and prominent public-speaking scholar, believed that a good speech should impact individual lives, regardless of whether they were in the audience. He believed that someone in power could influence the world through words and actions.[2]

Public speaking was also studied in Ancient Greece and Rome, where it was analyzed by prominent thinkers as a central part of rhetoric.

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle indicated 3 speech purposes: deliberative (political speech), forensic (courtroom speech), and epideictic (speech of praise or blame).[3] Similarly, the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero defined three purposes for public speaking: judicial (courtroom speech), deliberative (political speech), and demonstrative (a ceremonial form of speech, similar to Aristotle's epideictic).[4]

Today, public speaking has been transformed by digital technologies, such as video conferencing, multimedia presentations, and other non-traditional forms of presentation.

A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England.

  1. ^ Publishers, HarperCollins. "The American Heritage Dictionary entry: Public speaking". ahdictionary.com. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  2. ^ Pei-Ling, Lee (October 2020). "The Application of Chinese Rhetoric to Public Speaking". China Media Research. 16 (4).
  3. ^ University of Minnesota, Author removed at the request of original (2016-11-08). "6.1 General Purposes of Speaking". {{cite journal}}: |first= has generic name (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Author removed at request (2016-11-08). "6.1 General Purposes of Speaking". University of Minnesota. {{cite journal}}: |last= has generic name (help)