ABSTRACT
For many, the thought of giving a speech is exciting. For others, standing before an audience conjures up feelings of terror. No matter what your attitude is, you can learn to be a competent public speaker. Really! The act of public communication involves a transaction between a speaker
and an audience. You may think that public speaking is something you do not need to be concerned about, but this is not the case. In fact, “a surprising number of persons … do speak to audiences of ten or more people fairly frequently.”1 No matter what your college major or current position, odds are that you will be doing some type of public speaking.2
