ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies basic principles of speaking and how they can be adapted to public sector employee's needs. Fulfilling two goals should consume the attention of those in the public sector who give presentations: The content should be tailored to fit the audience's informational needs. The speaker should emphasize personal strengths and minimize weaknesses. Most people are afraid of public speaking. A remarkable poll once found that Americans ranked speaking in public more fearful than death. Beginning speakers can be comforted by this truism: Audiences care more about how the message affects them than they care about the speaker. When presenters become overly focused on their appearance or what others think of them, they may fail the overarching goal of delivering an important message. In the public sector, messages also may carry the purpose to inoculate audiences against misinformation or bad science popularized on the Internet.
