ABSTRACT
Toastmasters International, an organization devoted to helping people become good public speakers whose advice on public speaking is cited above was founded to solve the problem that speaking in public is said to be one of the most anxiety-producing activities for most people. Many communication scholars suggest we think of public speaking as a form of enhanced conversation, though one that is not interactive like personal conversations. Aristotle is working at a high level of abstraction, here, but he does offer us a guide to public speaking. Of course not all public speaking is based on persuasion, but even in speeches that are basically descriptive or explanatory, you still want to interest and entertain your audience and give them a reason to believe that what you are telling them is truthful and useful to them. We can gain some insights into public speaking by taking cues from the best television commercials.
