Speakers should tell the truth

A good speech must be an accurate speech. No matter how energetic the voice, no matter how powerful the language, a good speech must, to the best of the speaker's ability, be accurate. If a speech is inaccurate, it is a bad speech. Accuracy in speaking means two things: first, that the facts must be right and, second, that the speech gives the listener a meaningful impression of those facts.

Factual accuracy has become even more vital in the Internet age, when fake Founding Fathers quotations and made-up numbers find prominent homes.

Not everything on the Internet is true, and some things that most people believe are actually wrong. A speaker is responsible for what he or she says, and needs to check all information for accuracy. Public libraries are excellent places to start looking for information; most libraries today subscribe to excellent databases, and the librarians can help patrons look up current information from knowledgeable people and organizations--all at no charge. For current new items, it is important to find at least two completely independent sources for potentially controversial information.

I tell my students that there are already too many people who know how to convince audiences of falsehoods. Our country does not need any more such people.

Knowledge is good, and careless mistakes often come back to haunt speakers who make them.

Speech research in the new media era

Pundits often complain that the Internet tends to spread wild rumors, conspiracy theories, fake founding fathers quotations, and so forth. So it does. It also, however, makes fact-checking much easier. The Internet makes it easy to spread nonsense far and wide, but it also helps to catch crooks, liars, and scoundrels who peddle false information.

Speakers of all persuasions need to verify their facts carefully, for an audience equipped with smart phones can catch their errors in a moment. Spread a business myth--misquote a statistic about the divorce rate--get a historical fact wrong--and the audience will know during, or right after a speech, that the speaker made a mistake.

Suggestions for speakers:

1. Get information from more than one source.
2. Avoid sources that have an obvious agenda. Such sources tell you what the agenda is, but might not tell you what the truth is. 
3. Your public library offers free databases to patrons, and the librarian can guide you to the best ones for your topic. You can usually access them from your home computer. Once you get used to them, database searching is almost as fast as Googling, and the information is more likely to be accurate. 
4. Not everything that everyone believes is true. It's the speaker's responsibility to give accurate information.
5. As President Ronald Reagan said, quoting an old Russian proverb, "trust, but verify." Speakers need to check their facts.

Aristotle said that truth was more powerful than error (Rhetoric 1355a), a sentiment that Thomas Jefferson echoed many centuries later during his First Inaugural Address. In the long run, truth usually is more powerful than error. Whether a factual error is deliberate or accidental, a speaker who says wrong things will eventually lose credibility.

Speech at the 2015 National Communication Association

The 2015 National Communication Association (NCA) met at the Rio Las Vegas in November 2015. I presented a paper about the argumentation that underlies the unjustified Sandy Hook conspiracy theories. My thesis was that conspiracy theorists try to shift the burden of proof to compensate for their lack of evidence. I also had the honor to represent the Philosophy of Communication Division on the NCA's Legislative Assembly.

One highlight of the convention was an excellent (although poorly attended) film series. David Zarefsky gave an excellent presentation about Abraham Lincoln's rhetoric. The Carroll C. Arnold lecture, by Arvind Singha, looked at how we can better understand problems by flipping questions. Singha, who is a specialist in health communication, showed how a small number of people succeed in difficult circumstances. Instead of looking at the many cases where people fail under difficult circumstances, Singha looks for the few people who succeed even when failure is the norm, so that lessons can be learned from them. It's an interesting idea.

I tell my students that conventions in their various fields are indispensable opportunities. It's great to read about people's work, but there is no substitute for making direct human contact.

The casino was right in the middle of everything, so I had to walk past the slot machines and blackjack tables to get to the programs, or, for that matter, just to eat lunch. The gambling did not interest me at all. In Ocean's 11, Vegas gambling looks like fun. In real life, most of the gamblers looked bored and worried.

And--an extra treat--here was the view from my hotel window:

Anna Thompson at the 2015 APA Convention

Here is Elaine Clanton Harpine's intern, Anna Thompson, presenting her poster at the APA convention. She also made her debut oral presentation on a panel, at which she gave a lively talk about her work at Elaine's reading clinic.

Some communication experiences at the 2015 APA Convention

Dr. Elaine Clanton and I made presentations at the 2015 American Pscyhological Association Convention. We did notice that the top research psychologists are also fine public speakers, which just goes to show the impact that effective speaking can have on one's career.

Due to its size and focus, the American Psychological Convention offers several interesting features.

One of the most interesting of those features is the enormous book exhibit. The association sets up a temporary bookstore. Here is a picture of the 2015 APA bookstore in the Toronto Convention Center. As you can see, APA has a major publication program. There are also food concessions and a selection of shirts, coffee mugs, portfolios, and so forth with the APA logo. Over the past few years, I have bought a couple of APA shirts at the end-of-convention clearance sales. (I'll buy an NCA shirt if one appears for sale at the November convention.)

The APA exhibit hall is quite a bit larger than at the National Communication Association, which I have attended for many years. This is partly because of the number of publishers who attend, but booths are also rented by people who are marketing psychological materials such as standardized tests, treatment programs, statistical packages, a massage booth, and so forth.

So, it was quite an event!

Start and end a speech with a story

Here is one of my favorite public speaking secrets:

1. Gain attention in the introduction by starting a story. The story must tie straight to the speaker's topic. Often, the start of the story will be sad or disturbing. Don't finish the story yet! Leave the audience in suspense.
 
2. End the speech by finishing the same story. With luck, you'll be able to give the story a happy ending. The audience will see that you presented a problem, explained the issues, and then showed them how to solve the problem.

Example:

Start with the story: "One day, Chris was failing in college. Chris wasn't completing the homework and felt discouraged every time a big, fat textbook came into view. Chris could escape temporarily into the world of video games or the party scene, but Chris' school problems didn't go away. Chris was ready to give up and drop out. Then, Chris figured out the real problem: Chris just didn't have the reading skills for college-level work."

Then, the speaker explains how adults can improve their reading skills, describes adult literacy programs in the audience's region, and presents research proving that they work.

End by finishing the story:

"So, finally, after finishing the adult literacy course, Chris returned to school with a new attitude. Subjects that seemed too hard to learn were now within reach. The textbooks didn't seem so fat and scary. Chris started getting good grades, graduated, and started a successful business. Adult literacy is a problem, but the solution is in plain sight."

Many of the greatest public speakers told stories. Russell Conwell's great speech "Acres of Diamonds" was just a string of stories that all aimed at one point. Ronald Reagan told stories. People love stories. You love stories, too, and so will your audience.

Sometimes, it's good to speak slowly . . .

I once sat next to an elderly gentleman at a symphony concert at the Koger Center in Columbia, South Carolina. We had a nice chat. He was very friendly, and his speaking manner was slow and clear. I left after the concert with the impression that he was someone important, maybe a retired college dean, or a company executive, or whatever. Actually, I had no idea who he was. I still don't. All I knew about him was the way he spoke. His manner of speech gave me the idea that he was influential and powerful.

One thing that I have often noted about many important people: U.S. presidents, corporate CEO's, university presidents--is that they do not talk too fast. Many of us chatter like chipmunks when we get behind a podium. That makes us sound breathless and insecure. People with power usually sound relaxed and confident. Now, one also does not want to speak too slowly, but, really, speakers who are too fast never seem to sound serious.

Good speakers do, of course, also vary their rate of speech: sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Variety helps the audience stay interested, but too much speed keeps people from sounding important.