EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
Introduction to Public Speaking
Matt McGarrity, University of Washington
https://www.coursera.org/course/publicspeak
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
The Impromptu Speech
Notes taken on July 31, 2013 by Edward Tanguay
Why are we doing an impromptu speech?
it is a good model to take to any speech setting where you have to speak without much preparation
the format allows you to quickly put together a speech that is easy to listen to
this is the first speech assignment because it is a base model for the other speeches
has fewer moving parts than the other speeches, but
"Sorry, I was trying to stay with the mechanical metaphor but I totally ran out of steam."
this will be a basic model you can build into your muscle memory and fall back on
basic procedure
1. select a prompt
2. prepare an outline in 5 minutes
this is a good time limit to practice a realistic speed of preparing a short talk: it doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be usable for a speech
3. deliver a 3-6 minute speech
structure
introduction
point #1
support
support
point #2
support
support
conclusion
the prompts
these are just topics so you can take them and make any argument out of them
"I don't care which way you argue, I care that you're making good arguments."
about the topics
I know that you are interested in public speaking
I know you have some experience with online education
not just American topics
you just need to be able to weight in one way or the other
argue for and against, a good skill base to have
topics
delivery is more important than invention in public speaking
the prevalence of the television soundbite has significantly hurt the quality of public speeches
online education will never replace traditional universities
Coursera should charge a small fee for classes in order to pay for staffing and website development.
online courses re better than face-to-face instruction