Introduction

Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people

in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence or entertain the listeners

The objectives of a public speaker's presentation can range from

transmitting information to motivating people, acting or simply telling a story

Define the different aspects of public speaking

Define the research methodology

Analyse the aspects in the order and rank of importance

Draw a conclusion as to who or what influences public speaking

Research Methodology
Floated a survey asking Level of education completed Political views Religious views Influential qualities of a speaker Choice of influential speaker

Research Methodology
Targeted people of different age groups
Spread across the population of IIM Kozhikode Graduation colleges Alumni bodies An unbiased survey

Why these attributes?

It is perceived that individuals level of Education shows his

practical perspective to life. There is an unbiased judgement of the influential speakers

There is a preconceived notion that Political and Religious

views of people create a bias towards the preference of speakers. They tend to get more influenced by speakers of the same political views
We surveyed these aspects to gauge the level of their

contribution in affecting the influence of speakers

Analysis and Interpretation

85% of the surveyed population in the age group of 20-25 years

11.5% in the age group of 26-30 years

The remaining few were above 40 years of age
In Graduate college 14.1% 33.3% 33.3% 19.2%

Graduated from college

In Postgraduate college Completed Postgraduation

Most of the surveyed population was in the same age group as ours and were in postgrad or working after graduation

Analysis and Interpretation

Political Religious
28.20% 48.70% Liberal Left Right Non-political 6.40% 10.30% 19.20% 42.30% 38.50% Theist Atheist Agnostic Hardline Moderate

6.40%

0%

The political and religious inclinations of an individual, to some extent, also define the factors that make a speech/speaker more efficient for him/her

Analysis and Interpretation

Political

Political

Left/Right

Liberal/Nonpolitical

Politically oriented speeches/speakers

More general

Analysis and Interpretation

Religious

Non-religious

Theist/Agnostic/Hardline

Atheist/Moderate

Religiously oriented/spiritual leaders

More general

Analysis and Interpretation

Factor
Confidence level Voice modulation

1
6.40% 6.40% 1.30% 7.70%

3
14.10% 17.90%

4
29.50% 39.70%

5
48.70% 28.20%

Metaphors and rhetoric

Content Personality Non-verbal cues Connect with the audience

6.40%
7.70% 3.80% 3.85% 1.28%

16.70%
0.00% 5.10% 16.67% 6.41%

32.10%
2.60% 15.40% 15.38% 11.54%

29.50%
39.70% 39.70% 38.46% 39.74%

15.40%
50.00% 35.90% 25.64% 41.03%

Likert scale showing the extent to which different qualities of the speech/speaker influence the audience

Analysis and Interpretation

Weights were assigned to the scale which helped us arrive on

indexes for these factors

Index
4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5

Rank

2 4 6

2 5
Index

1
0.5 0

Confidence level

Voice Metaphors and modulation rhetoric

Content

Personality

Non-verbal cues

Connect with the audience

Analysis and Interpretation

3.80% 0.02% 0.08% Atal Behari Vajpayee 14.10% 25.60% Sir Winston Churchill

Barrack Obama
Lalu Prasad Yadav 2.60% 28.20% 17.90% Harsha Bhogle Martin Luther King Arvind Kejriwal Baba Ramdev Others

7.70%

1. 2. 3. 4.

5.
6. 7. 8.

Harsha Bhogle Atal Behari Vajpayee Barrack Obama Martin Luther King Lalu Prasad Yadav Arvind Kejriwal Sir Winston Churchill Baba Ramdev

R A N K S

30% Foreigners Indians 70%

Findings
People in the age group of 20-30 years prefer content over other

factors

They also get influenced by confidence of the speaker and his/her

ability to connect with the audience

Personality, confidence and non-verbal cues follow

Metaphors and rhetorics are relatively less important in

influencing the audience

Harsha Bhogle is the most influencing speaker according to the

survey

70% of the sample population is influenced by native speakers

Inferences
Harsha Bhogle
Confidence level Voice modulation Metaphors and rhetoric Content Personality Non-verbal cues Connect with audience

High

Med

Low

Inferences
Atal Behari Vajpayee
Confidence level Voice modulation Metaphors and rhetoric Content Personality Non-verbal cues Connect with audience

High

Med

Low

Inferences
Barrack Obama
Confidence level Voice modulation Metaphors and rhetoric Content Personality Non-verbal cues Connect with audience

High

Med

Low

Low rating of Obama despite his speaking abilities suggests that people relate the effectiveness to nativity as well

Conclusions
Content has the most important role to play when it comes to

public speaking
Metaphors and rhetorics may look as important factors but are

not that integral in creating impact

People relate more with the native speakers than with those from

other countries
A speech can influence the masses as long as it is in a language

understood by the majority

Limitations
No rural representation in the survey
Targeting only users from social media

Less representation from age group more than 30 years

Does not give enough evidence to analyse non-verbal cues No correlation can be made among answers of different

questions