Social and Economic Importance of Public Speaking

by Ankomah -Mensah Genevieve
(Accra Ghana)

Q. What is the social and economic importance of public speaking? What social and economic impacts can public speaking have?


A. Broad question, but an important one. Let's address the social implications first.

Social

Every speech ought to impact the audience and move listeners to action. Unfortunately, I'd guess that 80-90% of speeches don't have much of an impact at all (aside from giving audiences some nice time to close their eyes and relax).

How does one deliver a good speech? One must understand that every speech has a purpose - in essence, every speech is persuasive. You cannot judge a speech by it's quantity of four-syllable words nor by it's flowery delivery. The sole indicator of a speech's worth is it's impact on the audience. Write every speech thinking of that, and we'll start to see public speaking begin to have a much greater social impact.

Economic

That begin said, good speeches can also have economic impact. Take things said by the President of the United States, or by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The listeners take them very seriously, and so act on their words. If the Chairman announces that interest rates will drop, people will act on his claim. Speeches have an economic impact directly proportional to the audience's trust of the speaker and willingness to listen to what he/she is saying.

Happy speaking.