Unveiling Audience Engagement in Public Speaking: The Strategies

Abstract

Public speaking is not merely expressing the ideas in front of the audience. Public Speaking should be engaging for audience as well to build trust and connection. This study aims to extend the strategies of engaging audience through the concept of Logic (Logos), Emotion (Pathos), and Credibility (Ethos). Participants of this study are 30 students in Public Speaking Class and they got to answer the questionnaire and be observed. The data will be classified into the categories of Logical, Emotional, and Credibility approaches in audience engagement with thematic and descriptive analysis. The results show that, to engage the audience, a public speaker should give evidence in arguments, involve audience in activities, and present their credibility with their profile and research. However, there are other aspects such challenges that a public speaker does not expect, for instance technical problems and unexpected response/question. Also, engaging audience is considered achieved but, making impact for audience in public speaking is the bigger step.