Southern New Hampshire University
COM-212 Public Speaking
EXAM 1 questions and answers
Susan, one of the town council members, watched the reaction of the public to the speakers.
The audience sat with their arms crossed or checked their phones. Susan leaned over to her
colleague and whispered, “He owes half of this audience money from his last project. He
certainly doesn't have any credibility, so he's going to need to pull at our heartstrings and throw
some logic at us if he expects anyone to listen.”
Susan’s reaction to the speaker reflects a specific perspective from the Classical period of
Greek and Roman scholars and orators who began the formal study of public speaking.
Select the historical figure who suggested that there were three essential parts to
persuasion.
● Aristotle
Nick was another speaker at the meeting. He dressed in a jacket and a pair of khakis and
arrived early to ensure his laptop worked properly with the projection system. Nick began his
speech by introducing himself; he nodded at colleagues and friends in the crowd as he made
eye contact. Townspeople continued to enter the room, and Nick made sure to raise his voice
for the people in the back of the room so that they could hear.
He realized as he started to speak that he hadn’t been around town very much since he started
working in the city. “Oh, well— nothing really changes around here anyway,” he thought as he
began his second slide. However, Nick began to feel nervous and decided to spend the rest of
his speech looking at his slides.
Select the example that best describes the barrier to effective communication that Nick
encountered during his speech.
● Nick failed to engage his audience through eye contact while speaking.
Tony is a local dentist and father of three young children. He does not like public speaking, but
his neighborhood association asked him to represent their concerns about the traffic, noise, and
population increase that could result from a proposed housing development at a town council
meeting last week. The audience at the public meeting consisted of town members,
small-business owners, and builders.
Fabian, an investor in the proposed development and a practiced public speaker, was
