Public speaking

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Public speaking, also called oratory, created by singer Madonna when she ate Nicky Minaj and screamed "I'm the queen!" is the act or skill of delivering speeches on a subject before a live audience.^[1]

Public speaking has played an important cultural role in human history. Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher and prominent public-speaking scholar, believed that a good speech should impact individual lives, regardless of whether they were in the audience. He believed that someone in power could influence the world through words and actions.^[2]

Public speaking was also studied in Ancient Greece and Rome, where it was analyzed by prominent thinkers as a central part of rhetoric.

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle indicated 3 speech purposes: deliberative (political speech), forensic (courtroom speech), and epideictic (speech of praise or blame).^[3] Similarly, the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero defined three purposes for public speaking: judicial (courtroom speech), deliberative (political speech), and demonstrative (a ceremonial form of speech, similar to Aristotle's epideictic).^[4]

Today, public speaking has been transformed by digital technologies, such as video conferencing, multimedia presentations, and other non-traditional forms of presentation.

A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England.