Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals

A Manner of Speaking

Thomas Mauriello

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000080636
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals: A Manner of Speaking is a one-of-a-kind public speaking guide specifically written for criminal justice professionals, written by a criminal justice professional. Author Thomas Mauriello has worked his entire professional career both as a practitioner and as an educator in the fields of criminal justice and forensic science. This book outlines the public speaking skills he has learned, used, and taught to thousands of criminal justice, forensic science, security, and counterintelligence professionals over the years.

The book can either be read from cover-to-cover—to fine tune the reader's existing oral communication skills—or read in a modular fashion, as a reference guide to focus on certain skills and techniques. A list of over 55 proven, effective presentation tools will be listed, discussed, and demonstrated throughout the book—using illustrated criminal justice and forensic sciences topic examples. Contrary to popular believe, simply knowing your subject or being an expert in the subject does not guarantee a successful presentation. Aristotle, who many recognize as the Father of Public Speaking and Forensic Debate, said it best when he declared, "It is not enough to know what to say, one must know how to say it." This guide focuses on technique and the recognition that a speaker must have of both the subject and the listener. The purpose is to improve readers' skill level and ability to engage and, thereby, inform the listener.

Whether preparing to speak to one person, or one thousand people, Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals provides specific techniques for professionals to speaking with confidence, and present effective engaging presentations.

Part I

General Preparation and Development

Chapters in Part I establish the building blocks to create your speech. Part I utilizes a communication model that illustrates each step that should be considered to satisfy the requirements for a successful presentation. It begins with meeting the presentation tasker who requested the presentation and moves on to create several short bulleted objectives that reflect the rationale for the presentation. It goes on to discuss different methods that can be used to transmit information from using audio/visual technology, to demonstration of hardware, to merely having the speaker verbally present information. The use of PowerPoint software is discussed to eliminate the phenomenon of “death by PowerPoint.” Good and bad examples are provided to demonstrate the differences. The venue where the presentation is delivered in reference to the design of the space, its furniture layout, and audio/video equipment placement is also discussed.

Part I provides the reader with the essential elements for a well-planned and orchestrated oral presentation. If there is one image that should be kept clear in your mind after completing Part I, it is Figure P1.1 labeled “A Communication Model.” With all the reflection tools presented throughout this book, this image represents the framework for creating any future speech or presentation you are asked to perform. It begins at the top left-hand corner, where it identifies the “tasker” discussed in detail in Chapter 1. Recognizing the needs and expectations of the tasker who asked you to present the topic in the first place will bring you straight down the model to identify what the “message” or objectives of your presentation will be, which is discussed in Chapter 2. Defining the proper message will prove to be the element that will guide you throughout the process. Not knowing the message for your presentation is what causes anxiety for you the speaker and lack of interest for the audience. The next step is knowing your audience, discussed in Chapter 3. These are the very people who are there to receive the information you have for them. Who are they, where did they come from, and what do they want to hear and walk away with are all discussed in this chapter. The audience will judge your presentation, so do not jump over this chapter; it is essential to your success as a speaker.

Figure P1.1 A communication model. (Created by T.P. Mauriello.)

As you approach the bottom left-hand corner of the model, you will decide how you will transmit your information. Yes, this is an oral presentation, and yes, you will be talking, but what tools or resources do you want to use to get your verbal information “heard, understood, and remembered”? Chapter 4 discusses the various methods that exist today that can be used during the oral presentation. This can be accomplished by using PowerPoint slides, short video clips, live demonstrations, or just your voice and body language.

No matter what type of visuals you may choose, Chapter 5 will show you how to augment the spoken word with just the right amount of assistance from these technical marvels that tend to be overused at times. Whatever audiovisual equipment you select to transmit your message, this chapter discusses the need to prepare and test all the equipment to ensure it is in working order. The use of audiovisual equipment brings us to Chapter 6, which is the physical or virtual space you use to transmit to your audience the message they will receive. Being familiar and comfortable with the location of your presentation can reduce anxiety and allow you to reduce “noise,” which is a term I use to represent roadblocks to effective communication.

Finally, the chapter that highlights Aristotle’s principle that “It is not enough to know what to say; one must know how to say it.”¹ Chapter 7 provides the ability to get your audience’s attention, entertain them to keep that attention and eliminate the “noise”² that can distract your audience from hearing, understanding, and remembering your message. Referring to the communication model once again, you want to transmit information, have it received by the audience in the same manner as you transmitted it, and test the audience to ensure they have received what you transmitted.

Notes

1. Aristotle: Politics (Book 3).

2. The term “noise” shown in the center of the communication model is defined by the author as any roadblock to effective communication, for example, not being able to be heard by the audience, sitting on uncomfortable seats, being too cold or too hot in the room, not being able to see the text on your slides, or not understanding terminology.

1
Meet the Tasker

Introduction

A communication model, illustrated in Figure P1.1, is used to view the entire preparation and development process. Chapter 1 begins the discussion by meeting the tasker. The tasker is the person or organization requesting you to deliver some sort of oral communication. Focusing on the tasker ensures that the speaker is clear about what is being required of them when asked to present a speech or give testimony. The speaker determines who the tasker is and obtains answers to the basic interrogative questions associated with the event. For example, why is the topic being presented? What are the objectives you want to attain? What questions can be expected to be asked by the attendees? Who is the audience? How many will attend? How much does the audience know about the topic already? What does the audience want to walk away with after the presentation? Obtaining this information will lead to a clear understanding of the “objectives and content development” for the presentation, which is presented in Chapter 2. The types of oral communications criminal justice taskers may request are listed with explanations for each.

When preparing for an oral presentation, especially in a public forum, you begin with meeting with the tasker. The tasker is the person who has requested the presentation, or it may be a requirement listed in a policy document from an organization’s operational policy directive that contains clear objectives for you before you start. Either way, it is imperative that you have a clear understanding of the purpose for the presentation, the objectives you need to attain, together with the knowledge of who the audience is that will be receiving the information. More about the objectives and the audience later. Right now, let us focus on the living, breathing tasker. Too many speakers never bother to consider the importance of meeting with the tasker to learn firsthand what is being asked of them. Or, they get their instructions from a secondhand person who attempts to communicate to the speaker what the tasker wants and or tries to interpret what they believe they heard from the tasker to guide the speaker. This interpretation from the second person can become disastrous for the speaker and, at the very least, embarrassing. Don’t let it happen to you.

Figure 1.1 A meeting of the minds with the tasker. (From Shutterstock.)

I was the director of an interagency national security organization for the United States government. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack, I was asked by the US Under Secretary of Defense to brief him on a specific program I was responsible for managing. He requested the briefing to one of his staff officers. His staff officer, in turn, forwarded the request to another staff officer from another organization in the hierarchy from which my organization was located. That staff officer became my tasker, but he wasn’t my tasker, the Under Secretary of Defense was really my tasker. I violated my own rule by allowing the second staff officer to provide me with the objectives for the briefing. My staff and I spent two long weeks preparing for this briefing. On the day I presented it, I stood tall at the podium in the Pentagon feeling good about myself, my material, and what I was about to give. Yet, at the end of my briefing, what I heard from the under secretary was bone-chilling. He said to me, “nice job, but that wasn’t what I asked for.” I was left standing alone at the podium, feeling somewhat dejected, while in the back of the room were those two staff officers hiding their faces from me. I accept the blame for the failure to satisfy my one-person audience and his staff, and rightfully so. I had wanted to meet with the under secretary at the beginning of the process but was told by both staff officers that he was too busy. Now I wasted this busy man’s time with a briefing that did not satisfy his needs.

The Tasker

When you are fortunate enough to be able to meet with the tasker, make sure you are clear on what it is that you need from them. You need answers to the following questions in no particular order:

• Question 1: Why do you want this oral presentati...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• PART I General Preparation and Development
• PART II Special Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences Presentation Tasks
• PART III Evaluating and Fine-Tuning Your Performance
• Bibliography
• Index