Nqoire, it's all about what we in the UK education system have started to call 'key transferable skills'. In other words, in the education system you learn all about maths and English literature and geography and biology and so on - these are specific skills, but you also learn generic 'transferable skills'. These skills include the following:
- communication skills
- teamworking
- analytical skills
- discussion and argumentation skills
- logical reasoning skills
...and so on.
Speaking in public - whether to small or large groups is part of communication skills: you learn to communicate in writing and orally. And, in terms of oral communication, you learn to communicate ideas and thoughts one-to-one, but also to a large group of people.
As Paul says, it's partly about persuasion and influencing people. It's also about demonstrating that you
can hold your own and communicate smoothly and clearly in front of large groups of people, or even with just one or two other people - that you don't get giggly or embarrassed, that you don't need to look down at your notes all the time and read them aloud, that you can speak with proper inflection and carry an audience with you - and convince them.
There are lots of occasions in adult life when you may need to speak in public - and not just social occasions. Public speaking, whether from a platform or just addressing a meeting, is an essential skill in employment. If you're not able to communicate ideas clearly and articulately, there are many jobs in which you'd be less successful than you could be. Writing the ideas down, or putting them on PowerPoint, is only part of the task; the more important bit is talking through them in front of people.
I'm an academic, and so of course oral communication skills are a necessity of my job - but not only when I'm teaching. I attend meetings all the time, and often have to speak and persuade people of my point of view. My husband works in information technology, and he has to make presentations, formal and informal, to customers. People in sales make presentations all the time. If you work in tourism or hospitality, you may have to speak to large groups of tourists/guests, and often persuade them of your point of view and/or have to make what you say interesting enough for them to listen to you.
So, all in all, speaking skills are essential, both socially, as Paul has shown, and in employment. And just remind them that in order to get a job in the first place they're probably going to have to be interviewed - now there's a compelling use for speaking skills!
Hope this helps,
Wendy (who is used to saying things like this on a regular basis to classes of students who don't understand why they're being made to give presentations in tutorials
)
