Completely integrated with NEW online tools that actively prepare students to create effective speeches and NEW brief in-text speech elements that address the way today's students learn, the 14th edition of THE CHALLENGE OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING is a valuable teaching partner for your course. Pioneers in skills-based public speaking instruction, Verderber and Verderber have perfected their book's "Speech Planning Action Steps," which resourcefully guide students through speech creation as they progress through six Action Steps--topic selection, audience analysis and adaptation, effective research, organization, visual aids, and language and delivery. The Verderbers, together with new coauthor Deanna D. Sellnow, have enhanced this nationwide best seller in many ways. The authors give your students an exceptional foundation for creating and delivering their speeches, including the latest research, numerous in-text activities, more techniques to help them address anxiety and ethical issues that speakers face, new critical-thinking and reflection prompts that help students think logically about the speech-making process, and much more.