Public Speaking: Strategies for Success proposes that at all stages of the public speaking process, people should learn how to develop and apply strategies to speaking situations they encounter throughout their lives.

David Zarefsky, one of today's leading scholars in speech communication, encourages the reader to think through and about the public speaking process. Zarefsky urges the reader to consider the diversity of audiences, occasions, and speakers and to choose a specific purpose, a relevant topic, and the appropriate material to make their speeches successful.