Successful Public Speaking Handbook is an open textbook developed for Public Speaking courses, or COMM 1130, at Santa Fe Community College. The course Public Speaking introduces students to the theory and fundamental principles of public speaking, emphasizing audience analysis, reasoning, the use of evidence, and effective delivery. In this course, students study principles of communication theory and rhetoric and apply them in the analysis, preparation, and presentation of speeches, including informative, persuasive, and impromptu speeches.

This book was written by Dr. Andrew Lovato, who has taught public speaking to college students for nearly four decades. He was selected as Santa Fe’s City Historian in 2024. Dr. Lovato hosts a weekly radio show, Our Santa Fe, for public radio station KSFR 101.1 FM. He received his Ph.D. in Communication with an emphasis in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico in 2000 and was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in 2008.

Dr. Lovato is also the author of Santa Fe Hispanic Culture: Preserving Identity in a Tourist Town, which was published in 2004 by the University of New Mexico Press, and The Year Zozobra Escaped: Featuring Zozobra’s Great Escape, which was published in 2011 by the Museum of New Mexico Press. His latest book is The Big Book of Blues Guitar: The History, the Greats- And How to Play. Lovato is a contributing author of four other books on New Mexico’s history and culture, and he has written many articles and delivered lectures to groups that include the Santa Fe Fiesta, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the Newcomers Club of Santa Fe.