The Speaker and the Audience: The Occasion and the Subject

Chapter 14

Four Stages of Speech Making

Topic selection Topic development Presentation Postpresentation analysis
Time spent on each stage will vary from speech to speech
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Systematic Process

Expectations

Society has grown accustomed to high-quality speeches Characteristics of good speakers: Have insight Know their audience Believe what they are doing is important Always practice Think of the speech as a performance Make a critique or postpresentation analysis of the speech

Self-Analysis

Front-end analysis a self analysis conducted to help you uncover aspects that you may find particularly interesting or appealing Review your life: Your Autobiography Consider the Moment: This Moment Search the News: Todays News The Alphabet Technique The Topoi System Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? and So?)

Considering the Audience

Pitfall for speakers is speaking to themselves

MYGLO (my eyes glaze over)

You must know something about the audience in order to pay proper attention to them Audience analysis is the step most often overlooked

Approach speech making from behind the eyes of the audience

Audience Analysis: Who Are They?

Finding out information about the makeup of your audience

Educated guesses Sources of audience information

Personal experience Research

Ask program planner to provide audience information Obtain copies of public relations material Discussions with members of the potential audience
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Audience Demographics

Background and composition of your audience are important factors Age Gender Family orientation Religion Cultural background Occupation Socioeconomic status Educational level Additional factors
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Attitudes of an Audience

Try to predict the attitudes your listeners will have toward you and your presentation Attitudinal scales

Motivation willingness to attend Values degree of homogeneity Level of agreement audiences reaction to the stance of the speaker Level of commitment how much the audience cares
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Predicting the Reaction

After completing audience research, ask the following:

What do the audience members now know about my topic? To what extent are they interested in my topic? What are their current attitudes toward this topic?

Keep answers in mind when developing presentation

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Considering the Occasion

Date and time of the presentation Timing can influence a speakers effectiveness Length of the presentation Ensure you will not run over or under your time limit Location of the presentation Remind yourself of the location and people connected to it Nature of the occasion Clarify the situation in your mind Size of the audience

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Considering the Subject

Evaluate topic ideas according to specific criteria: Apparent worth

Is it important to you and the people who will listen to you? Is it appropriate to the audience? Is it appropriate to the occasion? How does it relate to your audience and how will they benefit? Be certain that material on the subject exists and that you can find it readily
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Appropriateness

Interest

Availability of material

Narrowing the Topic

Essential to consider the time constraints and narrow your topic to fit those imposed by the situation

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Purpose Statement and Behavioral Objectives

The Informative Speech Primary responsibility is to relay information The Persuasive Speech Main goal is to reinforce or change an audiences beliefs or to make an audience behave in a certain way

Develop a purpose statement Formulate behavioral objectives Develop a thesis (arguable point of view)

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Technology and Topics

Internet is a huge resource of information for speakers

Search engines Mailing lists Usenet groups

Conference system of bulletin boards devoted to different topics, on which people around the world with similar interests can interact with each other

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Using Analysis Effectively

Focus your attention on the characteristics of people you consider good speakers Conduct a systematic self-analysis as a preparation for speech making Analyze your audience Analyze the occasion Determine if your topic is supported by your own interests, your audiences interests, and the demands of the occasion
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