Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Audiences
I know personally when hearing a person speak to a group if they say something that makes me feel a part of what they are talking about I am more apt to listen. I loved how the book used Bill Gates as an example, taking time to research the schools before he spoke to them and to mention something in the beginning of his speech that connected them to his company. Its easy to get caught up in just focusing on your topic and the speech itself, and to forget that a big part of a speech is the speaker/audience relationship. I liked the idea of making a questionnaire that you sent to you audience prior to the speech, that would give you some ideas about what your audience is like, how they feel about your topic, and what they expect to get out of your speech. I also thought it was interesting to consider our multitasking, immediate gratification culture of texting, YouTube, and the internet. Audiences today expect dynamic, entertaining, concise information. We know some things about our class, the audience we will be speaking to, from the fact that we are all students and we all live in the same area. It is also nice that each speech we do we will get to know our audience member even better. The more a speaker is able to familiarize herself with the audience and to mold the speech around that audiences demographics, values, psychographics, attitudes and beliefs the more effective and memorable the speech will be.
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I felt that Bill Gates was also a good example for being a successful speaker. I tend to only go to hear someone speak if they are talking about something I am interested in. It is easier for me to be captivated. We do expect for speakers to be dynamic, and entertaining then it is easier for us to pay attention especially, if we have to sit there and remember what the speaker has said. I also thought the questionnaire was a good idea for knowing what will reach that audience in the most adhering way possible. Giving specific information will definitely assist in a well-rounded speech. I think this class will help us with the knowledge that we will need to make sure that we can analyze and adapt to the audience.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I actually enjoy listening to speeches when they spark an interest to me, or even better yet, are about something that i can relate to. Bill Gates is a perfect example of doing this with his past speeches. I think what makes a good speaker is someone that can relate to their audience. In school a lot of times, we just present information because we have to. How can we expect the audience to be interested in out speech if we are just up there presenting to get it over with? The speaker and audience relationship is key to any successful speech.
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