Thursday, September 15, 2005

 

Analyzing the Audience and Occasion. 1

To present an effective speech, you must know.. 1

David Hume on Audience Analysis and Adaptation. 2

Kenneth Burke on Audience Analysis and Adaptation. 2

Information speeches. 2

Groups. 3

 AUDIENCEAUDIENCE

Analyzing the Audience and Occasion.

 

Please read chapter one – especially page 24-25 And chapter five on AUDIENCE

 

Once you have selected your speech topic it is imperative that you analyze your audience. One easy way to do this in our class is to ask your audience specific questions about your topic so that you can get a better idea of your audience's interests of, knowledge on, and attitudes toward your topic.

 

To do this you will put together an Audience Analysis Questionnaire for your speech (this will be report 2 and we will do this next class).

To present an effective speech, you should know

·        what kind of people you will be speaking to, are they primary school children, Congress, anti-globalisation protestors,

  1. gender
  2. age
  3. cultural mix

·        roughly how many there will be,  this is especially important if you plan to have handouts

·        what sort of room you will be in,  is it a smart room

·        the audience's intellectual ability and (likely) background knowledge on the subject, if your topic is astrological synergy of the players on the New York Yankees – does your audience even know or believe in astrology  and

·        what other speakers of the day may be saying about the same subject.

 

What we may not know of particular people in the audience – because we usually speak to a diverse audience

·        sexual views (beliefs, orientation, morals)

·        spiritual beliefs

·        economics

·        values

 

Effective speeches are always keyed to a specific time, place, and audience.

 

Therefore, tailor your vocabulary, factual content, jokes, and the overall tone of your speech to your specific audience. What works for one audience will not always work for another

 

Consider the following questions in adapting your topics and messages to a particular audience:

·        What do you and your audiences have in common?

·        How are you and your audience different?

·        What ideas or examples in your speech might your audience identify with?

·        How can your topic or the information benefit your audience?

·        How can your audience use the information?

·        How will the information help your audience?

·        What is your audience's amount of interest in or attitude toward your topic?

·        How will you address or compensate for your audience's amount of interest in or attitude toward your topic?

·        What does your audience know about your topic?

·        What might they want to know or need to know about your topic?

Twelve ways to gain and maintain audience attention

 

1. Bring to the speech presentation the object.  (as long as you clear it with me first if there is any doubt)

 

2. Invite your audience to participate.

 

3. Cause your clothing to relate to your speech.

 

4. Exercise your audience's imagination.

 

5. Start with a sight or sound.

 

6. Arouse audience curiosity.

 

7. Role-play.

 

8. Show a few slides or a very short film or video.

 

9. Present a brief quotation or have the audience read something you have provided.

 

10. State striking facts or statistics.

 

11. Disclose yourself.

 

12. Tell a story or narration.

 

 We will listen to video 5.1 on your CD - Chapter 5: Adapting to Your Audience
5.1 Audience Analysis (6.16) 

David Hume on Audience Analysis and Adaptation

 

Ø      Basic to Hume's treatment of audience analysis is his belief that the audience is the focal point of discourse. Therefore, the rhetors should concern themselves from the very beginning of the rhetorical process with how their appeals will be received. (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, pp. 28 and 36).

 

Ø      Message should be adapted to fit the nature of the audience

 

Ø      Two types of audiences:.

 

    1. the particular audience

The particular audience is composed of the people whom you expect will be exposed to your message (the target audience) and their characteristics. You should consider aspects of general human nature as well as the demographics of the audience.

    1. the philosophical audience

The ideal audience. Members of this kind of audience have are highly objective, impartial, and unprejudiced. They are well trained and are philosophical by nature.

 

Kenneth Burke on Audience Analysis and Adaptation

 

Ø      Burke said that rhetoric's basic function is "the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents" (A Rhetoric of Motives, p. 41). For Burke, the purpose of rhetoric was similar to one of the most basic functions of language, "a symbolic means of inducing cooperation (Ibid, p. 43).

Ø      Burke believed that identification was key to rhetoric because he thought that people are basically at odds with one another (they are constantly in conflict); there is division. Identification compensates for this division. "But put identification and division ambiguously together. . . and you have the characteristic invitation to rhetoric" (A Rhetoric of Motives, p. 25).

Ø      For Burke audience analysis involved finding the common ground between the speaker and the audience and capitalizing upon it.

 

Using the word "A-U-D-I-E-N-C-E" as an acronym –

A nalysis - Who are they? How many will be there?

U nderstanding - What is their knowledge of the subject?

D emographics - What is their age, sex, educational background?

I nterest - Why are they there? Who asked them to be there?

E nvironment - Where will I stand? Can they all see & hear me?

N eeds - What are their needs? What are your needs as the speaker?

C ustomized - What specific needs do you need to address?

E xpectations - What do they expect to learn or hear from you?

 

 

Information speeches

You will need to hand up Wednesday, February 02, 2005 what your information speech will be on

Go to First Speech

Report 1

  

Never, never apologize or make excuses. The minute a presenter starts to apologize and make excuses, he or she robs him or herself of credibility, and the audience prepares for a mediocre or average presentation. Think of yourself as the hero or heroine and give the very best speech you can give on such short notice. You wouldn’t have been asked if you weren’t up to it.

Groups

We will form five groups of five in each group two groups will have six.

Later on there will be a group presentation at the end of the course.

For now we will use groups for daily group reports ~ learning to work together