Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Speech Design
In chapter 10 we read about how a good speech comes together, and what elements to think about as we design it. One concept seems to stick out for me more than the rest, audience adaptation. I think this is a key concept mainly because the entire point of a speech is to reach and influence the audience, so adapting your concept to those listening can make or break our ability for that message to resonate. The text says that we should think about the following three things, “its central idea and structure, its supporting materials, and its style.” (pg 278) We read about a host of situations that would require the speaker to tailor their speech in one way or another, and each situation holds a different challenge. My favorite quote says it all, “It is not a good idea to try to clarify a concept by comparing it to a computer if the people in your audience are computer illiterate.” (pg 279)
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Journey,
ReplyDeleteThis makes complete sense. I am just starting to read chapter 9 but glad I read your post first because this is very true. Designing a speech according to the audience. We can see this so many times through political settings. So many young people do not want to listen because they are unable to relate a political speech directly to their lives. It is not unitl young adulthood where people start to get engaged and pay attention to our political forums. I am very guilty of this myself. Now I can see why it is important to pay attention but before it was all blah, blah, blah. Good post and it was informative.
Stephanie
My mistake...chapter 10. :)
ReplyDeleteStephanie
I also wrote about audience adaptation because I find it to be so important to a good, memorable speech. Too often, however, speakers forget to tailor their speech to their audience, which can really take away from its effectiveness. It’s really impossible to give a speech that will resonate with every last audience member, but a little research ahead of time can really make all the difference. The book makes a good point about how the content of the speech should change when the audiences do. For example, if your audience agrees with you, then you may be able to get away with ideas that are a little more aggressive. However, if your audience doesn’t agree with you, then you may have to concentrate on persuasion.
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