Page 182 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 6 Adapting to Your Audience 149

Individual Diversity

For most public speakers, the most difficult aspect of audience diversity is pre-
dicting how individual members of the audience will respond to them and their
message. What are some of the specifi c things you should look for in analyzing
the individuals who make up your audience? Individual diversity is deeply individual diversity
embedded in people’s knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, values, motives, expecta- How individuals in an
tions, and needs. What makes people truly unique is their individual diversity, audience differ in terms
which cannot be determined on the basis of their culture or demography alone. of knowledge, beliefs, at-
When you know people as individuals rather than simply as members of a cul- titudes, values, motives,
ture or group, you can make far more precise predictions about how they will expectations, and needs.
respond to your speeches and to you. You can also use this knowledge to plan
your speeches and decide whether your purpose and goal are realistic.
One of the great advantages of most public speaking classes is that you
will learn to know your audience members as individuals. As we pointed out
in Chapter 5, in a class of 25 you will spend about 96 percent of your class
time listening to your classmates give their speeches. If you actively listen to
them, you will learn a great deal about what they know and think about the
world around them. You can use this information as you prepare your own
speeches.
Although many of your public speaking situations after college may not allow
you to hear all of your audience members speak, you can endeavor to learn as
much about them as individuals as possible before you speak. Even in situations
where you face an audience “cold,” you may be able to make certain assump-
tions about their interests and belief systems beforehand. For example, if you
are asked to speak to the Lion’s Club, it is useful to know in advance that they
are concerned about raising funds to combat blindness and that they sponsor a
public speaking contest for high school students. Any clues you can obtain about
the individuals to whom you will be speaking can be valuable in crafting an ef-
fective speech.

Knowledge
One of the fi rst things you’ll want to know about your audience is what they
know—about you and your topic. This is particularly important in selecting a
topic for an informative speech. You have probably had the experience of lis-
tening to a speaker who simply tells you what you already know. Chances are
you were impatient and bored. You have also probably had the experience of
listening to a speaker who was almost incomprehensible because he or she used
vocabulary you had never heard before, or assumed you had prior knowledge
you didn’t have about the topic.
Learn as much as you can about your audience’s knowledge. Chances are
there may be a range of knowledge on the topic you have chosen. If the differ-
ence in audience knowledge levels is too varied, preparing your speech may be
very diffi cult. You will fi nd yourself boring some members while losing others.
For example, a speech on the federal reserve board may be old hat to economics
majors but leave humanities majors mystifi ed. If possible, speak on topics about
which audience members are likely to have similar levels of knowledge. If you
must rehash certain facts, at least try to put a new spin on them to keep the inter-