Page 187 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

154 Part 2 Between Audience and Speaker

Often those who dis-
agree with government
policy invoke patri-
otic symbols in their
protests.

Motives

Humans are motivated by a wide variety of desires, for example, popularity,
fi nancial security, love, peace, and so on. You should learn as much as you can
about the likely motives of your audience relative to your topic. For example, a
speaker at a graduation ceremony can assume that the audience is there to be
inspired and to receive their diplomas. A lengthy speech on the War on Terror
would be inappropriate for this audience. On the other hand, a graduation
speech focusing on the successes of graduates from the same school might be
just what the audience wants.
One specifi c type of motive concerns why your audience members are attend-
ing your speech. In most classroom situations, the answer is simple: because they
have to. In those situations, you have to work harder at holding the audience’s
interest and connecting to their needs than if they had come especially to hear
you speak. In Chapter 9 we offer some suggestions that will help you connect
with an audience and gain their attention. Even audience members who come
to hear you need to have their attention held. It is easy to lose an audience and
very diffi cult to recapture their attention, as any experienced speaker can testify.

Expectations
Closely tied to their motives for attending the speech are your audience’s specifi c
expectations. If audience members expect to be entertained, and you deliver a
serious speech on the dangers of ozone depletion, you are unlikely to receive a
favorable reception. Similarly, if most audience members expect a serious lesson
on a topic not to be taken lightly, you owe it to them to meet this expectation. It
is usually wise to match your speech as much to the audience members’ expec-
tations as is possible while still achieving your goals.