Page 387 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

354 Part 4 Contexts for Public Speaking

to your immediate coworkers, department, or supervisors. It is common in the
workplace to make informative presentations before groups. For some presenta-
tions you will have to stand and speak; other presentations may be delivered
from your seat.
Although the different situations require adjustments in your style of delivery,
the substantive elements of your informative presentation are the same. You will
still need to follow a cohesive organizational sequence and analyze your audi-
ence carefully.

Informative Speaking in the Community

You can reasonably expect to speak informatively with members of your com-
munity in at least one of two capacities: as a representative of your employer
or as a concerned citizen. Private, as well as public, enterprises are justifi ably
concerned about their image within their local community. Many opinion polls
show that the public is increasingly suspicious of the motives of private enter-
prise and increasingly dissatisfi ed with the performance of public agencies. It’s
not uncommon, therefore, for these organizations to make themselves available
to service groups, such as Rotary International, the general public, or a citizens’
group organized around a specifi c cause.
Some businesses have a person whose job is company spokesperson; large
corporations may even have whole departments dedicated to public relations.
Many organizations, however, have come to expect anyone in management to
serve as an informative speaker to the community. In fact, private corporations,
such as IBM, and public agencies, such as the police or fi re department, may
actually write such community service into their managers’ job descriptions.
Thus, just because you currently perceive your intended career as low profi le,
that doesn’t necessarily make it so.
Finally, you may one day want or need to speak informatively as a private
citizen. If you live in a community where cable television is available, your city
council meetings probably are televised on your community access channel. If
you tune in, you will see ordinary citizens making informative presentations at
these meetings. Topics can range from the environmental impact of a new hous-
ing development to excessive noise from student housing. If you watch several
of these presentations, you will probably conclude that very few of the speakers
have much training in public speaking; people who do have training are easy
to spot.
Your days as a public speaker will not be over once you’ve completed this
class. Given what we’ve said here, in fact, you should now realize they are just
beginning.

Message Keys of Effective

Informative Speaking

What makes one speaker’s presentation so informative and stimulating that
we want to learn more about what we initially thought was a boring topic? And
why does another speaker’s presentation leave us cold from beginning to end?
Is the reason (a) the speaker, (b) the topic, (c) the message, (d) our perceptions,