Page 58 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 2 Your First Speech 25

Today’s public speak-
ers need to adapt to
multicultural, multi-
ethnic, and multiracial
audiences, such as
this group of students.

pletely the rhetorical situation in which you fi nd yourself and the expectations
that come with the situation. This is essential to effectively develop a speech that
fi ts the situation and addresses those expectations.
For starters, you need to know who is in your audience. Audience refers to audience
the individuals who listen to a public speech. Typically, you will be speaking to The individuals who listen
your classmates, some of whom you may already have come to know in the fi rst to a public speech.
few days of class. But even if you have not, you can make certain assumptions
about them based on their attendance at your university or college. Do you at-
tend a small, rural, liberal arts college or a large, urban university? What are the
common majors emphasized at your institution? Beyond knowing these general
facts, you can also observe your classmates in the effort to discover things about
them. Are most of them the same age as you, older, or younger? People of the
same age tend to share many of the same experiences. For example, the authors
of this text grew up in the ’50s and ’60s. For us, the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy was a defi ning experience. Yet for most of today’s younger col-
lege students, Kennedy is but a distant historical fi gure. Although Kennedy’s
death is still important in a historical sense, the deaths at the World Trade Cen-
ter, in Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, probably seem
like a defi ning experience for you and your classmates.
Knowing the common experiences you share with your audience allows you
to predict what topics are likely to elicit a favorable response. Factors such as
the age, sex, and social status of the people with whom you speak may also help
you predict audience response. Depending on who they are and what experi-
ences they share, audience members come to any speech situation with a variety
of expectations. For example, your classmates probably expect you to speak to
them as a peer. If you violate that expectation, taking on an air of superiority,