Discussion question #3

The concept from chapter 10 that I choose to discuss is audience adaption. When you are giving a public speech you must make the message you are trying to get across relevant and understandable to your audience. The book gives a few good examples of audience adaption. The author says that a kindergarten teacher wouldn't treat school children as if they were graduate students. When constructing a speech and you are thinking about how you are going to adapt to your audience you must consider the three aspects of speech. The first aspect is the central idea and structure of the speech. The second aspect is the supporting material of the speech. The third and final aspect is the style of the speech.

The author says that the speaker must first decide on the purpose and central idea of the speech. If you are preparing an informative speech you must present new and interesting information that is not too difficult for the audience to follow or understand. If the speech is meant to be persuasive then the speaker must avoid alienation audience members by making a proposal that is too extreme. The speaker must also know what the audience currently believes and what positions it might accept and reject.

Speakers should choose supporting material with audience characteristics in mind. The example given in the book is that the speaker supports bringing a professional athletic team to your community. I thought this was an ironic example since Santa Clara county is fighting to bring the 49ers to Santa Clara. The speaker is presenting a speech to a group of business leaders and they would have to stress the economic advantages of their proposal. The speaker must choose appeals that are relevant to their audience.

Lastly, the style of the speech needs to be adapted to the audience as well. Your speech must be understandable. For example you wouldn't want to try and clarify your concept by comparing it to a computer to a group of computer illiterate people. The audience wants your speech to resemble their idea of how the speech should sound. If you fail to meet their expectations your speech will probably fail.