2.2 Analyzing the Audience

Audience-centeredness: keeping the audience foremost in mind at every step of speech preparation and presentation.
The primary purpose of speech making is to gain a desired response from listeners.  
To be audience-centered, you need to keep several questions in mind when you work on your speeches.

• To whom am I speaking?
• what do I want them to know, behave or do as a result of my speech
• what is the most effective way of composing and presenting my speech to accomplish that aim?

Identification:

• A process in which speakers seek to create a bond with the audience by emphasizing common values, goals, and experiences. 
• A speaker needs to create a link with his or her audience.
• Think in advance about your audience’s background and interest, about their level of knowledge, regarding the speech topic, and about their attitudes regarding your stance on the topic.

The psychology of Audience 

• Sometimes you pay close attention, at another time you let your thoughts to wander
• No one can make you to listen unless you want to
• It’s a big responsibility of a speaker to make his/her audience to pay close attention.

Every speech contains two message

• Sent by the speaker
• Received by the listener

Good speakers are often audience-centered (formal or informal)

Egocentrism:

The tendency of people to be concerned above all with their own values, beliefs, and well-being.

They pay close attention to message that affect their own values, own beliefs and their own well-being.

Listeners always approach the speech with one question, 

Why is this important to me?

Demographic Audience Analysis 

1. Age 
2. Gender
3. Sexual orientation
4. Religion
5. Group membership
6. Racial, ethnic or cultural background

Two steps to follow

1. Identifying the general demographic features of your audience

2. Measuring the importance of those features to a particular speaking situation 

Avoid Stereotyping 

Stereotyping : creating an oversimplified image of a particular group of people, usually by assuming that all members of the group are alike.

Ex: All African Americans are athletics

1.Age 

Are you a member of generation X? or y? 

Each generation has more or less common values and experiences that set it apart from other generation.

Ex: Hip-hop culture, tattoo (old generation)

2. Gender

A Speaker who ignores the gender of his or her listeners is almost certain to offend some members of the audience. 

Ex: when there are 50 male and 5 female audience in a speech class, if the speaker addresses Dear gentlemen, the majority of the class, how about the rest of 5 female audience?

Military issues suitable for only men

Social issues suitable for only women

3. Sexual Orientation

By mentioning “partners" as well as “Spouses” speaker can capture the audiences' attention as well as a good feedback.

Audience centered speakers should be alert to how their message will be received by people of various sexual orientation.

Name calling and abusive ;language should be avoided.

Ex: Most of us hope to graduate, find a good job and get married, instead of that a speaker could say : most of us hope to graduate, find a good job and find a person to share our life with.

4. Racial, Ethnic and cultural background

Since we all live in a multi racial, multi ethnic society, speaker should concern on these sensitive issues.

Ex: Let we say a strong handshake is essential to any woman who wants to be taken seriously in law or business.

Three steps to be concerned 

1. Recognize that racial, ethnic or cultural perspectives will affect their attitudes towards your speech topic.
2. Try to determine what those perspectives are and how they are likely to affect the audience's response to your message.
3. To adjust your speech so it will be as clear, suitable and convincing as possible

5. Religion

Around the world religious views are most emotional one. 

There may be atheists and agnostics among your audiences.

It is most important to consider each and every audience and their religious views.

Ex: Shiramadana Campaign in a mixed school. 

Situational Audience analysis

• It usually builds on the demographic analysis.
• It mainly focuses on situational factors such as the size of the audience, the physical setting for the speech and the disposition toward the topic, the speaker and the occasion.

1. Size

• Size is a vital element for a speech.
• It can be a small or large group.
• No matter what size group you are addressing, one basic principle, the larger the audience , the more formal your presentation must be.
• Audience size will have the greatest impact on your delivery, but it may also affect your language, choice of appeals, and use of visual aids.

2. Physical setting 

• Uncomfortable physical setting usually affects the speech and the audience too.
• Seating arrangement, over heated room, and etc

3. Disposition toward the topic- Dislike

Interest 

• Unless people are interested they will never put an effort to listen a speech.
• If your topic is not likely to generate great interest, you must take special steps to get your audiences involved.Ex: Beauty of Youth’s life, Most beautiful period of everyone’s life….

Knowledge

• The knowledge of your audience about your topic.
• Strong correlation/ mutual relation between interest in a topic and knowledge about it.
• People tend to be interested in what they know about.   

Attitude 

• What is the attitude of your audience regarding your topic.
• A frame of mind in favor or opposed to a person policy, belief, institution and etc..

Disposition toward the speaker

• Competent listeners believe a speaker to be, the more likely they are to accept what he/ she says.
• Also listeners believe that a speaker has their best interests at heart, the more likely they are to respond positively to the speaker’s message.

Disposition toward the occasion 

• Occasion should be considered by the speaker before give a speech. Ex: in a memorial day speaking about business deal.

Getting information about the audience 

• Interviewing 
• Questionnaires 

  

"வித்தியாவை" வீணாக்கி
"சேயாவை" சிதைத்து 
"நந்தினியை"நாசமாக்கி
ஒன்றுமறியா எங்கள் 
செல்ல மகள் "ஹாசினியை" தின்று 
இன்னும் எத்தனையோ பூக்களை கொன்றொழித்த அத்தனை காமுகர்களையும் என்ன செய்தோம் நாம் ??

பெண் மகவாய் இவள் பிறந்தது குற்றமா?? 
பெண் பிள்ளை வேண்டுமென 
இவளை பெற்றது குற்றமா?

சிறு மொட்டொன்று மலரும் முன்னே அதன் இதழ்களை கூட பிய்த்தெறிய மனம் வரா மனிதர்களுக்கு மத்தியில் ....
மொட்டென்ன? பூவென்ன? அத்தனையும் எம்மால் தான் அழிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என கங்கணம் கட்டித்திரியும் காடையர்களே.........
எங்கிருந்தடா வந்தீர்கள் நீங்களெல்லாம் ??????

தாயின்றி , தங்கையின்றி , தாரமுமின்றி தான் தரணியில் வாழ்கின்றீரோ???

விழுந்த பல் கூட சரியாக முளைத்திராத அந்த சின்னஞ்சிறு மொட்டு 
அப்படி என்னதான் செய்து விட்டது உனக்கு???

கள்ளமில்லா சிரிப்பை கண்ணுக்குள்ளே வைத்திருந்தாயே ஹாசினி குட்டியே..
வெள்ளை உள்ளத்தால் வித்தைகள் பல புரிந்தாயே ......
அத்தனையும் உன் உடலுடன் சேர்ந்து 
கருகிப்போனதன் காரணம் தான் என்னவோ???

உன் நற்குணங்களில் ஒன்றாவது அழிக்கும் சக்தியாய் மாறியிருக்க கூடாதா??
அப்பிணம் தின்னும் கழுகு உன்னை சிதைக்கையிலே .......

உன்னை யாரென்றும் அறிந்திராத எமக்கு கூட ..
உன் இறப்பு எத்துணை துன்பத்தையம்மா தருகிறது????
ஓ...மன்னித்து விடு மகளே .... 
இது இறப்பல்ல "சிதைப்பு" .

நாமெல்லாம் உனக்காக கலங்கினாலும் .....
நான்கு வரிகளை எழுதினாலும் ...
அவையெல்லாம் அர்த்தமற்றவையே ..

இப்பொழுது நீ இறைவனடியில் இருப்பதால் 
உன்னிடம் நாம் ஒன்று இறைஞ்சுகின்றோம் ..
மறுபிறப்பென்ற ஒன்று உண்டென்றால் .....
மீண்டும் மண்ணுக்கு வா ..
மகளாய் வாழ்வதற்கல்ல......
உன்னை சிதைத்தவனையும் 
உன் சகோதரிகளை நாசம் செய்தவர்களையும் வதம் செய்து பெண் இனத்தை காக்கும் தெய்வமாய்...... 
ஹாசினி கடவுளாய் ...........
உன்னை காண ஆசை கொள்கிறோம் ....

(Google Image)

விந்தை உலகில்
மதி நிறைந்த மனிதனின்
விதி வலைக்குள் சிக்குண்டு
விதவிதமான மனிதர்களை
விசித்திரமாய் பார்த்த வண்ணம்
நகர்த்துகின்றோம் எம் நாட்களை.....
நாமும் கைதிகள் தான்......

A poem to President Maithiripala Srisena from a little girl who lost her father (Northern Province)

President uncle !

Sumanthiran Uncle says you are "very good"
Sampanthar grandpa says you are "so simple"
The journalist uncles say that you forgot and released someone who came to kill you
In addition, you use to eat your homemade meals with your hands,
It seems that they would even proudly say you wash your legs and hands with your hands 
That much simple ,good and kind hearted person your are!!!!
Then why do you refuse to show my dad to me ?
I did not see my father's face since I was born, when I was in my mother's womb, she said that my father was taken by Army
Sampanthar grandpa's daughter is also with him and every day she finds her father.
Sumanthiran uncle's children are also with him and enjoy their life.
Mavai senathiraja uncle has kept his children happy in London.
You too just came to jaffna for Saravanabavan Uncle's daughter's birthday and fed the cake.
Sritharan Uncle lets his children to study in Jaffna .
I WANT TO BE WITH MY DAD LIKE THEIR CHILDREN
I also want to take my father's hand and go to school.
I also love to play salt bundle game on my dad's back
Will you fulfill my will ?

What mistake did I make ?
Why is this penalty for me ?

Is my crime born in Tamil Ethnic Origin?
(Translation: NK.Potha)

2.1. SELECTING A TOPIC AND PURPOSE

Topic : The subject of a speech
The first step in speech making : choosing a topic
Usually the speech topic is determined by the occasion, the audience, and the speaker’s qualification.

Two broad categories of potential topics for class room speeches

• Subject you know lot about
• Subject you want to know more about

Topics you know lot about  : Most familiar topic with one’s own knowledge and experience

Topics you want to know more about:  

It would be a learning experience for a speaker as well as audience.

Already having some knowledge but not enough to prepare a speech without doing additional research. Ex: Speech on extra sensory perception

Brainstorming for topics :A method of generating ideas for speech topics by free association of words and ideas.

• Personal inventory : (A collection of Resources)
• Clustering: (if the first method does not work try the second one)
• Reference Search : 
• Internet search :

Determining the general purpose

• The broad goal of a speech
• Usually it’ll fall into one of two overlapping categories: To inform  or To Persuade
• If the general purpose is to “inform” speaker acts as a teacher/ lecturer
• The main goal is to convey some information (clear, accurate, interest)
• If the main goal is to inform, the aim is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the listeners, to give them information what they did not know before. Explain, report, demonstrate something  
• When the general purpose is to persuade , speaker acts as an advocate or a partisan ,
• Going beyond giving information to follow a cause.
• Speakers want to change or structure the attitude or actions of the audience
• Speaker’s primary goal is to win over his or her audiences to his/her point of view.
• To get them to believe something or do something as a result of the speech. Ex: To sale some goods, insurance policy, Sell, advocate or defend something 

Determining the specific purpose 

Specific purpose: A single infinitive phrase that states precisely what a speaker hopes to accomplish in his or her speech.Specific purpose should focus on one aspect of a topic
Example: Topic is related with music Therapy
General purpose: To inform
Specific purpose : To inform my audience about the benefits of music therapy for people with psychological or cognitive disabilities.
Concern on what the speaker wants to say and what the speaker wants the audience to know as a result of the speech.

Tips for formulating the specific purpose statement

1. Write the purpose statement as a full infinitive phrase, not as a fragment.
Ex:   Ineffective : Calendars
        More effective : To inform my audience about the four major kinds of calendars which are used in the world today.

2. Express your purpose as a statement , not as a question
Ex:   Ineffective : What is peace building?
        More effective : To inform my audience about peace building.

3.Avoid figurative language in your purpose statement
Ex:   Ineffective : To inform my audience that Yoga is extremely cool
        More effective : To inform my audience how Yoga can improve their health.

4. Limit your purpose statement to one distinct idea
Ex:   Ineffective :To persuade my audience to become literary tutors and to donate time to the special Olympics.
       More effective : To persuade my audience to become literary tutors.
                  To persuade my audience to donate time to the special Olympics.
 Avoid to express two unrelated areas in the purpose statement. 

5. Make sure your specific purpose is not too Vague(unclear) or General.
Ex:  Ineffective : To inform my audience about the “Civil War”
       More effective : To inform my audience about the role of Indian Soldiers in the Civil War.

 Questions To Ask about your specific purpose '

• Does my purpose meet the assignment?
• Can I accomplish my purpose in the Time Allotted ?
• Is the purpose relevant to my audience? Ex:The new fertilizer is an important topic for farmers who are looking for good harvest
• Is the purpose too trivial (unimportant) for my audience -need to avoid speech topics that are too bored or complicated. Ex: How to wear a saree brooch.
• Is the purpose too technical for my audience? Ex: To inform my audience about the methods of encryption technology .

Phrasing the central idea 

What is the central idea?

• Central idea is a concise (brief) statement of what you expect to say ? (Thesis statement, subject sentence, major thought)
• It is usually expressed as a simple sentence, refines and sharpens the specific purpose statement.

Ex: 
Topic: Alternative-fuel vehicles
General purpose: To persuade
Specific purpose: To persuade my audience that the government should speed up efforts to develop alternative-fuel vehicles. 
Central idea: Developing alternative-fuel vehicles will help to reduce Sri Lankan dependence om Foreign oil and will help reduce air pollution.  

Guidelines for the central idea

1.The central idea should be expressed in a full sentence
2.It should not be in the form of a question
3.Figurative languages should be avoided
4.Should not be vague or overly general

1.3. Listening

Text : Stephen E. Lucas, The Art of Public Speaking, McGraw Hill

Hearing: The vibration of sound waves on the eardrums and the firing of electrochemical impulses in the brain.

Listening: Paying close attention to, and making sense of, what we hear.

Listening is important

• Top-flight business executives, successful politicians, brilliant teachers nearly all are excellent listeners.
• In most working places, effective listeners hold higher positions and are promoted more often than people who are ineffective listeners.
• According to business managers number one communication skill is “listening”. 
• Mostly everyone depends on listening than speaking.
• As a speaker listening is always important to get information and ideas.
• Best speakers are always best listeners.

Listening and critical thinking

Types of Listening 

1.Appreciative listening: Listening for pleasure / enjoyment (Listen to music, comedy,)

2. Empathetic listening:Listening to provide emotional support for the speaker (Friend’s distress story)

3.Comprehensive listening: Listening to understand the message of a speaker. (Attending for a lecture)

4.Critical listening: Listening to evaluate a message for purpose of accepting or rejecting it.( Ex: Campaign speech of a political candidate )

Comprehensive thinking skills

• Summarizing information.
• Recalling facts.
• Distinguish main points from minor points, are central to comprehensive listening.

Critical thinking Skills

• Separating facts from opinion
• Spotting weakness in reasoning 
• judging the soundness of evidence

Four causes of Poor Listening 

1.Not concentrating:  120-150 words a minute – we talk, 400-800 brain can process. 
Spare brain time:  The difference between   the rate at which most people talk (120 to  150 words a minute) and the rate at which the brain can process language (400-800 words a minute).

Though, we have enough spare time/ brain time we just interrupt our listening by thinking about other things.Ex: Student union meeting-one has lost his/her listening 

2.Listening too hard:

Sometimes we try to catch speaker's each and every word.Try to remember all the data (names, places, dates, information), therefore we often miss the speaker's main points.
- Efficient listeners usually concentrate on main ideas evidence rather than trying to remember everything a speaker says.

3.Jumping to conclusion:

Before the speaker’s message we just jump into conclusion.

-Putting words into a speaker's mouth, we are so sure we know what they mean, we don't listen to what they actually say.
-Jumping to conclusion is prematurely rejecting a speaker's ideas as boring or misguided.

4. Focusing on delivery and personal appearance:

We tend to judge people by the way they look or speak and therefore do not listen what they say.

Speaker’s accent, personal appearance, vocal mannerism, dress, etc

How to become a better listener

1.Take listening seriously:

• Learn how to listen effectively
• Practice and self-discipline
• Doing self-evaluation on Listening

2.Be an active listener:

• Avoid passive listening ( listen to a song while studying, parents listen to their children while preparing meal, students listen a lecture while doing another subject’s work)

• “Giving undivided attention to a speaker in a genuine effort to understand the speaker’s point of view.
• In a conversation, active listeners do not interrupt the speaker or finish his/her sentence.

• When listening to a speech, they do not allow themselves to be distracted by internal or external interference.

• They do not prejudge the speaker.

• They will focus the speaker's message only.

1.2 Ethics and Public Speaking

 Text : Stephen E. Lucas, The Art of Public Speaking, McGraw Hill

• The importance of ethics
• Guidelines for ethical speaking
• Plagiarism
• Guidelines for ethical listening
• The importance of ethics

Ethics:  The branch of philosophy that deals with issues of right and wrong in human affairs. 

1. Questions of ethics arise whenever we ask whether a cause of action moral or immoral, fair or unfair, just or unjust, honest or dishonest. Ex: Students cheating on exam

2. Questions of ethics also come into play whenever a public speaker faces an audience.
Ex: Adolf Hitler

Guidelines for ethical speaking  

1. Make sure your goals are ethically sound 

Ex: Accepting a project which harmful to health (Cigarette company)

2. Be fully prepared for each speech 

“A speech is a solemn responsibility you have an obligation to yourself and to your listeners”- Jenkin Lloyd Jones-
A bad 30 minutes speech to an audience of 200 people. (100 hours)Ex: Suicide prevention speech (To save someone’s life)

2. Be honest in what you say

• Should avoid the dishonesty in public speaking
• Juggling statistics (False data)
• Quoting out of context
• Misrepresenting the sources od facts and figures
• Painting tentative (Temporary/uncertain) findings as a firm conclusion
• Portraying a few details as the whole story
• Citing unusual cases as typical example 

4.Avoid name-calling and other forms of abusive /insulting language

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
1.Name calling and Personal dignity : Use of language to defame, demean, or degrade individuals or groups. Ex: Creating some name for a group.(Nigger, kike, jap, chink,)

2. Name Calling and Free speech: A public speaker should have an obligation to preserve the freedom of speech right by avoiding tactics. (Name-calling).
Also should have an ethical responsibility to avoid name-calling and tactics that harm the free and open expression of ideas.  

5. Put ethical principles into practice

• It’s easy to tell everything and but hard to act ethically.
• “Being ethical means behaving ethically all the time- not only when it’s convenient.”
• Is my choice of topic suitable for the audience?
• Are my supporting materials clear and convincing?
• How can I phrase my ideas to give them more punch?
• Be a responsible person for your audience’s questions and doubts.

Plagiarism

                                                                                                                                          (Google image)

• “Plagiarism” comes from plagiarius, the Latin word for Kidnapper.
• Presenting another person’s language or ideas as one’s own.
• To impress your audience you take some ideas and thoughts from outside and present it as your own.

(Google image)

Types of Plagiarism 

 1.Global Plagiarism : Stealing a speech entirely from a single source and passing it off as one’s own. Ex: Students' assignment

                                                                                                                                         (Google image)
2. Patchwork Plagiarism :Stealing ideas or language from two or three sources and passing them off as one’s own.

3. Incremental  Plagiarism : It occurs when the speaker fails to give credit for particular parts- increments-of the speech that are borrowed from other people. Ex: Quotations, Paraphrases (Restate or summarize an author’s ideas in one’s own words

Plagiarism and the internet

It’s very easy to copy information from the Web.
Need to give site sources when use internet materials in the speeches.

Way to avoid patchwork or incremental plagiarism when working with internet is to take careful research notes. 

• The title of the internet document 
• The author or organization responsible for the document 
• The document's last update's date 
• The address of the website 
• Your accessed date

Guidelines for ethical Listening

1.Be courteous and attentive
2.Avoid prejudging the speaker
3.Maintain the free and open expression of ideas

1.1 Speaking in Public

Page 1

Text : Stephen E. Lucas, The Art of Public Speaking, McGraw Hill

• Public Speaking: is a way of making your ideas public- of sharing them with other people and of influencing other people. 
• It is a way to express your ideas and to have an impact on issues that matter in society.
• As a form of empowerment, it can –and often does- make a difference in things people care about very much.
• Public speaking is the first and foremost personal quality that everyone needs for their career development. (It will decide whether you can be hired or not, promoted or not).

Similarities between public speaking and conversation

Good conversation is the initial stage for public speaking.
1. Organizing your thoughts logically:              
         Ex: directing your friend to get to your house.

2. Tailoring your message to your audience:     
         Ex: Explaining about how pearls are formed to two different people.

3. Telling a story for maximum impact:
         Ex: telling a friend about a funny incident at last class.

4. Adapting to listener feedback:
     Ex: when your listener asks you to repeat the points and explain more clearly, giving feedback to your friends.

Differences between public speaking and conversation

1. Public speaking is more highly structured:

• Strict time limitation
• No interruptions by audiences' question or commentary
• Speaker’s should accomplish his or her purpose
• More planning & preparation than ordinary conversation.

2. Public speaking requires more formal language:

• Little space for slang, jargon & bad grammar in public speaking
• Bad language often creates the negative impact on speaker and his or her speaking too.
• Public speaking should be special and unique.

3. Public speaking requires a different method of delivery:

In conversation- quite talk, interject stock phrases (like, you know, adopt a casual posture, use vocal pauses “um, ah,)

Developing Confidence in speech class

1. Nervousness is normal 

Dealing with nervousness- positive nervousness.

• Acquire speaking experiences
• Prepare , prepare, prepare (Truly care speech topic)
• Think positively
• Use the power of visualization

Visualization: mental image in which a speaker vividly pictures himself of herself giving a successful presentation.

• Know that most nervousness is not visible
• Don’t expect perfection (Martin Luther King’s Speech – I have a dream)

Public speaking and Critical thinking

Public speaking often helps to improve critical thinking skill.
Critical Thinking: focused, organized thinking about such things as the logical relationship among ideas, the soundness of evidence, and the differences between fact and opinion.