About Me
- Brendan
- I am a professional educator by trade, but by my definition, I am much more than that. I wear many hats; including, but not limited to, Father, Husband, Son, Step-Father, Ex-Husband, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Super Geek (love technology), Trainer, Coach, Student, Writer, Dreamer, and Leader. For fun I am an avid golfer and consider myself a blessed individual because I have the greatest wife in the world that loves to golf with me.
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Thursday, September 1, 2011
Lesson 6 Understanding Who Your Audience Is
There is one all important item that makes public speaking, public speaking…an audience. If you don't have an audience then you aren't public speaking, you're talking to yourself.
In sales there is a saying that the customer is number one; the same holds true in public speaking.
In a MUST READ article by Shawn Doyle of Toastmasters titled
Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros
states that "when speaking to an audience, it's not about you; it's about them."
In order to be a successful public speaker you MUST understand who your audience is by Analyzing them.
Your message is only as successful as how well it is received. In order to have the greatest chance of success, a great public speaker will do the following:
1, Prepare a message that will meet audience needs and wants.
It is important to realize that an audience will evaluate a message in their own way, based off their own perception, rather than your own attitude, beliefs, and values. There is skill (and practice) that is involved in preparing a message that allows you to keep your own style and convictions while still giving a speech what they want or need.
Usually you will be asked to give a presentation and this is where the discovery process begins. Ask lots of questions to the person who asked you or the person in charge of organizing the event. Some questions might include:
2. Evaluate the audiences attitudes, beliefs, and values toward message topic.
Knowing your audience attitudes, beliefs, and values goes back to asking questions in the very beginning and doing your homework. Here is a quick breakdown of each one:
Attitudes are our general evaluations of people, ideas, or events. Attitudes deal with how someone feels about something (i.e. "Public speaking is fun," or "Public speaking is hard").
Beliefs shape attitudes. Beliefs are the ways people perceive reality. Belief is the level a confidence that is felt about something (i.e. "I know/believe that Bigfoot is real"). Often belief coincides with faith, which is believing in something that has not been seen but is "felt" to be true.
Values actually shape attitude and belief. Your value system is your ultimate judgment about right and wrong and is shaped by culture, experiences, and knowledge.
Once you can determine your audience's core values, beliefs, and attitude, you can refer to them in you speech helping you build common ground.
3. Establishing trust with the audience.
Trust ties into what I stated above, but there is a secret that will help you build instant trust with an audience (or anyone). It's pretty concept, if you can make someone smile and laugh, they will trust you more than if you had not. Now once this trust is established you must build upon it to strengthen it.
4. Prepare a message at the level (understanding) of audience.
We are living in a time where there are some very distinct generations that affect understanding (language used, references, values, etc.) See Article on Generations.X, Y, Z and the Others.
5. Prepare a message at the level of knowledge of the topic the audience has.
Here are the guidelines for appealing to different types of audiences.
6. Take in consideration the socioeconomic, religious, political, age, race, and cultural differences of audience.
7. Avoid stereotyping and using sexist language.
8. Aware and prepare for audience members with different types of disabilities.
Other Resources to Gather Audience Info
There are some good techniques that you can use to gather information on your audience, they are:
Another resource to learn about an audiences are published sources such as:
Pew Research Center
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
The Gallup Organization
Finally, Analyze the Speech Setting
Know the size of your audience and the physical layout of the setting. This will help determine how you can present and how personal (up-close) you will be.
Know the time and length of your speech.
A good rule of thumb is:
In sales there is a saying that the customer is number one; the same holds true in public speaking.
Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros
states that "when speaking to an audience, it's not about you; it's about them."
In order to be a successful public speaker you MUST understand who your audience is by Analyzing them.
Your message is only as successful as how well it is received. In order to have the greatest chance of success, a great public speaker will do the following:
1, Prepare a message that will meet audience needs and wants.
It is important to realize that an audience will evaluate a message in their own way, based off their own perception, rather than your own attitude, beliefs, and values. There is skill (and practice) that is involved in preparing a message that allows you to keep your own style and convictions while still giving a speech what they want or need.
Usually you will be asked to give a presentation and this is where the discovery process begins. Ask lots of questions to the person who asked you or the person in charge of organizing the event. Some questions might include:
- What is my topic and why does the audience want to hear it?
- How much does the audience know already about the topic?
- What does the audience (or those organizing the presentation) want to accomplish?
- What's the goal or end result supposed to look like?
- How will you know that you as the speaker have been "wildly successful?" (This is one of my favorite questions to ask myself)
- What is the age, socioeconomic status, education level, religious preference, political preference, and cultural of the audience?
2. Evaluate the audiences attitudes, beliefs, and values toward message topic.
Knowing your audience attitudes, beliefs, and values goes back to asking questions in the very beginning and doing your homework. Here is a quick breakdown of each one:
Attitudes are our general evaluations of people, ideas, or events. Attitudes deal with how someone feels about something (i.e. "Public speaking is fun," or "Public speaking is hard").
Beliefs shape attitudes. Beliefs are the ways people perceive reality. Belief is the level a confidence that is felt about something (i.e. "I know/believe that Bigfoot is real"). Often belief coincides with faith, which is believing in something that has not been seen but is "felt" to be true.
Values actually shape attitude and belief. Your value system is your ultimate judgment about right and wrong and is shaped by culture, experiences, and knowledge.
Once you can determine your audience's core values, beliefs, and attitude, you can refer to them in you speech helping you build common ground.
3. Establishing trust with the audience.
Trust ties into what I stated above, but there is a secret that will help you build instant trust with an audience (or anyone). It's pretty concept, if you can make someone smile and laugh, they will trust you more than if you had not. Now once this trust is established you must build upon it to strengthen it.
4. Prepare a message at the level (understanding) of audience.
We are living in a time where there are some very distinct generations that affect understanding (language used, references, values, etc.) See Article on Generations.X, Y, Z and the Others.
5. Prepare a message at the level of knowledge of the topic the audience has.
Here are the guidelines for appealing to different types of audiences.
- If the topic is new to the audience...Show how the topic is relevant to them by relating it to familiar issues and ideas the audience already holds a positive attitude towards.
- If the audience has some knowledge about the topic...Explain the topic's relevance to them, use background information and defined unclear terms to help the audience connect, and stay away from jargon.
- If audience holds negative attitude toward the topic...First establish trust, rapport, and credibility. Find areas of agreement rather than challenging the audience (they will win). Offer credible evidence of why topic is positive/good (not why the audience is wrong in their perception). Have good reasons why DEVELOPING a positive attitude is beneficial. It's all about baby steps.
- If the audience holds a positive attitude about the topic...Reinforce their positive attitude with vivid and colorful language and stories.
- If you are working with a captive audience...Pay close attention to time. Find areas of interest and relevance. Pay close attention to body language if possible.
6. Take in consideration the socioeconomic, religious, political, age, race, and cultural differences of audience.
7. Avoid stereotyping and using sexist language.
8. Aware and prepare for audience members with different types of disabilities.
Other Resources to Gather Audience Info
There are some good techniques that you can use to gather information on your audience, they are:
- Interviews the person who set up the presentation or you can interview potential audience members. Interviews can be done face-to-face, over the phone, or via email.
- Surveys or questionnaires. There are many different surveys or questionnaires out there (Google it). The best advice for using one of these it to make sure it supplies you with what you need. Ask a better question and you will get a better answer.
Another resource to learn about an audiences are published sources such as:
Pew Research Center
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
The Gallup Organization
Finally, Analyze the Speech Setting
Know the size of your audience and the physical layout of the setting. This will help determine how you can present and how personal (up-close) you will be.
Know the time and length of your speech.
A good rule of thumb is:
- An award acceptance speech = 3-5 minutes.
- A toast = 1-2 minutes.
- A presentation to boss = 1-10 minutes.
- An in-depth speech = 15-20 minutes.
- A training = 30-45 minutes.
Questions
1. What generation are you and how is your generation (Boomer, X, Y, or Z) different from other generations? Why would it be important to understand the values, beliefs, and attitude of your generation and others? (See article link on Generation X, Y, Z and the Others)
2. What does it mean to avoid stereotyping and sexiest language? Have you ever experienced this (giver or receiver)? What is the fallout of such language?
3. In the article Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, which tip do you like and why?
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50 comments:
My favorite tip from the article "Tips For A Terrific Talk: Secrets From The Pros" was the tip to avoid apologizing. I think about this nearly every time I speak yet I still find it difficult to avoid apologizing. And it's interesting in my case, and perhaps others as well, I don't even apologize for the sake of the audience, I do it for myself. It's almost as if I'm better able to cope with poor performance if I know I've apologized for it. But like Shawn Doyle reports, when we apologize to an audience we set ourself up for failure, and thus lower the audiences' expectations of our abilities. I also liked the tip about visiting the area we are to speak at before our performance. I've never really done this but it makes perfect sense to me. Not only does this enable us to better prepare our message for a delivery that all will hear, but it also gives us the chance to become comfortable with the arena before having to perform.
In the article "Tips for a Terrific Talk" I enjoyed the tip of starting out fast and strong. It's very true that we, today, live in a fast pace with short attention spans kind of world. People today are accustomed to short, powerful statements. We constantly are being surrounded my different things that try to grab our attention. Even t.v. switches scenes more often than we realize. If you don't believe it, turn off the sound and just watch the picture. It will amaze you at how often the scene will switch! As a public speaker people can't view you from different camera angles so you, the speaker, need to be precise and use those "attention grabbing" phrases. Don't only use effective phrases or have effective props but don't drag it out afterward. It does you know good to grab their attention and lose it again by telling your life story. We need to constantly fight for the audience's attention.
Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros was a great article. I liked so many points that I can’t just pick one so I will go with my two favorite. Tell your own story and never apologize. Tell your own story, in my opinion, will make or break your talk. When you open up to the crowd and share personal information if gives them a chance to connect with you and really build some trust and a relationship with them. In a presentation, where you are selling a product, the ultimate goal is to sell the product. You don’t always get there by talking up the product though. I found that if you can sell yourself your product or service with sell itself with it. This is why is so important to build a relationship of trust with your audience. It will make you more credible. I have huge beef with people that start a speech by apologizing to the audience. You lose all credibility from the get go! I don’t want to know that you stink at giving presentations, let me assume that you are great. If you get lucky and your speech ends up being great then I’ll think you great all the time.
I am from generation X. It would be important to know and understand the values others because if you are speeking to the boomers finances is a bad topic :) Searosly though, tou need to know where your audience is coming from, and an idea of what they need, or want, that will help them improve or learn something. Telling a texting joke to boomers might lose your audience before you begin. Talking about the sacurfices made by those durring WWII to generation Z, and your audience is now checking and updating facebook about how boring tou are. Stereotyping and sexist language is really a thing of the past. In my mind it shows a laque of growth in a persons life experences. So dose dwelling on past events. I heard black a self made millionare speek in Vegas, he was there to teach us how to be sucessful. He lost my attention, and alot of others when he went off on slavery and other racial topics that wernt bad, or untrue. Yes those things happend and they were wrong, but, thats not why we all payed $200 to be there. His facts would probly been better recived by a different audience. It was because we were all there to move foreward and alot of his speech was about mistakes of the past by others. Knowing the level which your audience can recieve your topic is key. In a crowed of people, when i am showing a snake, people have about a 4th grade understanding. This is key to know if I want to be effictive in teaching, entertaining, or informing the crowd.
“What does it mean to avoid stereotyping and sexiest language? Have you ever experienced this (giver or receiver)? What is the fallout of such language?” - For some people this is a difficult concept. I think it stems from being in a community that is not diverse, where everyone generally shares the same opinion and belief system, at least the majority. The best way to avoid this is to assume the audience isn’t exactly like you. In some cases this could be considered stereotyping by already assuming the audience isn’t like you. However it is probably wise to err on the cautious side of the stereotyping. Recently my sister - who is also taking classes at Dixie - was in her English class and her teacher said “All feminists are lesbians.” The result of this was my sister walked out of class and changed her English Class because her professor immediately lost credibility and could not recover from this one mistake. This is the fallout of such behavior, even not in front of an audience this can have far reaching consequences. So basically it is best to avoid such speech even in private settings.
My favorite tip form the article is #7, “Tell Your Own Story.” This tips says to use your own material from your own life in speeches, rather than relying solely on outside sources. I have used this tip in speeches and presentations that I have given in the past- and it works! It is way more interesting to hear people talk about things that have happened to them. It is always fun to talk about yourself and your stories and experiences. As an audience member, I am enthralled when a speaker shares a personal experience. I feel like I am getting to know the speaker better, they are more interested in what they are saying, and 99 percent of the time, I don’t know what they are going to say next, because it is a story that I have never heard before. Sometimes we might think that we don’t have any good or interesting or relatable stories to share from our lives. But with a little creativity, I have found that just about ANYTHING can be tied back to the topic that you are speaking on.
I read the article giving tips for public speaking. I thought it made some very good points. I definitely found all of them helpful but a few stood out more than the rest. The one I think is the most beneficial to someone giving a speech is the point that we must know our audiences background. If we know their background then we know how to approach the subject. If I approach my audience the right way they are much more likely to receive the words that I'm speaking. The other point that I liked was about having an attention grabber. I hate it when people start off their speeches slowly. I will lose my focus extremely quick if I am not intrigued in the slightest. The last point I like was the one that mentioned NOT to use PowerPoint. I think this is a great idea. I have sat through many many boring PowerPoint speeches in which I learned very minimal. It is a good tool if used properly but I have yet to see it done!
Truthfully, I liked all of the tips in the article, Tips for a Terrific Talk because I feel I can and need to work on all of them to help improve my public speaking skills. The tip to “prepare like a pro” really caught my attention because I have given many speeches and talks, but I don’t think I have ever really thought about the audience and how I can specifically make it interesting for them. I’ve always prepared by picturing myself in front of an audience, but it totally makes sense to actually find out more about your audience, so that you can make it apply more to them. Another tip I found interesting was the tip about not using powerpoint. I really like this because I always wanted to use powerpoint for my presentations in class, mostly to have my notes up there, but I think also because I didn’t want all the attention on me. That’s what public speaking is. I need to get over that and “be the presentation”. One last one that jumped out at me was the tip to “never apologize to an audience”. This one is so true. I’ve heard so many talks that the speaker will apologize for about everything; mostly for not preparing. It just seems tacky and brings more attention to that than you actual speech. Also, people lose interest immediately.
Secrets from the Pros was a great article! I favorite tip was “Prepare like a Pro”. This one stuck out to me. I think it is VERY important to know your audience. I know that when I prepare a speech this is the first thing I think of. Am I talking to adults, young single adults, or children. I can talk to each of these groups of people about that same topic, but my speech would need to be completely different. It is also very important to know what they expect out of your speech. We are usually asked for a specific reason to give a speech. I think it is important to stick to that. You don’t want to get so off subject of what you where asked to talk about because I think you can loose peoples focus very quickly. Knowing your audience will make your speech go so much smoother. In my eyes this is the number one tip for sure!
Toastmasters International’s “Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros” is definitely an accurate guideline for preparing a great speech. I completely agree with every single point they present. To prepare like a pro, such as knowing the audience will help you to carry out as a pro throughout the speech. I like the idea of starting out fast and strong, a cluttered room is definitely in need of a great introduction line to catch their attention. I have also noticed that holding something does create some distraction to the audience as well, such like our introduction speeches last week. (shaking hands, larger than index card sized paper, constant glancing down, etc.) Also, the use of power point presentation is not considered modern anymore. The rise of technological complications may also occur, distracting the audience from your time. Attention should be focused on the speaker, not the display board. Being able to connect your audience to yourself from stories also makes a great speaker. Laughter is also a good way to establish a good relationship between the two. I also believe that it is important never to apologize for being unprepared, inexperienced in presenting, or for any mistakes of any sort. Do not bring out the bad in you before you even begin speaking! That will give a poor impression of you. Remember, audience comes before anything else, without an audience the presentation does not exist.
The article "Tips for a terrific Talk: Secrets from the pros", the tip that stood out to me the most was tell your own stories. I always know what talks I like best. I understand how to tell a good speech from a bad one. Although I have never really stopped to think about why the speaker was so good. When giving a speech personal stories always make it more interesting. They catch your attention and you feel like you can relate to the person. You are getting to know them as a person and trust is somewhat built in that. Any story is going to make a cool addition to your speech but when it's a random story from someone who got it from someone, it’s not very reliable to really feel impacted by. It most likely has been changed slightly each time and it's not personal, the speaker doesn’t know that from experience. Most really good speakers always use their own stories.
To avoid stereotyping and sexiest language means to treat everyone as a human and as an equal. All the time in high school people would always refer to other people as "gay" or "Jew" when they were always trying to show superiority over them. When I was cheer leader in high school there was a young man who went from basketball to cheer leading and now he has an academic and a athletic scholarship to a University in New Mexico, even though he is highly intelligent and an amazing athlete. In high school he was persecuted for quieting basketball and joining cheer leading. former team mates made fun of him from going to a so called man sport to a woman's sport. he was stereotyped because of this choice.
I am responding to question #2: I think if your trying to give a speach avoiding stereotyping and sexiest language is huge when it comes to your own credibility. Probably the best example I can think of, of stereotyping was on my mission in Richmond Virgina. One day we were invited to attend another religions meetings with someone we were working with. When we attended the meeting, almost immediately after arriving there, the preacher started to stereotype against us. It was about a variety of topics and I noticed a couple of people in the congregation actually were more interested in speaking with us after there preacher had made a lot of assumptions about us. The fallout I believe that happened from this was people started to question his credibility, when he would try to discredit someone elses belief systems in public.
I liked the tip, establishing trust with your audience. We talked about this in class and I never really realized that before but now that I've been informed it makes sense! I love to make people laugh but I find myself being hesitant when I'm talking to a large group or unfamiliar individuals. I think the reason for this is because I am too afraid to make a joke or be sarcastic because they might not laugh! There is nothing worse for me than to make a joke or something and then have that awkward silence! it just destroys the rest of my speech it seems because my confidence is now gone. Yet I also have noticed that when you smile before the joke and also laugh with them obviously as well as nodding your head to them as if giving them permission, it helps! This is something I think everyone needs improvement on but I really hope through this class, it will be a breeze to build that trust on.
3. In the article Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, which tip do you like and why?
I loved the stay strong one. it talks about staying strong in the opening of a speech, instead of starting out all blah blah blah... Because we live in a (we want it now world..) which really caught my eye... It's so true. We want everything right now! We don’t want to do any of the work, we just want the reward with out the effort of trying.
I think it is very important when you are giving a speech, that you grab the audience from the beginning, and then your speech will seem more enticing. It seems that when a person starts out slow... the audience seems to wonder in their thoughts and then most of the time seem lost during the entire speech. Which I am sure sucks for the speaker who prepared so hard and thought that he talk would do great.
I know from experience when i start out nervous or just go right in to the talk, you can totally see the people in the audience suddenly looking around and wandering their eyes.. Which is kinda funny. But when you start with something funny or grab them with the great topic that is about to be discussed and maybe a brief summary of the talk. will help them to focus better.
LUCKY #7!!! One of the main reasons I want to be a motivational speaker is because I have stories that would make the points I'm trying to get across to my audience a lot easier for people to not just see I'm passionate about, but feel. The best speakers I've ever watched were the ones that had a personal experience with what they were talking about. When I hear a peron tell me someone elses story all I can think about is why isn't that person telling me about it. Or then, what if what they just made it up. Like Toastmaster said, when I talk about something tat happened to someone else I don't get as into it either. But when it's my story I get all into it and want the person to feel like they were actually there. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thinf, but I can never leave a part of the story out.
#1: I really enjoyed the generation article. It was fun to look at the time periods and fit people I know into each category. My parents are from generation X, and my parents have tried very hard to make our family a successful one, just like it said. My father is a Marriage and Family Therapist, so he helps families every day. I am from generation Y. It was cool to have my personal observations about myself confirmed. I have often felt that advertising was ineffective, I'm way more technologically savvy than my parents, and I am a co-signer on a credit card with my parents. My younger siblings are from generation Z. It has been amazing to watch them grow up because their educational experience is so different from mine, and they're only a few years younger than me! They are learning at a much more rapid pace, and they have greater access to more advanced resources than I ever did. After reading this article, I can totally picture myself as a mother asking my children to teach me how to use their new technology. We know it will all just keep changing and improving. I hope I can keep up!
I think that's one of the biggest reasons why knowing your audience is so important. Understanding their values, beliefs, and attitudes will dictate what topics you address, how you address them, and at what rate you discuss them at. If you don't know where your audience comes from, you will either bore them or leave them confused.
In this article, I loved the five tips on how to prepare a message at the level of knowledge of the topic that the audience has. He says that if the topic is new, you need to captivate the audience and show them that the topic is relevant to them. But you also need to make sure that they hold a positive attitude towards the topic and if they don’t, you need to get their trust by showing them that you have some credibility. He goes on to say that if you already have an audience with a positive attitude, you can get them into the topic even more by being fun and having colorful stories to help keep them captivated. I never really thought about all these things. I just figured if someone asks me to speak, then the crowd is forced to hear what I have to say. But I definitely think that you need to keep the audience in mind and make sure you know who you are speaking to.
All of the tips are great and I love them all! They all are equally important but the one the stood out to me the most was step number three. Starting out fast and strong will defiantly make you stand out compared to other speakers because a, your audience won’t be expecting it, and it will make the speech fun for you to see the audiences’ reaction to how you start out. The main reason why step number three stood out to me is because I’m a guy that is full of energy and I like to do things differently then everybody else. So with that I get bored easily and I know there are plenty of people out there just like me so I don’t want give them some cookie cutter speech that they won’t remember by the time they go to bed that night. By starting of with a bang it will build that respect and trust if done correctly by researching your audience. All in all step three stood out to me due to my personality and behavior.
In 10 Tips for a Terrific Talk two points stood out to me equally. Starting out fast and strong and Never apologize to an audience are both extremely important in my opinion. It is pretty safe to say that at some point in life almost everyone has been at a presentation, or even in a class, where the speaker or teacher causes them to wish for the end of the class after only five minutes. What causes this? The beginning delivery of their speech or lecture has clearly not clicked with those listening. Especially when nerves are involved the traditional "good afternoon" introduction may seem the easiest and most appropriate however, a persons interest can only be grasped by that opening line a few times before it is yawn worthy. I will definitely be searching for more interesting ways to begin a speech thanks to this article. Never apologizing to an audience had never really struck me before until reading the tips from Shawn Doyle. I thought back to times when I have listened to people speak and remembered a time in high school at a graduation event that one speaker was clearly scared out of their wits. I remember this person making a joke out of an apology multiple times. The first few apologies prompted a small awkward laugh from the crowd but the last few left awkward silences for the speaker to fill. This just goes to show that if the speaker is uncomfortable enough that they feel the need to apologize to the audience for their speech something is obviously not working for them. I'm glad I read this article and will probably refer back to it multiple times in the future, these tips are fantastic!
My favorite tip from the article, "Tips For A Terrific Talk: Secrets From The Pros" was Be Hands Free. I was so disappointed with myself after the introductory speech because I think I used my note card too much. It bothers me because I had my speech memorized and I know my speech could have been much more effective without the “crutch” of the note card. I think being hands free also brings warmth to a speech and presents a better opportunity to invite the audience in. As a metaphor, I think note cards can be like a closed door and can say to an audience “I know exactly what I am going to say and there is no deviating from that”. I always enjoy speeches where I feel like there is a conversation happening. Even if there is no audience participation, a speech can still have a conversational feel and I think that being hands free facilitates that and brings that kind of vibe. I really loved all the tips in the article and will be sure to adopt all of them into my next speech.
The best tip from the article was to not apologize to your audience. It seems that almost every talk I hear in church starts off with some sob story about how little time they had to prepare or how sick they have been or how any one of a hundred excuses. This is a very effective method of losing your audience's attention right from the start. The only positive thing about starting your speech this way is that it can only get better from there. On the other side of this coin I heard a great public speech to the youth where the speaker started off by talking about how much he had thought and prepared for the speech he was about to give. This was a very confident statement to start off with and it grabbed my attention. That was the most intriguing beginning to a speech I have ever heard. He was in essence saying, "I am fully prepared to give this speech. I hope you are prepared to listen." Apologizing to your audience is never a good technique and it should be avoided at all costs.
My favorite tip from the article is “tell your own story”. When I read this I feel like I understand it in a different light. I am not looking at this directly but more what it implies. As I speak I often realize that I adopt styles from other people. This may not sound like a problem at first but let me explain. Typically I have noticed that I do not simply take in one style for any given speech. I will like multiple styles and try to put them together into my own style. This style I feel correlates to a story. The style in which we speak says a lot about who we are as a person (character, values, etc..). So if I am giving a speech with a bunch of hijacked styles meshed together the chances are going to be that it will be problematic. It will not follow my personal style and flow. Like the article said it may seem to me (the speaker) that it is working but to the audience it will appear that I am not comfortable or natural. If I was to stick to my style it would be easier to be natural because it is exactly that…natural. It would allow me to be confident and use more energy instead of mentally second guessing if I am pulling my “style”telling off.
I read the "tricks for traffic talk" and my favorite one was evaluate the audience. This is one of my favorites because it’s true. You could be giving a speech to so many different types of people, ages and so on. So before going into your speech or even before going in to a class room just to give a speech for a grade you would want to know how to intrigue them and what would make the audience be more and more involved. For example I wouldn’t go in to a 1st grade class room and start talking about grown up things I would go in there with stories and big hand gestures with a big smiling face. Or on the other hand if I was going in to a meeting where I had to give a speech to grown up about a serious topic I would talk with big words and have a more firm voice. It’s all about getting to know your audience and how they react to things or what you say.
Question 2:
What does it mean to avoid stereotyping and sexist language? Have you ever experienced this (giver or receiver)? What is the fallout of such language?
Avoiding stereotyping and sexist language is a very important thing when giving a speech to a diverse group of people. To avoid this such language would mean you use generic words for everything instead of putting different people into groups or putting them under a certain category. Stereotyping can go anywhere from putting people in groups based on their ethnicity, to putting people in groups based on a sport or instrument they may play. By using stereotypes or sexist language while speaking it can really offend the people you are talking to. I have personally been stereotyped in a group setting and I think it is very uncomfortable. It can be uncomfortable for anyone no matter how severe it is. I was put under a stereotype of being a cheerleader. Many people think cheerleaders are bratty girls who only care about themselves and they are right. I am different though so it is awkward when people automatically think I have the attitude of a typical cheerleader. It is important to always stay clear of offending your audience when giving a speech to a group of people.
My favorite tip from the article "Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros” has to be when they were talking about how the talk is about the audience, not about you. Which is very true because the audience comes to the talk to find out information and generally, to be influenced in some way? The audience doesn't care about you because they don't know you. At least that’s what I have found when I was on my mission. The talks we give are generally for the audience and not for us. Even though we do find benefits from giving the talks and we do find out useful information that will benefit us, but when we focus on preparing the speeches with the purpose of the audience, the speech becomes that much more interesting, catching, and effective. Then the audience gets what you want them to get out of your speech.
MY favorite tip from the article "Tips For A Terrific Speaker: Secrets From The Pro" is the one that dealt with the PowerPoint presentations. In High School a lot of my classmates used power points for their presentations and a lot of them were just focused on how their slides looked and the cool effects and it just made it really distracting when they gave their presentations because you don't really focus on what information that is being presented and it can ruin their presentation. It s hard to focus when they put the animation where all the words make a typewriting sound as they appear on the screen or if you can't read what something says due to the layout. I think power points are okay if you keep them simple. No special effects that can distract th audience and I think pictures or tables and graphs are good for resources.
Question#3
I think the best tip in there was probably 'never apologize to your audience.' I think it sort of goes hand in hand with the saying that 'confidence it key.' Because It's only our human nature to automatically notice negatives before positives. And if theres an audience who all knows their going to be sitting in a chair for an hour or so and the person who is supposed to be speaking to them starts off with, 'I'm sorry if my speech isn't as great and what it should be, I didn't have much time to prepare.' Then to me thats definitely an automatic slash/ turn off to the speaker because I'm already upset that they didn't go through with what their job was and so now I have to sit through it as the consequence. Also, a thought I had was how interesting it is that how all those tips can be used in life in general. You can literally take every tip from there and have them help you to become a more personable person, to gain trust from people and be more persuasive.
I think that stereotyping and being sexist can ruin your speech. You could lose so much respect from your audience or even get booed off stage. I remember when we were in middle school, we were getting ready to go on this field trip for those who maintained a good GPA, well on this particular trip we were going to go swimming. Well the day before we left, we got talked to about our swimming suits. One teacher who was very conservative came up to all of the girls and was like, "Okay for all of you that wear those band-aids for swimming suits, I think you look disgusting and you will never be respected by men because they will always look at you as whores." Well apparently our principle thought it was okay for her to speak to us like that, and instead of being scared middle school kids me and a bunch of other girls stood up, said she shouldn't be a teacher for speaking to us like that, and we all walked out. We were so disgusted by how she approached us with the situation of being modest, that we got our parents involved and she almost lost her job. We got our much needed apology, but we never respected her again. Never looked at her like authority, and just didn't care to do what she said. So with that story, you pretty much have to really think about what you say, so you don't come off being rude, sexist or stereotypical. She could have come to us and said, okay ladies, we are going to have you wear more modest swimming suits, ya know? Cause this is a school function, or whatever. Not how she approached us, cause when you do approach an audience like that. You WILL get booed off stage, or really be in trouble.
I find several tips from the article “Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros” very useful but three of them even more. Tip #2 Prepare like a pro. I feel much more comfortable looking into things before actually doing it, that’s if I’ve never done it before. Doing a little bit of research before a speech calms my nerves a bunch and I feel more prepared now then before because I have a better understanding and system of how to approach a verity of audiences. Tip #7 Tell your story. It makes complete since to talk about what YOU been through instead of telling someone else’s story. Why? Because it’s another way to make a stronger connection with some of the people in your audience. Also, because you went through it, the details you can explain make the story much more relatable and real. Sadly, I’m not much of a good story telling, I always seem to make it boring, lol. BUT I can work on that! Lol. Lastly, #8 never apologizes to an audience. Back in high school, I’ve always apologized to the audience for something I did wrong, DANG IT! I didn’t really think about what kind of impression I’m making for myself by doing that.
The Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros was a really easy and simple way to get to the point across about speeches. I found it highly useful and easy to fallow and comprehend. To me, the tip that made the most logical explanation was “Prepare a message at the level of knowledge of the topic the audience has.” I have experienced first-hand speeches where I have felt they stereotyped us as “idiots.” I just thought to myself the whole time about how stupid they sound trying to talk to us like we were five and had no idea on the discussion. But, I have also experienced a situation where they said things I did not understand one bit. I would just sit there and stare acting and nodding my head but really not having the slightest clue on what they were even trying to say. I think it’s really important for someone to deliver a message clear and comfortable in the setting so that it can be informative and fun. Not only so they can understand what you are talking about but also maybe carry the message you sent with them and tell someone else about it too, that is why I chose that tip from the article.
3. In the article Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, which tip do you like and why?
My favorite tip was to be hands free. I find it much easier to speak when I am not looking at note cards or a piece of paper. I will take the time to memorize my speech. a lot of times I find when I memorize my speech I use a lot less material than is planned. so I usually have to memorize at least a third more than i would need. I also found that if you are not using notes in front of the audience you seam more professional and confident. It doesn't seem like you are hiding behind your notes. It appears to people that you really know your stuff. If you are standing up there with a piece of paper hiding your face in it, not making eye contact, you seem like you are afraid of the audience and you do not have a lot of confidence. So the best tip I think I would give you is to leave the notes at home.
The tips i like from Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, is Establishing trust with the audience. Because the key to gaining anyones trust no matter if its an audience or a one on one conversation is making them smile and laugh, since thats the case this tip is my favorite because i love laughing with anybody i can share a laugh with and better yet enjoy smiling even more, there for in my interpertation making people laugh and gaining their trust through pure genuin enjoyment of company, even if two people are completely oppisites in everyway and dispise one another there can always be common mutual ground through laughter and just a simple feel good fun atmosphere. Using this method to better your public speaking abilities would be my most recommended way to go about it, if any kind of connection is to be made with your audience the best way is to create a common comfurt and enjoyable scene for both the speaker and the audience and then progression from that point is easier than breaking through with some commen ground.
My favorite tip is to tell your own story. If the audience can connect to you through your own story they are more trusting and more likely to stay with you. Plus it shows that you know what youare talking about because who knows your story better then you do. You break the barrier between you and your audience and you can rest assure that you are correct because it is something you lived. When you biuild that trust with them you can keep the attention of the room better and they are more open to listening and accepting the information that you are presenting them with. You are more free because now you are over the worst part and the hardest part. You can make them laugh and participate in your speech and feel the common ground between strangers Jenny Campbell
2. What does it mean to avoid stereotyping and sexiest language? Have you ever experienced this (giver or receiver)? What is the fallout of such language?
I say always think about what youre about to say. When giving your talk, you need to be aware of ones audience. in my opion stereotyping and sexiest language haveo place in giving talks or presentations. Unless you are a comedian and you have to be a good one, I think that its the easiest way to offend the audience. Say you start out with a joke and in your mind a sexiest joke are always good. You deliver a joke and you expect a few laughs to ease the mood.....you may get the laughs you want, but there is a good chance you struck a nerv with someone in the audience. Maybe you struck a few to many nervs. Now instead listening to you present or give a speach some of the audience may be still set off from the joke earlier and may not get the full message you are trying to get across. There have been a few times where I feel like I have been stereotyped or maybe someone thought a races joke would be funny to make. Being Native American sometimes I feel like that I stick out like a sore thumb and the last thing I would like is to stick out even more due to a borely judged joke. Thats just my opion. "Always look before you leap and think before you speak" is what my mom has always told me, and in public speaking I think it applies.
The tip from “Tips for a Terrific Talk” that I liked the most is stop using PowerPoint. I relate this to what you said about note cards. Lots of people while use a PowerPoint Presentation as the keypoint in their speech, reading directly from the PowerPoint and not what we know in our head. Yes, the PowerPoint may have come from our head, but if it's already on the board, we don't need to be told what it says verbatim. PowerPoint is to be used as an illustration, not the words to the story. And just like note cards, the information on the PowerPoint should be as the name suggests with POINTS. It's not the entire speech, but rather a bullet-point-type reference. Don't even look at it unless you're pointing something out in it. It is to be used as something to illustrate what you're saying, not to say what you're saying.
3. In the article Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, which tip do you like and why?
Personally I like the tip number 3, to start out fast and strong. I became very interested in English during high school. I took my first honors class my sophomore year, and I remember being told every day your introduction sentence is the most important! If you can't draw someone in then they won't bother reading your paper. This was very important while writing AP test papers and is the same with a speech. We make judgments very quickly and within the first two sentences we can tell whether the speech is going to be something we are interested in listening to. If there isn't something quick and witty to get an audience drawn in, they'll tune out and not even want to listen to what else you have to say. It's like a first impression, you only get one and it happens quickly so make it fast and strong!
The tip that I like most from the article, Tips for a Terrific Talk is tip number four. Tip number four talks about being hands-free when giving your speech. I have noticed that when I do things such as speaking in church I like to use my hands. I also like to give presentations without notes in- hand because it allows me to speak more naturally and my personality plays into the speech more. When my boss at my day job gives training he uses his hands a lot and I notices that it helps me keep attention and it also helps him get his words out. I started trying to integrate it into my work and I noticed that as I did I flowed better and had more confidence as I spoke. I even do it when talking to clients on the phone, even though they can’t see me it helps me to help them.
My favorite tip from the “Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros” was tip 1. Many speakers will either talk down to teenagers or even talk about something none of them even care about. As I am coming out of my teenage years I have noticed that at least people treat me more like an adult now but still speakers still don’t understand what my values are then again being a non-Mormon man raised Mormon in a Mormon area and having very different values then the people that hung out with me I can see how it is hard to figure out. Sometimes it is hard to talk to everyone as we all have our own values and beliefs but we do need to understand that just because some of us, myself included, don’t show our intelligence does not mean we don’t have it. A lot of these problems with certain speakers could be avoided by knowing more about who you are talking to.
Question 2
I have had a lot of experience with stereotyping personally. With the idea of Sexist language i havent had as much experience with it but i have recognized it. When we think of a Police Officer we normally refer to them as Policemen. As a general term when we see that word and associate it in our minds we think of a man in a uniform, same way as a Fireman can be usually seen as a man. So when we see a woman in these types of uniforms, we think something is out of place when it isn't. With stereotyping, i have played sprots my whole life and have never been seen as one of the smartest students, taking AP and Honors classes through high school, I was never asked to help anyone and when fianlly someone asked me and i did help them. They told me that they were surprised and they generally see athletes as people who only care about sports and lifting and nothing about anything else.
After reading the tips for a terrific talk one of the tips that I would like to use is number nine, “believe it or don’t say it”. I already have a hard enough time getting up in front of people talking if I didn’t have their respect and lost all attention and they all turned on me like the example in the tip I don’t think I would keep going with the speech. Believing in what you’re saying to the audience helps you make the audience believe you and show that you have some passion about the topic. I also liked the tip about telling your own story. It helps the audience learn more about you and feel a better connection while being informational depending on the story I guess.
In response to the ten tips for a great speaker, I found one that I really relate with. I cannot tell you how abrasive it is to me when an speaker apologizes to the audience. As was pointed out in the article, there are very few things that will obliterate credibility quicker than that. By apologizing to an audience, it often comes off insincere, giving the impression that you value yourself over 2000 others. It also destroys credibility of the speaker because they view you as unprofessional and devalued. If you communicate to the audience from the get go that you aren’t very good, they will likely agree with your from the start. Starting from -3 on the scale from 1 to 10 is usually a bad thing. Lastly, if you devalue yourself from the beginning, your words will fall on deaf ears.
The tip that I am so excited to write about is number 7--Tell your own story! I LOVE this tip because this is something that I try to do in every speech that I give. Many people think that it is hard to tell a personal story when really, it's all too easy! Everyone has experiences...everyone! Things happen to us each and every day that we could apply to a speech that we are giving. I think that often times people fear telling stories because they think that the story has to be a monumental event that happened in their life. No, it just has to be applicable to what you are trying to convey while also capturing the audiences' attention! I love telling my own stories because it makes the speech mean more to me and helps me get excited about the things that I am saying and the audience can see that and so it helps to tie them to me and be excited as well.
When I read Tips For a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, I was very interested in quit a few of the tips. The one I enjoyed most was “Start out fast and strong”. It talks about how in our society now, everything is fast pace. From our food to the way we communicate, our everyday lives are full of “getting to the point”. When I listen to someone talk, I want them to be creative and catch my interest right at the beginning. Its like a movie, if your watching a movie and its starts out boring and dull, then why in the world would you want to sit through the rest? This tip helped me to understand that I need to be creative and capture my audiences attention right from the start. If I can get them hooked, then its a lot easier for me to reel them in.
The tip I liked most from, "Tips for a terrific talk: Secrets from the Pros" was, tell your own story. Because, as the author pointed out, if you don't have your own story, its not as personal. "When the story is not yours, you can’t tell it with heart, passion and energy. Oh, you think you can, but it doesn’t translate as well as your story. Tell your story. You can tell it better because you were there; you lived it. " And as you point out, its all about gaining the audiences trust, and once you have that trust, building on it. If I were to give a speech - and i looked a story to open with up on the internet, it wouldn't be nearly as personal. If I had a story relating to my speech - whether it was something close to my heart or just a funny little scenario - when you give something from yourself you're more likely to gain there trust faster, instead of trying to sell them on a story you Googled.
Question 3:
My favorite tip from the Tips for Pros article was number 7, tell your own story. This can also correspond with number 9, Believe it or Don't Say it. Both these tips make yourself credible. Telling your audience something that you have personal experience with or something that you truly believe inside you can make the world of difference. It shows in the way you present your speech and how comfortable you are in your execution. Often times, telling a story can help your audience relate to you or understand more the point you are trying to make or the topic you are talking about. It is also good to tell a story because if you tell an original story that has only happened to you it will be new to the audience and will help keep their attention. It also reassures the audience that you are not fake and that you have personal experience to back up what you are saying.
We have talked about all of those tips for a terrific talk, but what i think is a really good one, and is so true from my experiences with sitting through speeches. is the number 5 the powerpoint tip. When someone in high school, or at an event or wherever says "I've got a PowerPoint" I automatically go into sleep mode. Its brutal sitting through someone reading something off the board. They might as well say, "here ya go, read this" If people used them more effectively and made it exciting with cool pictures and little text, it would be so much better. If i had these tips in high school, i am sure i would have given a lot better talks also.
In the segment of this lesson where it is talking about terrific talk, it states that its not about you, its about the listener. I could agree more with the statement. The whole purpose of giving a speech is to imform a group of people. Would someone give a speech to teach themselves something? no, because abviously you already know it if your presenting it. anyways, pleasing and informing the audience is the number one goal. Making it easier to understand and clarity is a curcial part of zoning in the audience. Sometimes a speaker must change the way he or she presents to impress the audience. Pleasing the audience will only make your speech more memorable.
I liked tip #2, "know your space." In the article, an example was mentioned that the speaker didn't know a loud train would be coming by every twenty minutes. I've never really spoken at a venue where there were environmental distractions like that. However, I like to know exactly where I will be speaking and what it looks like for a different reason: visualization. I think that visualizing a successful speech is the first step to giving one, and I like to constantly play the speech over in my head before I give it. Not knowing the layout of the room makes it difficult to visualize, and I've found that I tend to be much more nervous when that happens.
In the article Tips for a Terrific Talk: Secrets from the Pros, which tip do you like and why?
All the tips in this article are really great points to think about. One that really stands out to me is the one that talks about not apologizing to your audience too much. It says it is appropriate to apologize for being way late. This is an obvious exception. There are many other things that people apologize for that are unnecessary apologies. It gets annoying to hear someone apologizing over and over again about little things that are almost completely irrelevant. If you apologize too much about little things your audience will start thinking you are not very good at what you do because you can't seem to do anything right and have to apologize for everything. It is important to do whatever you can to be confident in yourself so you never have to worry about apologizing for dumb things in your speeches anymore. This will help you become a much more intersting speaker.
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