ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING : Audience In conversation the "audience" is often one listener or perhaps a few. The audience in public speaking is relatively large, from groups of. perhaps 10 or 12 to audiences of hundreds of thmrsands. even millions. In both conversation and public speaking. your listeners will influence what you say and how you say it. You. would not try to convince your friend to go to the movie with the same arguments you would use to convince an instructor to accept a late paper. Usually. in conversations, you know your listeners so well that you don't even think about adjusting your messages to them. But you do make adjustments. Think, for example, of how differently you would relay the events of the day to your parents, friends, employer, and children. In some public speaking situations—say, you're addressing work colleagues-you may know your audience quite well. In other public speaking situations, however. you may not know your audience quite so well and will have to analyze them to discover what they already know (so you don't repeat old news) and what their attitudes are (so you don't waste time persuading them of something they already believe). In the popular mind, communication is often taken as synonymous with speaking. Listening is either nagiected or regarded as something apart from "real communication." But, emphasized in the model of public speaking presented earlier and as stressed throughout this book, listening is integral to all communication, and public speaking is certainly no exception. Public speaking isn't just the art of adjusting messages to listeners, it also involves active involverucnt by the listeners. The listener plays a role in encouraging or discouraging the speaker, in otteringiconstructive criticism, in evaluating public messages, and in performing a Wide variety of other functions. if you measured importance by the time you spend on an activity. Then listening would be your most important communication activity (Figure 1.2). In. One study, conducted in 1926 (Rankin), listening occupied 45% of a person‘s communication time ; speaking was second with 30%; reading (16%] and writing (9%) followed. In another study of college students. conducted in 1980 (Barker, Edwards. Gaines. Gladney, and Holley), listening also occupied. The most time : 53% compared to reading (17%). speaking (16%). and writing (14%). Because listening is so important (and so often neglected) in public speaking, it is covered in. two ways. F irst, Unit 4: Listening discusses the nature of listening. the forms of listening, and suggestions for improving your listening effectiveness. Second, a series of "Listen to This" boxes are distributed throughout the text. These boxes relate listening to the tepic Of the unit and remind us that listening is ‘an essential part of the public speaking act. Among the topics discussed in these boxes are listening to criticism (Unit 5). Listening to gender differences (Units 10 and '15), listening to new ideas (Unit 19), listening to emotional appeals (Unit 22), and listening to empower (Unit 23). Context Speaker and listeners operate in a physical, socioopsychological, temporal. and cultural context. T he context influences you as the speaker, the audience, the speech, and the effects of the speech. * The physical context is the actual place in which you give your speech (the room, hallway, park. or auditorium). A presentation in a small intimate more needs to be very different from one in a Sports arena. * The soda-psychological context includes, for example, the relationship between speaker and audience; is it a supervisor speaking to workers or a worker speaking to supervisors? A principal addressing teachers or a parent addressing principals? it also includes the audience's attitudes toward and knowledge of the speaker and subject. You can't, for example. treat a supportive and a hostile audience similarly. *The temporal context includes, for example, the time or day and. More importantly, where your speech fits into the sequence of events. For example. does your speech follow one that has taken an opposing position? 15 your speech the sixth in a series exploring the same topic? *The cultural context refers to the beliefs. lifestyles. values. and ways of behaving that the speaker and the audience bring with them and that bear on the topic and purpose of the speech. Appealing to the "competitive spirit" and "financial gain" may prove effective with Wall Street executives but ineffective with those who are more comfortable with socialist or communist economic systems and. beliefs. Dellivery In conversation you nor-tnally don't even think of how you'd deliver or present your message; you wouldn't concern yourself with how to stand or gesture or how you would raise or lower your vocal volume. of course. you might if the conversation were between you and your boss and the topic was your promotion. But, generally delivery is a nonissue. In public speaking, the situation is quite different. Public speaking is a relatively new experience and at first you'll probably feel imcomfortable and self-conscious. You may wonder what to do with. your hands or whether or not you should move about. With time and experience. you'll find that your delivery will follow naturally from what you're saying, just as it does in conversation. Perhaps the best advice at this time is to view public speaking as "enlarged" conversation and not to worry about delivery just yet. This isn't to say that your method of delivery is unimportant ; actually. it's a crucial element to your overall effectiveness. It's just that in your early efforts, it's better to concentrate on content. As you gain confidence you can direct your attention to refining and polishing your delivery skills. Another aspect of delivery is your use of presentational aids. Although in some conversations you might draw a diagram in the air or show a photograph. Generally, the issue of presentation aids is irrelevant. in conversation. In public speaking, however. Presentation aids take on great importance. Just think of what your classes would be like if the instructor limited the lecture to spoken words. Presentation aids are crucial to most public speeches and will greatly influence your effectiveness. And, just as technology has changed the complexion of research, it has also changed the nature of presentation aids~from the simple word chart to complete slide shows with audio and video components. Technology has raised the benchmark as to what constitutes effective public speaking. Ethics As a public speaker, you design and deliver your speeches to influence listeners: politicians give campaign speeches to secure your vote; advertisers give sales pitches to get you to buy their products; teachers give lectures to influence your thinking about history, psychology, or communication. Because your speeches will have effects, you have an obligation to consider the moral implications of your messages throughout the public speaking process. When you develop your topic, present your research, create the persuasive appeals, and do any of the other tasks related to public speaking, there are ethical issues to be considered [Iaksa and Pritchard 1994; Bok 1978; Johannesen 1996). The listener and the critic also have ethical obligations; for example, listeners have an obligation to give a Speaker 9. fair hearing and critics have an obligation to render a fair and unbiased evaluation. Ethics—the morality of an actwis an integral part of all public speaking for speaker, listener, and critic. Here are just a few issues we consider throughout the text. As you read down the list, consider what you would do if confronted with this issue. What do you feel you should do (if this is different from what you would do)? What general principle of ethics are you using in making these would and should judgments ? *Would it be ethical to use questionable means to achieve a worthwhile end ? For example, would it be wrong for a speaker to exaggerate if by doing so he or she might achieve some respectable goal. for example. Getting teens to stop smoking ? *Would it he ethical to persuade an audience by scaring or threatening them if your goal was to get them to do something beneficial, such as exercise? To get. them to lollow a particular religious belief? To get them to do something that would benefit, say. the poor and homeless? *Would it be ethical to assume leadership of a group to get the group to do as you wish?