The Speaker and the
Audience: The Occasion and
the Subject
Chapter 14
1
Four Stages of Speech Making
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Topic selection
Topic development
Presentation
Postpresentation analysis
– Time spent on each stage will vary from speech
to speech
2
Systematic Process
3
1
Expectations
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Society has grown accustomed to high-quality speeches
Characteristics of good speakers:
 Have insight
 Know their audience
 Believe what they are doing is important
 Always practice
 Think of the speech as a performance
 Make a critique or postpresentation analysis of the speech
4
Self-Analysis
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Front-end analysis – a self analysis conducted to help you
uncover aspects that you may find particularly interesting or
appealing
 Review your life: Your Autobiography
 Consider the Moment: This Moment
 Search the News: Today’s News
 The Alphabet Technique
 The Topoi System
 Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? and So?)
5
Considering the Audience

Pitfall for speakers is speaking to themselves
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You must know something about the audience in
order to pay proper attention to them
Audience analysis is the step most often overlooked
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MYGLO (“my eyes glaze over”)
Approach speech making from behind the eyes of the
audience
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2
Audience Analysis:
Who Are They?
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Finding out information about the makeup of your
audience
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Educated guesses
Sources of audience information
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Personal experience
Research
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Ask program planner to provide audience information
Obtain copies of public relations material
Discussions with members of the potential audience
7
Audience Demographics

Background and composition of your audience are important
factors
 Age
 Gender
 Family orientation
 Religion
 Cultural background
 Occupation
 Socioeconomic status
 Educational level
 Additional factors
8
Attitudes of an Audience
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Try to predict the attitudes your listeners will have
toward you and your presentation
Attitudinal scales
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Motivation – willingness to attend
Values – degree of homogeneity
Level of agreement – audience’s reaction to the stance
of the speaker
Level of commitment – how much the audience cares
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3
Predicting the Reaction

After completing audience research, ask the
following:
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What do the audience members now know about my
topic?
To what extent are they interested in my topic?
What are their current attitudes toward this topic?
Keep answers in mind when developing presentation
10
Considering the Occasion
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Date and time of the presentation
 Timing can influence a speaker’s effectiveness
Length of the presentation
 Ensure you will not run over or under your time limit
Location of the presentation
 Remind yourself of the location and people connected to it
Nature of the occasion
 Clarify the situation in your mind
Size of the audience
11
Considering the Subject
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Evaluate topic ideas according to specific criteria:
 Apparent worth
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Is it important to you and the people who will listen to you?
Appropriateness
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Is it appropriate to the audience?
Is it appropriate to the occasion?
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Interest
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Availability of material
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How does it relate to your audience and how will they benefit?
Be certain that material on the subject exists and that you can
find it readily
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4
Narrowing the Topic

Essential to consider
the time constraints and
narrow your topic to fit
those imposed by the
situation
13
Purpose Statement and
Behavioral Objectives
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The Informative Speech
 Primary responsibility is to relay information
The Persuasive Speech
 Main goal is to reinforce or change an audience’s beliefs or
to make an audience behave in a certain way
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Develop a purpose statement
Formulate behavioral objectives
Develop a thesis (arguable point of view)
14
Technology and Topics
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Internet is a huge resource of information for
speakers
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Search engines
Mailing lists
Usenet groups
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Conference system of bulletin boards devoted to
different topics, on which people around the world with
similar interests can interact with each other
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5
Using Analysis Effectively
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Focus your attention on the characteristics of people
you consider good speakers
Conduct a systematic self-analysis as a preparation
for speech making
Analyze your audience
Analyze the occasion
Determine if your topic is supported by your own
interests, your audience’s interests, and the demands
of the occasion
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