LECTURE 2 Types of presentations ANALYZING THE AUDIENCE • Type of presentation depend on the type of the audience. • Good speakers are audience-centered. • They know that the aim of speechmaking is to gain a desired response from listeners. WHEN WORKING ON YOUR SPEECHES, KEEP THREE QUESTIONS IN MIND: 1. To whom am I speaking? 2. What do I want them to know, believe, or do as a result of my speech? 3. What is the most effective way of composing and presenting my speech to accomplish that aim? TO BE AN EFFECTIVE SPEAKER, YOU SHOULD KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AUDIENCES. • Auditory perception is selective. Even when people pay close attention, they don’t process a speaker’s message exactly as the speaker intended. People hear what they want to hear. • People also are egocentric. They typically approach speeches with one question uppermost in mind: “Why is this important to me?” Therefore, you need to study your audience and adapt your speech directly to their beliefs and interests. DEMOGRAPHIC AUDIENCE ANALYSIS The first stage in learning about your audience is to undertake a demographic audience analysis. This involves identifying important demographic traits of your audience such as: age, gender, religion, group membership, and racial, ethnic, or cultural background. SITUATIONAL AUDIENCE ANALYSIS • The second stage in learning about your audience is to conduct a situational audience analysis. • This involves identifying traits of the audience unique to the particular speaking situation at hand. • These traits include: • the size of the audience, attitudes influenced by the physical setting, and your listeners’ disposition toward the topic, toward you as a speaker, and toward the occasion. FOR SPEECHES OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM, YOU CAN BEST GET INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUDIENCE BY ASKING THE PERSON WHO INVITES YOU TO SPEAK. • If possible, you should also sound out someone else who has spoken to the same group. • For your classroom speeches, you can learn much about your audience by observation and conversation. You also can do a more formal audience analysis by interviewing members of the audience or by circulating a questionnaire. ONCE YOU COMPLETE THE AUDIENCE ANALYSIS, YOU MUST ADAPT YOUR SPEECH SO IT WILL BE CLEAR AND CONVINCING TO YOUR LISTENERS. Keep them in mind constantly as you prepare the speech. Put yourself in their place. Try to hear the speech as they will. Anticipate questions and objections, and try to answer them in advance. When you deliver your speech, keep an eye out for audience feedback. If you see frowns or puzzled looks on your listeners’ faces, you may need to adjust your remarks in response. TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS • Academic presentations: • What are the tips for academic presentations? • What are the three types of format for academic presentations? THE PURPOSE OF PRESENTATION 1. Speaking to inform 2. Speaking to persuade 3. Speaking on special occasion INFORMATIVE SPEECHES MAY BE GROUPED INTO FOUR CATEGORIES: speeches about objects speeches about processes speeches about events speeches about concepts NO MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT OF YOUR INFORMATIVE SPEECH, BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVER OR UNDERESTIMATE WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE KNOWS ABOUT IT • Make sure your ideas and your language are fully comprehensible to the audience. • Avoid direct evaluation, unnecessary expressiveness and emotional coloring. • At the same time It is your job to make your informative speech interesting and meaningful to your audience. Find ways to talk about the topic in terms of your listeners. Avoid too many abstractions. Use description, comparison, and contrast to make your audience see what you are talking about SPEAKING TO PERSUADE • Persuasion is the process of creating, reinforcing, or changing people’s beliefs or actions. • When you speak to persuade, you act as an advocate. Your job is to sell a program, to defend an idea, to refute an opponent, or to inspire people to action. YOU SHOULD THINK OF YOUR SPEECH AS A KIND OF MENTAL DIALOGUE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE • Most important, you need to identify your target audience, anticipate the possible objections they will raise to your point of view, and answer those objections in your speech • Regardless of your speech topic or method of organization, you need to make sure your goals are ethically sound and that you use ethical methods to persuade your audience. SPEAKING ON SPECIAL OCCASION Special occasions include weddings, funerals, dedications, award ceremonies, etc. speeches of introduction speeches of presentation speeches of acceptance commemorative speeches SPEECH OF INTRODUCTION • When you make a speech of introduction, your job is to build enthusiasm for the main speaker and to establish a welcoming climate that will boost his or her credibility and confidence • Keep your remarks brief, make sure they are completely accurate, and adapt them to the audience, the occasion, and the main speaker SPEECHES OF PRESENTATION • Speeches of presentation are given when someone is receiving publicly a gift or an award. The main theme of such a speech is to acknowledge the achievements of the recipient. The purpose of an acceptance speech is to give thanks for a gift or an award • When delivering such a speech, you should thank and recognize the contributions of people who helped you gain it. Be brief, humble, and gracious COMMEMORATIVE SPEECHES • Commemorative speeches are speeches of praise or celebration. Your aim in such a speech is to pay tribute to a person, a group of people, an institution, or an idea. • When making a commemorative speech you want to inspire your audience – to arouse and heighten their appreciation of and admiration for the subject.
