Public Speaking

Analyze Your Audience’s Current Knowledge (^199)
OBVIOUSLY, THE WORLD is awash in information, and vast amounts of data
are cheaply and quickly distributed globally. Most people are happy to have
information distributed through so many channels, but are we better informed
as a result?^1 Think about it. How much of the information you hear affects you
personally? What’s vital to know, and what’s trivial? What information helps
you live better, and what’s simply interesting or distracting? It’s easy to feel
overwhelmed unless someone relates the material to our lives and helps us
integrate new information with old. Then we can make sense of our world and
use our knowledge to make wise decisions.^2
Informative speakers can fulfill an important cultural role by sorting through
facts and data to create speeches that help audiences know more or understand
a subject better. Here are a few examples:
Review the
chapter
Learning
Objectives
and Start
with a quick
warm-up
activity.
• A representative of a nonprofit organization provides information on how to host
a bead party to raise funds for female-owned businesses in a developing country.
• A counselor informs recent college grads on ways to pay down their loans.
• Public health educators in central Africa empower women with facts they need to
protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases.
This chapter first distinguishes four levels of audience knowledge you should
analyze before you speak. Next, it describes several types of speeches, including
demonstrations and instructions, descriptions, reports, and explanations—with
several skeletal outlines of speeches in these categories. General guidelines for
informative speaking conclude the chapter.
Analyze Your Audience’s
Current Knowledge
Listeners fall into four general categories: those who (a) know nothing about your
topic, (b) have minimal information, (c) have forgotten or outdated information, or
(d) have misinformation. Each level of understanding calls for different strategies.^3 To^
be effective, analyze what the audience already knows and believes about your topic so
that you can adjust your speech accordingly.^4 This^ can^ be^ challenging^ because^ a^ single^
audience often contains listeners from more than one category.

Presenting New Information

When your audience is unfamiliar with your subject,

your task is to provide a basic overview of the topic.

For instance, what do you know about Dong Nguyen

(creator of the Floppy Bird game)? Mochi pounding?

Chinese wedding customs? Most people are unfamil-

iar with them, so any information will be novel. For

unfamiliar topics, follow these guidelines:

•   Provide basic, introductory facts—who, what,

when, where, and how information.

•   Clearly define new terminology and jargon.

•   Give detailed, vivid explanations and descriptions.

•   Make links to your audience’s knowledge by using

literal and figurative analogies and by compar-

ing and contrasting the concept with something

familiar.

•   Help listeners understand why the topic is relevant.

Presenting Supplemental Information

The great inventor Thomas Edison said, “We don’t

know a millionth of one percent about anything.”^5

This means that listeners who are somewhat familiar

with your topic will have gaps in their knowledge.

Read, highlight, and take

notes online.

At the outset, think about what your audience already knows about

your topic. Is it totally unfamiliar to them? Do they have outdated

information or misconceptions? What do they need to hear?

Answering these questions helps you design a speech that makes

the information more useful to your listeners.

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