CHAPTER 9: Constructing and Using Visual Aids
CHAPTER 4
DETERMINING A SPEECH GOAL THAT MEETS
AUDIENCE NEEDS
Chapter Summary
This chapter explains each of the four sub-steps that help speakers determine a specific speech goal. These four sub-steps are identifying topics, analyzing your audience, understanding the speech setting, and finally, choosing a topic and developing a specific speech goal. Although we have to discuss each task separately, in practice they overlap and can be completed in a different order.
Transition from the 12th Edition
Chapter 4 in the 13th edition now includes the two former Chapter 5 sections of Subject-Related Audience Data and Surveying Students to Test Predictions. The activities and exhibits for audience analysis are more thorough with the addition of information on predicting audience knowledge and attitude toward the specific subject. More emphasis placed on the audience’s knowledge of the speech topic with the addition of a step-by-step process that starts with brainstorming topics and concludes with selecting an appropriate topic to present to the audience.
Chapter Outline
Introduction (p. 44): This chapter describes the four sub-steps that help speakers determine a specific speech goal that is adapted to the audience and setting.
I. Identifying Topics (p. 44-46).
A. Speech topics should come from subject areas in which we already have some knowledge and interest.
1. Subject: a broad area of expertise, such as movies, cognitive psychology, computer technology, or the Middle East.
2. Topic: a narrow, specific aspect of a subject.
3. In this section, you will learn how to identify subject areas in which you have interest and knowledge and then, from those subject areas, to identify and select potential specific topics that you can use for the speeches you will be assigned to make in class.
B. Listing subjects (p. 44).
1. You can identify potential subjects for your speeches by listing those areas that (1) are important to you and (2) you know something about.
2. These areas could include your area of study, hobbies and leisure activities and special interests.
C. Brainstorming for topic ideas (p. 45-46).
1. Brainstorming: an uncritical, nonevaluative process of generating associated ideas. (p. 45)
2. When you brainstorm, you list as many ideas as you can without evaluating them.
3. It is easier to select a topic from a list, than to come up with one out of the blue.
II. Analyzing the audience (p. 47-54).
A. Before you decide on the topic you need to understand who will be in your prospective audience.
B. Audience analysis: the study of the intended audience for your speech.
C. Audience adaptation: the process of tailoring your information to the specific speech audience.
D. Types of audience data needed (p. 47-48).
1. Demographic Information
a. You will be able to make educated inferences about how familiar the audience is with your subject area and their attitudes toward it.
b. Examples of demographic information are the following: age, education, gender, income occupation, race, ethnicity, religion and language.
E. Subject-related audience data (p. 48-50).
1. You will want to learn about the average knowledge level your audience members have on your subject, their interest in the subject, their attitudes toward the subject, and their perceptions of your credibility.
a. Audience knowledge.
i. It is important that you choose a topic geared to the background knowledge you can expect audience members to have.
b. Audience interest.
i. You will need to choose a topic that can capture their interest or work hard as you develop your speech to overcome their disinterest.
c. Audience attitude toward the subject.
i. You can determine the audience’s attitudes toward your subject by surveying them, extrapolating opinion poll results for your audience or estimating the audience’s attitudes from the demographic information collected.
ii. Once you understand your audience’s attitude toward your subject, you can choose a topic that will allow you to influence rather than alienate the audience.
d. Audience attitude toward you as a speaker.
i. Credibility: the perception that you are knowledgeable, trustworthy, and personable.
ii. You will want to choose a topic that allows the audience to perceive you as credible and to believe that you know what you are talking about.
F. Methods for gathering audience data (p. 50-53).
1. You can collect data through surveys
a. The most direct way to collect audience data is to survey the audience.
b. Survey: a questionnaire designed to gather information directly from people.
c. Two-sided items: survey items that force the respondent to choose between two answers, such as yes/no, for/against, or pro/con.
d. Multiple-response items: survey items that give the respondent several alternative answers from which to choose.
e. Scaled items: survey items that measure the direction and/or intensity of an audience member’s feeling or attitude toward something.
f. Open-ended items: survey items that measure the direction and/or intensity of an audience member’s feeling or attitude toward something.
2. You can gather data through informal observation.
3. You can gather data by questioning the person who invited you to speak.
a. Ask your contact person to answer the demographic questions.
4. You can make educated guesses about audience demographics and attitudes.
a. If you can’t get information in any other way, you will have to make educated guesses based on such indirect information as the general makeup of the people who live in a specific community belong to a group like this, or the kinds of people who are likely to attend the event or occasion.
III. Analyzing the setting (p. 54-57).
A. Setting: the location and occasion for a speech.
B. The answers to several questions about the setting should guide your topic selection and other parts of your speech planning.
1. What are the special expectations for the speech?
a. Whether the speech assignment is defined by purpose or by subject, your topic should reflect the nature of that assignment.
2. What is the appropriate length for the speech?
a. You will want to choose a topic that is narrow enough to be accomplished in the time allotted.
3. How large will the audience be?
4. Where will the speech be given?
a. Consider the factors that may affect your presentation.
b. Ask for specific information about seating capacity, shape, number of rows, nature of lighting, existence of a speaking stage or platform, distance between speaker and first row, and so on, before you speak.
5. When will the speech be given?.
6. Where in the program does the speech occur?
7. What equipment is necessary to give the speech?
C. Selecting a topic (p. 57).
1. You will want to select a topic that is appropriate for your audience members and the setting.
2. Compare topics to your audience profile.
3. Then consider the setting.
IV. Writing a speech goal (p. 58-60).
A. Understanding general and specific goals. (p.58-59).
1. General Goal: the overall intent of the speech.
a. Most speeches intend to entertain, to inform, or to persuade, even though each type of speech may include elements of other types.
b. The general goal is generally dictated by the setting, particularly the occasion.
2. Specific Goal: a single statement that identifies the exact response the speaker wants from the audience.
B. Phrasing a Specific Speech Goal
1. Write a draft of your general speech goal using a complete sentence that specifies the type of response you want from the audience.
2. Revise the statement (and the infinitive phrase) until it indicates the specific audience reaction desired.
3. Make sure that the goal statement contains only one idea.
4. Revise your statement until it describes the precise focus of your speech (the infinitive phrase articulation the complete response you want from your audience).
C. A good specific goal statement is important because it will guide the research you do as you prepare the speech.
D. Once you have completed your research, you will expand your specific goal statement into a thesis statement, which will be the foundation on which you will organize the speech.
Lecture Ideas
1. Ask students to think about a favorite ad or commercial and to identify the ad’s target audience. Have them identify the information needed about the target audience before an effective ad can be created. This discussion can help students understand the necessity of audience analysis as it relates to giving speeches and presentations.
2. Use the InfoTrac College Edition Student Activities Workbook for Public Speaking to help students develop topic selection skills. Chapter 5, “Selecting a Topic and Availability of Information,” allows students to browse for and choose possible speech topics. This exercise also ties the skill of topic selection with researching. The student learns that some research is necessary before making topic selections.
3. Have students read the article located at . This article shows the interaction of public speaking skills. It describes how audience analysis is useful in decreasing stage fright. It is important that students learn that success in public speaking is the result of the mastery of many skills.
Discussion Questions
1. After the class has completed Activities #4.4 or 4.5, discuss with them the general make up of the class. You may want to use an example subject and talk about how you could adapt that subject to the classroom audience.
2. As you begin to formulate your first specific goal statement, are there any topic areas which would be inappropriate for this audience and situation? What about a speech advocating satanic cults or hate speech? What about religious evangelism? Should there even be any limitations of freedom of expression in a collegiate level public speaking course?
3. Talk with students about how to phrase speech goals and give them several examples on the board. You may want them to brainstorm as a class for subjects and/or topics (Activities #4. 1, 4.2 and 4.3). Then ask for volunteers to suggest what the general and specific goals would be for several of the subjects on the board. After this you could also have students work in groups and practice a few more times (Activity #4.7)
4. Although, Chapter 4 does not discuss thesis statements and main points, you can still preview the material that you will touch on in chapter 7. Discuss with your students how speech goals, thesis statements and main points relate to each other and how important they all are to an effective speech. Ask students about presentations that they think were effective or that the information was retained. Ask if in these presentations they had a clear organization, or at least understood where a new topic began.
5. Develop three possible topics for your first speech. Based on assumptions you have made about your student audience what specific area of your topic should be the focus of your speech? How would that focus change if you had to present your topic to a different group (e.g. all teachers, grade-schoolers, business executives, students from other majors)?
Class Activities
Activity #4.1: Brainstorming
For homework or part of a class activity, ask students based on their individual experiences from work, school, family, and personal life, to write down at least three subject areas that they believe they know more about than most people in the class. After students have committed themselves to their three areas of expertise, do a "go-round" and have each student tell one of the subjects she/he wrote down. Ask students to keep their list of three subject areas for when they brainstorm for speech topics and to use as practice examples when writing speech goals.
Activity #4.2: Brainstorming
As a class have students brainstorm several subject areas as you write them on the board. Then divide students into groups of 3 or 4 and have each group brainstorm 2 or 3 subjects from the board into 6-10 topics suitable for a speech topic. You also may want to have groups compete for extra credit by giving the groups a set time, (for example 30 seconds or 1 minute) and having them brainstorm as many topics as they can in that time frame. The group with the most wins. You could repeat this for several subjects.
This activity also works well if you let them choose 2 or 3 topics from the following list:
sports music travel fashion computers
careers majors movies television advertising
food cars animals campus life healthcare
Activity #4.3: Brainstorming for Specific Speech Topics and Audience Analysis
Give students a worksheet in which they will brainstorm for topics from prompts that fit each speech they will give during the quarter/semester. For example, if the first speech assignment is to give a narrative speech, then have students brainstorm for funny things that happened to them, embarrassing moments, serious moments and memorable moments or events in their lives. Repeat for each speech assignment. You may want to have students complete this for all assignments early in the quarter or before each speech round.
After students have brainstormed some topics, have the choose the best 3-5. Divide them in groups of 3-4 and have them discuss which topics group members liked or were interested in the most. This will help students do some audience analysis on potential topics.
Activity #4.4: Find Someone Who
Provide students with a list of descriptors you have chosen or write the descriptors on the board. Have students move around the room attempting to "find someone who“ fits each descriptor. They ask others the questions and when they "find someone who . . . ," that person signs her/his name at the appropriate description. The goal obviously is to get all 12 descriptors signed. If classes are rather large, it is a good idea to announce that a person cannot sign their own sheet and that any individual cannot sign more than one place on each sheet.
Possible Descriptors
FIND SOMEONE WHO. . .
1. is a sophomore
2. comes from a town that begins with a "J" (or any other letter)
3. played high school football
4. was a member of student government (or council) in high school
5. played in the band in high school
6. is an education major (or any other major)
7. is from a family of 5 or more
8. is from a state other than the one where the college is located
9. drives a pickup
10. has a black and white dog (or cat)
11. has worked in a fast food restaurant
12. lives in a dorm
After students have collected the signatures, go back down the list of descriptors and have all people who were eligible for each item put up their hands so the class gets an overall view of the background information of class members.
This activity also works well if you turn it into a bingo game, where each question is a square and students can compete for getting bingo on their paper. Students enjoy this version.
Activity #4.5: Collecting Demographic Data
Using the following worksheet, have students collect demographic information about the classroom audience. After they have collected the data have the class record the results on the results worksheet. This activity will help students understand the demographic makeup of the class/audience.
Activity #4.6: Writing a Speech Goal Using Speech Builder Express
For homework, direct students to the Speech Builder Express website, accessed through the Challenge CD, and have them complete Step 1, “Goal/Purpose.” Speech Builder Express will guide them through the process of writing a speech goal, which should take 30 minutes at most. Have the students export their work to a Word document (simply by clicking the “export to Word” button onscreen) and bring the document to class to turn in.
Worksheet: Class Demographic Information
GENERAL BACKGROUND SURVEY
Each individual fills out this first form.
1. age______
2. gender_____
3. year in college ______
4. college/school/department __________
5. major________
6. Will you be the first family member to graduate from college? yes_____ no_____
7. Which of the following best describes the location of the home you grew up in? city_____ suburb_____ medium-sized town_____ small town_____ rural_____
8. Which best describes your religious background? Catholic_____ Protestant_____ Jewish_____ Muslim_____ Hindu_____ Other_____ None_____
9. Which best describes your political inclinations? Democrat_____ Republican_____ Independent_____ Libertarian_____ Green Party_____ Other_____ None_____
10. Is (state where college is located) your home state? yes_____ no_____
11. Which best describes where you live during the school year?
dorm_____ Greek house_____ scholarship house_____ apartment_____
with family_____ other_____
12.
13.
14.
15.
(12-15 are optional questions you may choose to add to the survey)
Activity #4.7: Predicting Audience Interests
This activity can be used in conjunction with activity #4.5.
Prior to exercise: Take a demographic survey of the class, asking questions such as age, gender, year in school, job, hobbies, and favorites (movies, books, music, etc.). Tabulate the responses in a spreadsheet that can be handed out to the class.
Distribute the audience demographic spreadsheet to the class. Ask students to form small groups and create five(+) different speech topics they believe the audience would be interested in.
Discuss the answers aloud, allowing for responses from other groups. Be sure to link back to the chapter, regarding the importance of audience analysis.
Activity #4.8: Writing Speech Goals In Class
This activity can be used in conjunction with activities #4.2 and #4.6.
After students have brainstormed potential speech topics, have groups choose 3-4 topics and write a general goal and a specific goal for each.
This activity also works well if you give groups several topics and have them write a general and specific goal for each topic. However, it helps to have students work on general and specific goals in class so that you can monitor how they are grasping the material. Students need to practice writing specific goals several times, so you may want to practice this activity in class more than once.
Glossary of Key Terms
audience adaptation: the process of tailoring your information to the specific speech audience.
audience analysis: the study of the intended audience for your speech.
brainstorming: an uncritical, nonevaluative process of generating associated ideas.
credibility: the perception that you are knowledgable, trustworthy ,and personable.
general goal: the overall intent of the speech.
multiple-response items: survey items that give the respondent several alternative answers from which to choose.
open-ended items: survey items that encourage respondents to elaborate on their opinions without forcing them to answer in a predetermined way.
scaled items: survey items that measure the direction and/or intensity of an audience member’s feeling or attitude toward something.
setting: the location and occasion for a speech.
specific goal: a single statement that identifies the exact response the speaker wants from the audience.
subject: a broad area of expertise, such as movies, cognitive psychology, computer technology, or the Middle East.
survey: a questionnaire designed to gather information directly from people.
topic: a narrow, specific aspect of a subject
two-sided items: survey items that force the respondent to choose between two answers, such as yes/no, for/against, or pro/con.
Test Questions
Chapter 4
Multiple Choice
1. A broad area of expertise is a .
a. topic
b. subject
c. specific goal
d. thesis statement
ANS: b SEE PAGE 44
2. A narrow specific aspect of a subject is a .
a. topic
b. subject
c. specific goal
d. thesis statement
ANS: a SEE PAGE 44
3. Areas of expertise such as movies, travel or entertainment are examples
of .
a. subjects
b. topics
c. speech goals
d. main points
ANS: a SEE PAGE 44
4. You can identify potential subjects for your speech by listing those areas
that .
a. are important to you and you know something about
b. you are interested in but know little about
c. you have little interest in because you will be less nervous when you speak
d. are chosen at random
ANS: a SEE PAGE 44
5. An uncritical, nonevaluative process of generating associated ideas
is .
a. listing topics
b. brainstorming
c. audience adaptation
d. none of the above
ANS: b SEE PAGE 45
6. Listing as many ideas as you can without evaluating them is .
a. listing topics
b. brainstorming
c. audience adaptation
d. not possible
ANS: b SEE PAGE 45
7. Before you can decide on a speech topic, you need to understand .
a. your topic
b. your speech setting
c. your audience
d. your subject
ANS: c SEE PAGE 47
8. The study of the intended audience for your speech is .
a. audience analysis
b. audience adaptation
c. observation
d. gathering data
ANS: a SEE PAGE 47
9. The process of tailoring your information to the specific speech audience
is .
a. audience analysis
b. speech setting
c. audience adaptation
d. presentation
ANS: c SEE PAGE 47
10. Age, gender, and race are examples of information.
a. demographic
b. observed
c. surveyed
d. subject-related
ANS: a SEE PAGE 47
11. Understanding your audience’s level of knowledge and interest about your topic is gathering .
a. demographic information
b. information
c. subject-related audience data
d. audience interest
ANS: c SEE PAGE 48
12. An important factor in an audience’s attitude toward you as the speaker
is .
a. the speech setting
b. credibility
c. audience analysis
d. audience interest
ANS: b SEE PAGE 50
13. The perception that the speaker is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and personable, means that the speaker established .
a. the speech setting
b. credibility
c. audience analysis
d. audience interest
ANS: b SEE PAGE 50
14. Surveying your audience to see how they feel about lowering the legal drinking age to 18, is an example of .
a. audience adaptation
b. credibility
c. audience interest
d. audience analysis
ANS: d SEE PAGE 45
15. Discovering that your audience dislikes your topic choice of country music of the 1980s, you decide to change your topic. This is an example of .
a. audience analysis
b. audience adaptation
c. demographic information
d. subject-related information
ANS: b SEE PAGE 45
16. One way of gathering audience data is .
a. observation
b. surveying
c. questioning the person who invited you
d. all of the above
ANS: d SEE PAGES 50-51
17. Where and when the speech will occur is .
a. demographic information
b. subject-related information
c. the speech setting
d. part of audience adaptation
ANS: c SEE PAGE 54
18. To entertain is an example of a goal.
a. specific
b. general
c. speech
d. none of the above
ANS: b SEE PAGE 58
19. A single statement that identifies the exact response a speaker wants from the audience is .
a. a general goal
b. a thesis statement
c. a specific goal
d. an audience adaptation strategy
ANS: c SEE PAGE 58
20. “I want my audience to learn about the life of Frank Sinatra.” This statement is an example of .
a. a general goal
b. a specific goal
c. audience adaptation
d. audience analysis
ANS: b SEE PAGE 58
True/False
21. A subject is a more specific aspect of a topic.
ANS: F SEE PAGE 44
22. You should choose a topic that you know nothing about, in order to learn something new.
ANS: F SEE PAGE 45
23. Brainstorming involves evaluating topics as you list them.
ANS: F SEE PAGE 45
24. Age, gender and ethnicity are examples of subject-related audience data.
ANS: F SEE PAGE 48
25. Two-sided, multi-sided and scaled items are methods of gather data for audience analysis.
ANS: T SEE PAGES 50-51
26. Surveying the audience is an acceptable way to gather audience analysis data.
ANS: T SEE PAGE 50
27. Credibility is an important factor concerning your audience’s attitude toward the speaker.
ANS: T SEE PAGE 50
28. The speech setting concerns where you will speak and how large the audience will be.
ANS: T SEE PAGE 55
29. A specific goal states the overall intent of the speech.
ANS: F SEE PAGE 58
30. To inform, is an example of a general goal.
ANS: T SEE PAGE 58
Additional Resources
Bender, P. U. (2001). Stand, deliver, and lead. The Canadian Manager, 26(2),
14-18.
Fisher, L. (2002). The art of speaking: Connecting with your audience.
Communication Arts, 44(2), 42-45.
Holcombe, M. W., & Turrentine, T. (1996). Herding cats: How to understand and
manage your audience. Competitive Intelligence Review, 7(1), S29.
Paradi, D. (2005). Speaker’s notes: What infomercials and other TV shows can
teach us about presenting. Presentations, 19(2), 42.
Terreri, A. (2005). What are they thinking? Presentations, 19(2), 36-40.
Tornabene, L. (2005). Enhancing interaction during public presentations.
American Journal of Health Education, 36(1), 58-61.
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