1. Facing a culturally diverse audience can present a number of challenges for a speaker. For one thing, it may demand the need to be extra aware of (and sensitive to) cultural differences and nuances. Each culture defines what is acceptable and unacceptable—sensitive speakers will keep this in mind while making any presentation in order to get their message across to as many people as possible without diluting its impact. When addressing an audience composed of people who have a different religious affiliation than the speaker, it pays to be neutral or at least avoid referring to the audience’s religion in potentially offensive ways. Some research into the values, beliefs and attitudes of the audience will definitely help here (Bostock, n.d.). Parts of the speech may have to be rethought and rewritten to avoid doing this in particular.
There may be times, however, when speaking before a mixed crowd is unavoidable. In such cases, it helps to work together with other, more seasoned speakers who have experience dealing with culturally diverse audiences. The speaker can practice in front of these veterans and obtain valuable feedback. The seasoned speakers can point out questionable content in the presentation that the main speaker may not be aware of and correct them accordingly. When going before the actual audience, it also helps to continuously interact with them, maintain friendly eye contact, ask meaningful questions and invite them to clarify any uncertainties. This puts the audience at ease and increases their rapport with the speaker (Bostock, n.d.). Lastly, it also helps to have a predetermined stock of inoffensive jokes, stories and anecdotes (preferably those that avoid dealing with politics or religion) that one can draw from for any occasion. This can be very effective at absorbing the audience’s attention and establishing rapport.
2. Holding an audience’s attention is one of the challenges of public speaking—particularly when the speech is an informative one. Fortunately, making such a speech into something memorable is not necessarily rocket science. One strategy is to select one main point or thesis and build the entire presentation around it to give the speech direction and to avoid deluging the audience with facts. Once that main point is in place, it is easy to spruce up the speech with other things that will develop its main point. Analogies, humorous stories (particularly those that illustrate an important point), metaphors and even well-timed questions can make it stick in the minds of the people in the audience (“How to Make a Speech Memorable”, n.d.) .
One particular effective strategy is to relate a personal anecdote. There is something especially attention-grabbing about a speaker’s personal experience, particularly when it relates to the main point of the presentation (“How to Make a Speech Memorable”, n.d.) . The speaker can also employ a variety other tricks, such as calling for volunteers to physically demonstrate an important point or purposely pausing the story on a cliffhanger and holding the audience in suspense until the very end of the speech before revealing the ending (also known as the (Zeigarnik Effect). Any appeal to emotions also helps, as people may forgot what is told to them yet they will likely remember how the speaker made them feel.
3. In a professional setting, delivering a speech extemporaneously is arguably the best way to deliver a speech for a variety of reasons: one, it provides enough keywords and guidelines to keep the speaker on track; two, it allows for a certain degree of creativity and flexibility not present in memorized or read speeches; three, it demonstrates the speaker’s skill and mastery of the material to the audience and makes the speaker look natural and credible.
In contrast, reading a speech or memorizing it tends to affect speaker credibility. It is easy for the audience to assume that the speaker has not mastered the material and must rely excessively on notes and texts. It also tends to make the speaker appear less interesting, natural and less believable.
When preparing an impromptu speech, the best thing to do is really to keep a handy collection of at least ten jokes, stories or anecdotes on stock at all times. The reason for this is simple: it gives a speaker something to work with and something to hook the audience’s attention with. From there, it is a simple affair to find a connection between that and the speech and discuss it. As with any skill, practicing the stock knowledge before the need to use them is critical. That way, when the need to deliver an impromptu speech does come, it will be second nature for a speaker to link at least one of them to the main point of the presentation.
References
Bostock, Sarah. (n.d.). Public Speaking Conceps & Skills for a Diverse Society. Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com
eHow.com. (n.d.). How to Make a Speech Memorable. Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com
