Total Politics 2010 Election Map

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Audience participation

 

John Shosky

 

The people listening to a speech must feel involved. John Shosky provides the key points to follow

 

 

 

Every speech is always, always, always about the audience. So, in an earlier piece (TP May 2009), there was discussion of the speaker's need to analyse an audience. Such a perspective is about how to get the audience to come to a point of collective agreement, and adopt the action or attitude urged by the speaker.

 

But what is it that the audience wants? What is an audience hoping to obtain by listening to a speech? Many speakers ignore such questions, allowing their speeches to become exhibitions of indulgent selfgratification. Why should an audience put up with a speech that is more posing and performance than unifi cation and leadership? Each member of the audience is asking: "What's in it for me?" The answers to these questions tell us about audience expectations - expectations that must be met for the speech to be a success. And a speech is only a success if it meets the expectations of the audience.

 

When Senator Robert Kennedy travelled to South Africa and spoke on 7 June 1966, there was an audience of 18,000 people. There were high expectations. There were also warnings, official discouragement and worse.

 

 

Speaker assessment
Robert Kennedy had star power long before Bono and Barack. His mere presence was a draw for students in those tense times. Some people came because the speech was an event, a political statement. Showing up sent a message to the government and supporters of apartheid. But many came because they wanted to examine and gauge Kennedy's message and the man giving it. Why? Aristotle said one of the major reasons for attending a speech is to assess the character of the speaker. Many in the audience probably worried beforehand that Senator Kennedy had come to Cape Town for his own personal benefit, perhaps for political gain.

 

The audience needed to know that his advocacy was genuine, refl ecting a dedication to freedom for all people. And they wanted to decide whether or not to heed his call to action, whether to recognise him as an opinion-leader and to follow that lead. People in the audience wanted hope that apartheid would end, that each person would be granted the full rights of citizenship. The presence of both speaker and audience was an exercise of mutual trust, with mutual risk.

 

 

Unification with the speaker
The audience wants to join with the speaker, to become one. So, the audience must accept the speaker as an equal, as a friend, and allow the speaker to become their spokesperson, giving voice to the needs, demands and aspirations of the audience. Senator Kennedy did this immediately. He started the speech: "We stand here in the name of freedom." Note the pronoun and the collective purpose. He assumed the role of speaker for the audience, becoming the voice of those 18,000 people.

 

 

Respect
Unification is an act of respect. That respect must be shown in approach and style. Modern audiences want a conversation between the speaker and the audience. Each person wants to believe that the speaker recognises their importance, equality, worth and uniqueness. Senator Kennedy had a conversation with his audience. After discussing the need to recognise the human rights of each person in each country, he spoke of the different "evils" in various countries, and that the commonality in each case was to recognise that the troubles are man-made. Therefore he appealed to the audience of students and activists to join with other young people throughout the world "to wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home and particularly around the world". I would draw attention to the last part of the last prepositional phrase. Even if South Africa ended apartheid, the work would not be done in a global world. This language bridged any division between those in attendance and those unable to come.

 

 

Information
Respect also means sharing information. The speaker is invited because of his or her expertise and experience. By 1966, Kennedy was a civil rights leader, an advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. His wealth and background created doubts about his commitment. But his personality, sincerity, and message overcame those doubts. I should also add that he had a strange humility that is noticeable throughout this speech. He doesn't come across as a powerful and influential figure. He just talks to the audience in a very personal and direct way, friend to friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audiences don't want to be told what they already know, unless the speech is just an exercise in energising true believers. An audience wants to learn and grow. They want the speaker to tell them something new, to move the debate on issues forward. This creates a tricky problem for speakers, because there is a temptation to try to 'educate' and lecture the audience. Rather, the conversational aspect of the speech must be maintained. The tone must be one of sharing insights and vision, not assuming the role of the 'know-it-all'.

 

Kennedy shared his perspective of the international situation. He spoke of "the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills - against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence." In his view, there were ample examples of one person making a difference. He also spoke of the "danger... of practicality", of compromise between principle and necessity. He argued that there was no inconsistency between idealism and realism. And he spoke of a third danger: "timidity". He said each person must have the moral courage to do that which is right and just.

 

 

Solutions
The audience wants solutions. This audience knew that any action could be deadly. So it was time for serious talk about realistic actions. Kennedy offered a solution that was direct and confrontational: personal action against injustice. He said: "One answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth... It demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease." He told the audience that the choice was theirs. But it was young people who would make the difference in the generations to come.

 

So, what must they do? Have moral courage. Stand up against oppression...not once or twice, but always...everywhere. No other action would be as effectie. And he was with them. Quoting his late brother, he said: "The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire will truly light the world."

 

 

Hope
Audiences want to know that the future will be better than the past. They want hope. They want to know that their actions will make a difference. Kennedy understood this and, in one of the most famous and exciting passages in speechmaking, he said: "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

 

 

Preparation
None of this happens if the speaker is unprepared. Some people, especially some politicians and celebrities, believe that "ninety percent is just showing up". Wrong! The audience wants preparation, professionalism, and serious effort. The audience wants respect and regard. One way of showing respect is the speaker's commitment to an understandable, concise, thoughtful, well-crafted, and well-delivered message. Lack of clarity is sloppy and confusing. And no one wants to waste time. If the speaker wastes the time of the audience he shows disregard and arrogance. Frankly, lack of preparation is deeply insulting. Members of the audience will perceive the insult. A person who is invited to speak assumes a role of voice and leadership. A lack of preparation works against the speaker.

 

Kennedy thought about the needs if the audience and met them. He understood that each speech is an opportunity to change the world, especially when that speech is made in a time and place that crushed freedom for the majority of a country's people. Kennedy sent forth a ripple of hope. The words are still working 44 years later, an echo heard throughout the world, lately across Africa and America, and in Iran, Burma and China.

 

 

 

John Shosky is a Washington speechwriter