Chapter 10 - Topic selection and Audience Analysis
Which of the following questions, if answered in the affirmative, will tend to confirm the appropriateness of your topic for your audience?
Did you select a vital topic? Can you tell where the audience stands on it?
When speaking on a complex topic to an audience that is not versed in it, what are some recommended practices?
Explain technical concepts in down-to-earth terms. Simplify the topic as much as seems warranted.
If you are giving a talk about classical music, what would be the most useful thing to know about your audience?
How many of them own recordings of classical music?
Which of the following would probably be suitable subjects for an audience of college students?
Is the Greek system a good way for students to develop their social life on campus? Should the university raise tuition or increase class sizes?
Which of the following is a correct step in the recommended brainstorming procedure?
Spend 15 minutes researching each topic produced during the brainstorming session.
What is the most appropriate response if you are giving a talk about eliminating homework and you learn that a substantial portion of the audience is educators?
Start your argument from a position sympathetic to the goals of education.
When selecting a topic for a speech, being well informed on the topic and feeling commitment to it are both important.
True
What are some of the disadvantages of spending too much time searching for a topic?
You can lose time that would be better spent on preparing the talk. You can wind up selecting your topic at the last minute.
Which is an ideal condition for a successful presentation topic?
You know a lot about the topic, and your audience only has general knowledge.
To identify what you already know and still need to know about your topic, which of the following lists should you make?
a list of information you want to learn about the topic a list of what your audience needs to know about the topic a list of all the information you can recall on the topic
How should a public speaker prepare for an audience?
adapt how they look adapt how they behave Tailor what they say to the audience.
Because topics live, change, and die, a speaker should take into account the ______ and development of both the audience and the topic when selecting an issue about which to talk.
age
You should be prepared to adjust your dress, manner of speaking, verbal language, and many other aspects of your presentation, based primarily on
an audience analysis.
The starting point for public speaking should be a self-______ to survey your interests.
analysis
If you are going to narrow your topic, the best time to do so is ______ you begin searching for additional information.
before
Thinking of as many topics as you can in a limited time is known as
brainstorming.
Even if you are well-informed about a topic, you need to feel a ______ to it in order for it to be successful.
commitment
Based on free speech protection provided by the ______ Amendment, a speaker is allowed to talk on almost any subject.
first
In order for a talk to be effective, its topic should be
important to the audience.
In a speech advocating that people purchase electric cars, the ______-______ goal of your talk is to improve the quality of the environment.
long range
Which of the following would be the best topic for a speech if you are a college student in an agricultural community?
pesticide usage by farmers
Audience analysis is very useful as you
select an appropriate topic. focus your topic.
Topic selection should
take up only a small amount of your speech preparation time.
Inexperienced presenters tend to select topics that are ______ their time limit.
too large for too complex for
Which of the following should you consider when surveying your interests?
what issues bother you personally YouTube videos, TED Talks, or blogs you have focused on what causes take up your time and energy
The immediate purpose of your speech is
what you want listeners to take away with them.
