Week 11 Post 2

Most people believe that if they give a perfect speech it will be because the content was optimal. The truth is that a perfect speech relies as much on the speaker's ability to connect with the audience as it does on the content of the speech itself. Speakers can connect with their audience by being conscious of what the audience is and isn't looking for in a speaker. Before a presentation, a speaker should be focusing on the audience. This includes doing research on potential listeners and making an effort to interest them in the speech as fast and reasonably as possible. If the speaker is not aware of who their listeners will be they may be able to make generalizations based off of the situation they will be speaking in to craft their speech as reasonably for their audience as possible. Next, while giving the speech, a presenter should try to be as genuine as possible. Rhetoric and inflection can be great tools to display an individual's personality and interests. This is important because coming across as relatable, genuine, and interesting will put listeners at ease. Separate from rhetoric and inflection, speakers may be able to write amusing anecdotes, personal stories, or jokes into their speech to convey their personality to the listeners. More important to connecting with an audience than any of that though is body language, which is responsible for more than half of communication. The speaker should try to get comfortable in their speaking space. That involves trying to be confident but not cocky, looking relaxed, not fidgeting, and maintaining a reasonable amount of eye contact. Speakers can boost their nonverbal communication by being memorized and using audiovisual aids no more than necessary to get their point across.
The practice of connecting with an audience proves that speech is a skill rather than a talent because the understanding of how to do it is built through trial, error, and hard work. Talents are innate and may be boosted through those things but can exist without them. Speeches will be disconnected, uncomfortable, and all together lower quality unless the connection with the audience is made this shows that speech relies on a skill built through hard work and therefore, is a skill.

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