Are You Talkin' To Me?

The thoughts in your head and the words in your mouth can be absolutely useless if you do not speak them. Then again, it is one thing to speak the words out loud in front of a mirror while you emphatically flail your arms in emphasis and a completely different thing to actually speak those words to a living being. However, if those words that you speak to a living, breathing human being are not formatted in the proper context with a substantial meaning and a connection to be made by your audience, then unfortunately, your words will float away like the leaves in an autumn breeze.

While it is important for people to speak their minds and hearts relating to a particular cause or concept, the audience is the key behind those words, a confounding variable, a third factor. What makes words be them of a speech, book, movie, song, or any other numerous possibilities so powerful is the understanding of to whom the message is presented. 

This image is provided by TEDx UniversityofTulsa. 

There are many different variables that you must keep in mind when addressing an audience: occasion, situation, context, need, demographics, homogeneity or heterogeneity,  ideology, and genre. All of these aspects have an impact on the audience, and your job is to pertain the words on the tip of the tongue to the ears, minds, and hearts of the individuals listening. 

The occasion at which you are presenting your speech is basically the expectations set for you in the given venue. For example, if you are giving a speech at a funeral, you are most definitely not going to speak about the terrible life of the diseased or start jabbering about a random, personal problem. Instead, you will probably speak of the fond memories you have of the diseased, keep your message fairly short and sweet, and maintain a comforting and courteous manner. What you say and how you speak are generally based on the occasion. 

To paint a better picture, imagine your speech is a closet full of clothes and your occasion is the plans you have for the day. If you are planning on going to a job interview, you should probably choose a nice, clean, crisp outfit as opposed to some gym shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and some sneakers. On the other hand, if you are planning on doing yard work that day, your gym shorts, t-shirt, and sneaks will be much more suited for getting dirty than business attire. 

This image is provided by Remon Rijper. 

Situation is probably one of the most influential components to a speech. Have you ever had a friend, a parent, maybe even an educator start talking about some absurd topic of absolutely no interest to you? You may have decided there was more value in tuning out that lecture and pondering over what movie to watch that weekend or see the inside of your eyelids while you try not to snore too loudly. The situation you were faced with as a listener and audience member did not encourage you to listen and did not meet your personal expectations of listening-worthy information. When you, as a speaker, are  addressing your audience, it is imperative that you think over the situation or situations of the audience. The audience needs to be intrigued and inspired to listen after the first couple of sentences or else they will just drift from the message, maybe even drift into a hearty snore.

Now that you have your audience's attention, at least for the moment, it is story time. If you can remember back to when you were in preschool and elementary school, your whole class might have sat on the floor all comfy cozy on the carpet, eyes alert and ears attentive for the next book or story your teacher was holding in hand.

This image is provided by Aaron Cutler Memorial Library. 

Just like a bunch of little children, your audience will also appreciate a little bit of story time. In other words, your audience wants to know the background of your topic: Why are you speaking about a presidential candidate? Do you just like the person's hair? Is an election approaching? This example may very well run through an audience's mind if they are not given some context as to why you are discussing the subject. 

The background information of your topic could also very well support the need for your speaking of a particular topic. If you address a particular issue at hand, describing the current events that lead to your speech can supply your viewers with a logical reasoning for presenting them with your information. 

With already gripped attention and a little bit of story time under your belt, your audience members should be fully equipped to listen to the details of your speech. Now your knowledge of the audience members is required. While your message relates perfectly to your circumstances, someone else might not see the relevance to their circumstances. Words do not always connect the same way with everyone. Depending on an individuals age, a lecture on political candidates or government policies may be adamantly heard or simply pose as annoying background noice during snack time. Just as children require different circumstances from a speech than adults do, so do people of different ethnicities, religions, political views, races, sexes, and social classes. The demographics of your audience can really affect the comprehension of your message; therefore, it is best to know ahead of time to whom you will be addressing so as to plan your speech around the appropriate circumstances. 

Unfortunately with demographics, there are times when your audience members are absolutely similar to one another, almost like the clones from the Star Wars series, and there are times when your audience members are entirely different from one another. The good news for you as a speaker is that if your audience members are very similar, your message can be understood or relatable with general circumstances to which the whole audience will most likely relate.

A perfect example of extreme homogeneity. 

This image provided by Gordon Tarpley. 

For example, if a presidential candidate is speaking to a room full of republicans, they will not want to arrange their speech around democratic ideology. Likewise, if they decide to give a speech to an audience of democrats, framing their message around the republican perspective will probably not win them many supporters. If an audience is very similar, or have strong homogeneity, adapt your speech to their perspective while you speak your own opinions and information. 

If your audience members are not very similar or have minor differences amongst one another, your speech should pertain to this heterogeneity. Maybe you incorporate different examples or scenarios in a descriptive section of your speech. Maybe you use broader commonplaces to which your entire audience can relate.  

As an advanced warning, people are generally stubborn once they believe a certain way. The ideology of your audience is going to possibly be of great benefit or great trial to your overall message. If your audience's beliefs and perspectives on your topic of interest is similar to your own, then your speech will not require too much tweaking or persuasion to get the audience to agree with your side of the argument. 

Every now and then, you may be thrown to the wolves and have to make a speech that is rather persuasive to make your audience open-minded to listening to your ideologies. Be very cautious, though. Depending on how you present your ideologies and different methods of persuasion, your audience may be completely prepared to hear your views or entirely against your stance before you even provide your evidence. A general rule of thumb, an audience will more than likely not appreciate being scolded because of their beliefs not matching your own. Take it nice and easy. 

At the end of the day, your speech should follow a specific genre. Is your speech meant to persuade your audience to believe a different viewpoint? Is your speech meant to inform the audience of a topic or event? Are you simply supposed to entertain your audience for a while? Your genre will set the mood for your entire speech, and the seven other categories explained above serve as your guidelines to forming a speech that your audience will savor. 

This information was provided by Keith, William M., and Christian O. Lundberg. The Essential Guide to Rhetoric. Boston, Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. For more information or additional comprehension, please visit chapter two of The Essential Guide to Rhetoric.

Been There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt

I am not sure exactly what it is about our generation and wanting free t-shirts. Our society has almost completely morphed our youth into clothing-hungry beggars who will do almost anything for a free t-shirt. I guess if doing "anything" for a piece of clothing includes a few hours of community service on a Saturday afternoon, then that t-shirt may just be the perfect bribe.

As I have been looking at the civic responsibilities we the people are expected and encouraged to take part in, I remembered a green shirt sitting in my dresser under my college bed. I took it out, in all of its green, graphic designed glory and remembered how I got this t-shirt.

Upon recollection of my very first week at Penn State University, I remembered that an announcement was released, stating that all individuals willing to commit an afternoon doing community service around or off campus through the "My Backyard" service project would be greatly appreciated, and if you were one of the first 150 students to arrive at the sign-up tent, you would be the proud owner of a new, free t-shirt!

This picture was provided by the author of this blog. 

Naturally, a bunch of people attended the event on their first Saturday on campus. Whether their reasonings were to actually help serve the community or simply get a new shirt to strut around in, they came, and they helped in one way or another.

After much thought, I have decided to promote this t-shirt sitting in my drawer to being a civic artifact for my first Rhetoric and Civic Life speech.

Personally, I love writing speeches. I find so much thrill in writing a piece, the entire time picturing so many great speeches already given and known by many. The famous I Have a Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the climactic scene from the romantic comedy, The American President, always comes to mind when I ponder over powerful speech tactics.

This 1995 trailer for The American President shows only glimpses of speech and rhetoric; however, the actual film shows many different aspects of public speaking methods and techniques if you choose to watch the movie. 

To give my speech a somewhat similar effect, I plan to use some rhetorical questions to my peers right off the bat, allowing the audience to marinate over these questions throughout the speech, only to be asked these questions again as a concluding "food for thought."

"Will tomorrow be too late?"
"How about the next day?"
"Where will we go from there?"
"Where do we go from here?"

These four questions will stand as the hook for my speech. My reasoning for choosing these rather cryptic questions are simply to keep my audience on their toes. I personally do not enjoy stating the topic of my speech right off the bat, losing any element of surprise or connections able to be achieved by the audience.

The two concepts that will be discussed in the body of the essay will be the two civic responsibilities this "My Backyard" t-shirt promotes: one, preserving the natural world around us, and two, contributing to our community and our community members. Each of these concepts will be followed by specific examples and experiences that will support their being referenced as civic.

If you are interested in watching the entire speech, I Have a Dream by Dr, Martin Luther King Jr., you may view this video above. This video is rather lengthy, but for those of you who choose to watch this important moment in American history, the actual speech starts one minute and five seconds into the clip. 

What Passion Shall We Fashion?

When asked, "What are your passions?," many might immediately jump at the opportunity, spewing all of their passions to a room full of people as if the words were sizzling on their back burner for too long. Passion: a piece of yourself, a piece of your life, a piece of what makes you really you. Think about the few things that seem to be the center of attention in your life, the few things that many of your memories incorporate, the few things that make you smile every time you drift yourself back to that moment in time. Your passion should make you bubble over with excitement and make you want to talk all about whatever your passion is until the people around you listening are so overwhelmed with the topic that they immediately follow your lead or walk away, knowing that you could praise this passion for many more hours.

The reason for this elaboration on passion is not to be a dictionary or an essay that persuades you into doing or liking any one particular hobby. Alright, maybe this blog is a little bit of both of those statements. The reason I am being so knit-picky about the understanding and deeper value of passion is because I want to know your opinion. Many blogs are frequently about what the author wants to describe, write about, spout. This blog is to see what you would rather read about, what you want to know. 

I have already fashioned two of my passions for my next blog. What I would like to know, is which fashionable passion will make the runway, and you are going to call the shot. 

The first option is one that you are all too familiar with: music. Walking on a college campus, it is rare that I do not see at least a dozen people with their head phones on or earbuds in, drowning out the sound of the outside world. Every now and then, I will see some of these music fanatics bob their heads like they are the face of an 80's rock band - the only thing missing is the ever-so-popular mullet and a "rock on" hand signal bobbing in sync with the flow of that crazy hairdo. 

The Limitless Jukebox, a blog about music, would basically involve a general description of a multitude of types of music with specific examples from each genre. Some suggestions of when might be the best moments to listen to each specific genre will also be provided depending on what life throws at you. For example, some possible music genres might be best suited for study hours, meant to keep you focused and driven. Other music genres might be acceptable for when you are in a toe-tapping, feel good kind of mood. This list is really endless. 

A blog based on music would naturally give you some new ideas to add to your playlists, along with some possibly relevant events that might be comping up related to the given genre for each posting. Who knows. You might find that your favorite song is sitting in a jukebox, waiting for you to flip to the next list of songs.

This picture is provided by Thomas's Pics. 

The second choice is for all of the travelers who want to see the world but with a small price tag. This blog, Don't Forget the Polaroid, would be a travel blog, complete with the most affordable ways to experience the world around you while still seeing the sights beautiful enough for you to snap the perfect photo. 

The first initial post will include some general "How to..." information sessions, touching base on traveling necessities like how much clothing is too much clothing when packing, how not to lose your bags in an airport, and other general tips for traveling. 

Once the basics are covered, the fun can begin! Additional posts will include some ideas of where to travel, what are some of the best sights to see, best foods to eat,  tips about culture, and of course, how to pay for everything with a lower budget. This blog will surely open your eyes to the big, wide world waiting for you! The only think you need to remember: don't forget the polaroid! 

     This picture is provided by 55Laney69.