Speaking in and to different disciplines

Speaking in and to Different Disciplines Communication does not take place in a vacuum In fact, understanding messages requires an appreciation of the situation in which the message is conveyed In the United States, people communicate very directly with each other, often trying to “say what they mean.” This is not the case in other cultures where people will be more indirect and require audience members to examine situational cues and information to infer the meaning in a statement Whether a message is direct or indirect, however, we are still called upon to examine and appreciate context when developing and interpreting messages In addition to cultural differences, specific fields and professions have certain expectations of how messages should be communicated Regardless of whether you want to pursue a career in teaching, politics, engineering, business, or health, knowing how to present your ideas to an audience is essential In this chapter, we will first discuss the concept of context and some of its common aspects— regardless of your chosen career field—to which you need to pay attention when constructing and delivering messages Then, we will discuss five particular professional contexts in which you may find yourself: politics, education, the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), business, and health In each of these contexts, the process of developing and delivering messages holds different expectations and challenges To better appreciate these challenges, though, let’s begin with a discussion of some general characteristics of contexts Contextual Factors Regardless of your profession, there are some typical contextual factors that exist in virtually any public speaking situation These elements of the speaking environment include the external environment, the speaking format, and general audience characteristics In this section of the chapter, we will briefly discuss each of these before delving into more specific issues pertaining to particular careers External Environment It’s easy to imagine a variety of speaking situations You could be called upon to deliver remarks outdoors, or in a large or small room As the speaker, it is important to pay attention to the environment in which you will speak because each carries with it certain advantages and challenges One speaking environment is outdoors Despite the fact we think most presentations take place inside a boardroom or conference hall, there are still plenty of opportunities to speak outdoors, so it is important to understand the environmental issues related to this speaking situation Many weddings and festivals have moments when key participants are called upon to make brief remarks, and these situations have some challenges not present when speaking in an enclosed space such as a meeting room When speaking outdoors there are more competing noises that can overshadow your remarks Airplanes, cars, and the wind can create an environment that requires you to speak loudly or find a microphone When a speech takes place outside, audience members may also come and go more freely because of the open nature of the space, creating more distractions Finally, outdoor presentations are often controlled by weather, and so speakers must be prepared to move indoors if the weather changes When speaking indoors, there are two different environments in which you may find yourself: a large or a small room Now, in both you could have a large or small audience as well, but let’s assume for the sake of the discussion that there is an adequate size audience in either environment There are significant challenges to both situations, so let’s discuss the large-room environment first In a large room, you will not know everyone in the audience, and so the first obstacle is identifying with such a large group Typically, you must make an effort to verbally identify with the audience by mentioning one or two members of the audience whom you know or the underlying purpose that brought the group together early in your speech Another environmental factor you will need to consider is how the size of the room will affect the audibility of your voice Make sure that everyone in the audience hears you, and whenever possible try to get to the room early and see if there are microphones available Smaller rooms with smaller audiences not usually require microphones, although they might be available That said, smaller rooms are more intimate, and people tend to pay closer attention to the speaker With that in mind, you can make your presentation more dialogic and conversational in smaller venues by asking questions, soliciting verbal feedback, and even conversing with specific people for brief moments That said, environmental factors are not the only contextual factors that speakers in every situation must confront The Speaking Format Thanks to technology, there are now, broadly speaking, two different formats for presentations: in-person and mediated Both of these have different variations, but for our purposes, we will consider these in broad terms for now When we speak of in-person formats, we simply mean the traditional format of a presenter and live audience that are in the same place at the same time Mediated formats are those that allow a speaker to speak to an audience from an entirely different location than that of the audience, possibly even at a different time Each of these contains aspects for which speakers must specifically plan The in-person format is one with which many people are familiar In these situations, there is often a raised platform from which speakers or presenters deliver their remarks On the platform there is sometimes a lectern, or stand, behind which the speaker stands to present the speech This layout is common in large venues, but it is increasingly appearing in small room formats as well This setup places the audience directly in front of the speaker, often at a lower level than the presenter Sometimes this format is used in a room that has stadium-style seating where the rows of seats for the audience gradually rise like those in an arena This allows for each audience member to have a good view of the presenter regardless of where he or she sits In today’s fast-paced environment, it is not always feasible for speakers and presenters to meet their audiences in person Thankfully, there are numerous technologies that allow people to speak to an audience from a distance Satellite feeds on news programs make it possible to talk with an audience in a different location, as more readily available programs such as Skype and FaceTime Webbased programs such as YouTube and DropBox also allow taped video presentations to be sent to people across the globe, making it even easier for people to deliver presentations to audiences at more convenient times without the hassle of traveling When it comes to these mediated formats, however, the expectations of the audience drastically increase, especially for presentations that are prerecorded Since you can record and re-record until the presentation is delivered the way you believe it should be, audiences expect more pristine delivery This requires speakers to prepare and practice the speech more often, because if they not, they will be doing numerous re-takes of their video remarks This format also either reduces or greatly eliminates the chance for audience feedback, which means you have no chance to change or adapt mid-presentation This is a challenge If you tell a joke that falls flat or report data that is confusing to the audience, you have no ability to recover or to clarify the information Thus, knowing the format in which you’ll be speaking is essential for creating effective presentations and is also a common concern regardless of your profession General Audience Characteristics In a later chapter we will discuss audience analysis techniques, so for the moment when speaking about common contextual issues confronted by speakers in almost every scenario, we will simply say audiences are a constant challenge to speakers Some audiences are large, some small; some audiences agree with you, some are neutral toward your ideas, and others oppose your position; some audiences know a lot about your topic, others know very little but want to know more; some audiences are compelled to be present, while others willingly and voluntarily come to hear your remarks All of these audience-related potentialities, and others we will explore in greater depth later, exist in every speaking situation and therefore are important contextual factors to which every speaker must pay attention Ultimately, the more you know about the audience, as well as the speaking format and the environment, the more prepared you will be when delivering your presentation In the following section of this chapter, we will break down five popular professional fields in which speeches take place and briefly explain how each of these three contextual factors manifests itself in those fields Speaking in Different Fields and Professions Many students, once they have decided on a field, believe that there are few, if any, situations in which they will be required to deliver a presentation However, this is not the case since professionals in all fields engage in delivering presentations to others Instead, employers list communication skills among the most important skills they look for in new hires and they would like to see them emphasized more in colleges and universities (Hart Research Associates, 2006, 2010) In politics, candidates deliver speeches to gain votes, advisors deliver remarks to staff members on a campaign, and even engaged citizens may prepare remarks for local PTA or Knights of Columbus meetings Teachers also need to prepare effective presentations almost every day so their lessons are coherent and produce student achievement Engineers, scientists, and mathematicians need to be able to explain their projects, findings, and recommendations to people unfamiliar with their field In business, whether in accounting, marketing, or sales, individuals must be able to think on their feet, prepare reports of data for unfamiliar groups, and persuade clients to purchase products Doctors, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals educate patients about their medical conditions and sometimes give public presentations about health care Clearly, regardless of the field, it is essential for career success that students learn how to prepare and deliver competent and effective presentations In this section, we will briefly break down each of those five fields and discuss how the common contextual factors we discussed earlier appear in each of these professions Politics and Speech The public is most familiar with speech in the political realm, so much of what we will say here should not come as much of a surprise Speech for those involved in politics can take many forms and occur in almost all of the contexts we laid out earlier As a result, political speakers need to be well versed in speaking in these different situations We have all seen political speeches in a variety of different settings Perhaps a mayor has spoken during a festival or celebration outdoors Presidents often give addresses in the Rose Garden or outdoors at commemorative events Politicians also give speeches inside to large audiences of people, such as during the State of the Union address or a political debate Finally, small rooms are often employed as venues for local clubs and organizations, or even town hall meetings with city councils or school orientations for parents The external environments for political speeches are as varied as the topics and positions taken by the speakers In terms of the speaking format, again we find great variety for political messages These occur in-person with microphones and elevated platforms, as well as in mediated scenarios in which remarks are taped and delivered on the Web so audience members can watch at their leisure One wrinkle in both of these settings is the intense desire on the part of the speaker to create an intimate relationship with the audience When delivering remarks live this is often done by moving from behind the lectern and speaking among the audience In mediated and taped presentations, the focus is on the head of the speaker, to create the impression he or she is having a conversation with one lone viewer Audiences also vary a great deal for political speakers, especially during a campaign Sometimes, such as at rallies, the audience is predisposed to agree with the speaker and thus will be more supportive At other times, often during town hall meetings for example, some audience members may be hostile to the speaker’s ideas and the situation and topic must then be carefully managed Audiences can also be both small and large for political speakers, and often you never really know what to expect The great variance in political speechmaking contexts makes it ever more important to learn how to create an effective presentation by understanding the context in which you are speaking Speaking for Educators Political speeches receive most of our attention, but the one profession that may deliver the most presentations every year is that of an educator, be it a teacher or professor Just think about how many times you went to school and listened to a lecture or participated in a lesson where you took notes and learned something new Every class taught is an informative speech Just because teachers and professors not intentionally persuade us to believe or buy something does not make the structure and delivery of their lessons any less a public speaking event Public speaking in an educational context is largely restricted to an indoor environment Sure, there are a few exceptions to this, but the overwhelming majority of lessons taught by teachers and professors occur inside a classroom Now, these classrooms vary in size, especially at the college level In elementary and high school we often have classes that not contain more than thirty or so students with one teacher In those rooms, instructors not need to use a microphone and can move about the class, get to know their students as an audience, and be more conversational in their delivery This size may change in college, when students might register for a large lecture course where there are hundreds of students in the same room with the instructor In these situations, microphones may be used and the instructor will rarely move around the room The speaking format in the educational field has traditionally been in-person, but thanks to technology, even that has begun to change in recent years Teachers and professors most often have a classroom, but these rooms often are not constricted by a platform Instructors typically engage their classes from the front of the room, but many teachers also move around the room a lot This type of in-person setup for instruction has been changing, at least at the collegiate level, in recent years Students can enroll in distance education courses in which they are not required to actually attend a classroom for much, or often any, of the class Instead, students go online and view pretaped lectures and perform activities and discussions in a virtual environment The pretaped lectures present all of the same challenges we mentioned earlier for mediated presentations, and additionally have to be revisited each term to update their content In other online classes, students and teachers might hold class using videoconferencing technology that allows everyone in the class to interact at the same time from many different locations Online instruction is not an easy endeavor for either the instructor or the student, but it does present a wider context in which educators need to be proficient in presentation creation and delivery Audiences for teachers and professors are also unique Unlike most other professions, students are teachers’ typical audience, and the messages teachers create are not usually designed to persuade the audience Rather, this profession is especially dependent on delivering information to an audience in an unbiased manner, and so informative speaking tends to be its focus This heightens speakers’ concerns about what their audience knows before deciding what to put in a lesson Should the students be expected to know what was in the book? If so, this drastically changes what information a professor includes in a lecture It also reduces the speaker’s need to worry about whether an audience agrees or disagrees with what is presented because the content is not meant to convince, but to inform Speaking in the STEM Fields STEM stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics,” and these fields are typically understood as applied fields of study In these fields, people typically apply math and science knowledge to invent, design, create, or build things to solve practical problems, but more often than not, people in these fields must share their ideas with others who the work of implementing the plans Because of this, it is especially important that students in STEM fields learn to deliver effective presentations Moreover, the work done by people in these fields affects others in very tangible ways, such as in the design of the buildings and roads where we live and work, the medical advances that might save our lives, the computer technologies that are increasingly important in allowing us to work and communicate with others, and the generation and delivery of electricity to our homes In these fields, ideas must be explained to others in a way that makes sense, particularly since there is sometimes very little room for error In terms of the environments in which people in these careers speak, presentations by scientists and engineers often involve speaking to small groups indoors Sometimes scientists and engineers give presentations for a larger audience at a conference, such as when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad for Apple and when Mark Zuckerberg gave a keynote speech at a conference to announce a redesign of Facebook However, most presentations in STEM fields are given for much smaller audiences, such as when a team of engineers presents a proposal to potential investors, scientists share their research findings with other scientists in smaller conference sessions, or when developers present their plans to the various team members who will be responsible for the actual work of creating the final product Thus, it is especially important for people in the STEM fields to understand how to speak in smaller, more intimate environments When it comes to the speaking format, the focus is usually on the traditional face-to-face format in smaller settings, but there is an increasing emphasis on knowing how to deliver remarks remotely and online Smaller settings require more ease and finesse, as we have already stated, so those in STEM fields must appear comfortable in these settings In remote presentations delivered online during a WebEx or video conference session, remarks must also appear polished and often must effectively incorporate visual aids because the material conveyed is complicated, and the expectations of a polished performance are even higher for prerecorded presentations that can be accessed at any time Audiences for STEM professionals often include colleagues and others in the STEM field, but it is also just as common to find situations in which scientists and engineers must explain complicated projects and complex ideas to groups of people not familiar with their technical areas of expertise This can include providing project details to government officials, business professionals, and future investors Sometimes, though not often, scientists and engineers try to craft persuasive arguments for their projects, but more often their responsibility is restricted to helping an audience understand complex processes and projects This makes it important for STEM professionals to understand language and how it can be used to help uninformed audiences understand what can seem to be inaccessible technical jargon We will provide greater elaboration about language as a skill later in the book Speaking in Business Settings Around the country, faculty in colleges of business and employers hiring their graduates almost always cite public speaking and oral communication as skills they want in university students—and with good reason The ability to speak effectively, clearly, and coherently is as necessary in business as it is in politics, the field we began this section discussing Whether it is in accounting, marketing, or sales, the business field is saturated with situations requiring professionals to deliver remarks to an audience Business professionals most often find themselves in small conference room settings, but every once in a while they will also need to speak outdoors or even in large conference halls Think about the chief executive officer who is asked to speak at the company picnic or the chief financial officer who provides details on the performance of the company to an annual meeting of investors Those situations aside, smaller units of the company often meet when someone delivers a report or recommendation for improvement relevant to the people in that room, and salespeople must frequently prepare remarks to persuade a potential client to purchase the product they are selling Business settings vary, but for many, the smaller room remains the most common context in which business presentations take place Perhaps more than the other fields we have discussed, business professionals find themselves meeting with potential clients and delivering pitches in a mediated environment Computer technologies such as WebEx, LiveMeeting, GoToMeeting, Adobe Connect, and Illuminate make it possible for individuals to hold videoconferences in which they can share one computer screen with all attendees, such as when a PowerPoint presentation is used, or a videoconference using webcams, similar to a Skype videoconference, with a large group of people It is increasingly common for members of the same division or team to be located in different areas of the country or for sales teams to work with clients who are located far away By giving presentations and holding meetings virtually, businesses can connect with more clients in more locations, reduce travel costs associated with on-location meetings, and reduce the need for and expense of office space since employees can often work from home For this reason, it is essential for business professionals to learn how to craft, deliver, and respond to presentations in mediated settings Audiences also vary for business professionals, depending upon their occupation Accountants, for example, often deliver financial information internally to colleagues who have only a passing understanding of financial information Salespersons, on the other hand, attempt to persuade external parties to buy products or services Members of the management team may both of these tasks as well as attempt to inspire their staffs to excel and hit their targets All of these contexts require a very different understanding of context and audience, but are essential for a business to thrive and survive It is no surprise then that faculty and employers all want students to learn the skills we are teaching you in this book Speaking in Healthcare Settings Health professionals speak in a variety of contexts, and effective communication is now seen as so important that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has announced that interpersonal and communication skills will be one of six competencies that will be measured and reported in order for a program to remain accredited (Nasca et al., 2012) Why those responsible for overseeing medical education think that communication skills are so important? The ability to communicate effectively with other members of the medical team and with patients is crucial for ensuring effective health care Healthcare professionals speak in a variety of contexts, but it is most common to speak to a small group in an intimate situation Health professionals, including doctors, nurses, dentists, physical therapists, and others, must be able to speak effectively with other members of a healthcare team Whether it’s sharing a plan before doing a procedure, sharing information about patients when changing shifts, or discussing a diagnosis and trying to decide which treatment is the best course of action, health professionals must be able to speak effectively so that they can share information accurately and quickly in order to ensure the best possible medical care and prevent mistakes Equally important, health professionals must have strong communication skills to speak with patients Every conversation with a patient requires the same skills as a more formal presentation: health professionals must adjust their language to the audience and the situation, organize information clearly, use visual aids to enhance understanding of the material, use informative speaking strategies to teach about health conditions and explain treatments, and use persuasive speaking skills to persuade others to follow care instructions However, it is important to note that health professionals also give presentations to much larger audiences from time to time Health professionals might teach community first aid and birthing classes, give presentations for students at a local school, give presentations at conferences, or even give expert testimony in a trial In these situations, it is likely that the health professional will be standing in front of a seated audience and, in larger venues, might need to use a microphone and visual aids References Hart Research Associates (2006) How should colleges prepare students to succeed in today’s global economy? Washington, D C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities Hart Research Associates (2010) Raising the bar: Employers’ views on college learning in the wake of the economic downturn Washington, D C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities Nasca, T J., Philibert, I., Brigham, T., & Flynn, T C (2012) The next GME accreditation system—Rationale and benefits New England Journal of Medicine Special Reports, 10.1056 Retrieved from http://www.acgme-nas.org/assets/pdf/NEJMfinal.pdf