For the initial post, address the following:

• Why is knowing your audience an important part of capturing and maintaining their attention?
• What cultural considerations do you need to take into account for your particular audience/topic?
• How are you going to keep the audience’s attention throughout the speech?
• Find at least one example on YouTube, TEDx, or other video repositories of good attention-getting examples. Post the URL and explain how the video is a good model for capturing the audience’s attention. The video can be on any topic but must be appropriate for sharing.
• Make sure to include a scholarly source to support your points.

In place of the textbook citation, you will need to integrate and cite the video you selected as well as a scholarly source.

reply to bri 

• Why is knowing your audience an important part of capturing and maintaining their attention?

            McLean (2018) contends that a number of variables, including age, gender, race, religion, culture, and level of education, have an impact on how we perceive and understand the world. Furthermore, cultural differences must be taken into account in communication since they can easily lead to misunderstandings or conflicts. Understanding one’s audience is crucial because it enables one to present something that will pique their interest. Understanding your audience will also assist you in selecting the appropriate voice and tone for your speech. Recognition of the viewing public is necessary in order to customize a presentation to their best interest, level of comprehension, perceptions, and belief systems. The same message cannot be conveyed to both children and adults for instance. The speaker must adapt their message to the diverse ways that adults perceive the world.

• What cultural considerations do you need to take into account for your particular audience/topic?

            According to St. Amant (2017), culture influences how individuals perceive the world. Therefore, they are based on cultural factors that can affect how individuals interpret messages and what is right and wrong. As a result, understanding cultural differences is the initial cultural factor one should consider. The ability to formulate messages or subjects that are sensitive to cultural differences entails knowledge of how a particular group’s culture shapes its perspective. For instance, if someone is aware that some African nations support polygamy, they won’t make a presentation that criticizes their way of life because doing so would put the viewers and the presenter at a distance. It’s also important to take language differences into consideration.

• How are you going to keep the audience’s attention throughout the speech?

            Initially, due to my awareness of the audience’s demographics and cultural characteristics, I can start by telling an intriguing narrative.  Second, the subject being discussed should be pertinent to the audience. For instance, I am unable to discuss war-related topics with a young audience. The audience won’t be captivated by the subject because it appears to lack significance, so their focus will be elsewhere.

            The YouTube video I chose is titled, “Stop Beginning Your Speeches with Good Morning and Thank You and Start with This Instead.” The video provides a great illustration of how to draw in viewers because, firstly, regardless of the fact that there were hundreds of other YouTube videos, the title alone could lure in viewers. The presenter now has validity since she has demonstrated it by capturing my attention. The second point made in the video is that a speaker needs to be passionate in order to engage the viewers. Integrating both nonverbal and verbal cues passionately is required for this. The video is effective since it conveys the significance of both nonverbal and verbal signals within a presentation.

References 

McLean Scott, (2018). Exploring interpersonal communication (2nd ed.) Boston, MA: Flatworld

St. Amant, K. (2016). Introduction to the special issue: Cultural considerations for communication design. Communication Design Quarterly Review, 4(1), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1145/2875501.2875502Links to an external site.

Riegel, D. G. (2019, August 15). Stop Beginning Your Speeches with Good Morning and Thank You and Start with This Instead. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbq4_Swj0GgLinks to an external site.