Writing for Listeners
The goal of learning about public speaking isn’t only how to deliver a speech, but how to write one. You might be thinking: “I can write an essay, so I can write a speech!” Yes and no. Writing a speech is closely related to other forms of writing, like a research paper on a historical event or a book report for an English class. Speechwriting, however, has unique requirements. This is true whether you are writing a full manuscript or an outline for extemporaneous delivery. In this and the next several chapters, you will learn about writing specific kinds of speeches. This chapter focuses on the general guidelines for writing a well-constructed speech that can be applied to almost any speech type. The added benefit is that improving your ability to write speeches will help you become a better writer overall.
There is one crucial difference between a speech and an essay: listener versus reader. When we write an essay, we are writing a text for someone to read. Readers can go at their own pace, read parts of a text several times over, loop back to an earlier page for comprehension, and use visual signals like titles, subtitles, and paragraphs to see the structure of the text and so aid in comprehension.
Listening is different. The audience can’t go back to hear something they didn’t understand. They can’t go slower or faster. They can’t see important visual connections: the audience can’t see where one paragraph topic ends, and another one begins! It’s up to you, the speaker, to make your speech as “listener-friendly” as possible using the techniques discussed in this chapter.
As a speechwriter, you should be aware that there are several things you can do to overcome the disadvantages of listening over reading. Most important is the speech writing technique we call planned redundancy. Planned redundancy refers to purposeful ways of repeating and restating parts of the speech to help the audience listen and retain the content. In speechwriting, the elements of redundancy include:
- previewing the main points at the beginning to forecast the plan of the speech.
- providing the main idea of the speech and repeating it in the body of the speech.
- using connective statements between points to remind the audience of what was just said
- using signal works like “first, second, finally” and “to conclude.”
- repeating the main idea of the speech the plan and re-emphasizing the content.
- giving an overall summary in the conclusion to help the audience remember or do something with the information.
You may think that the techniques of planned redundancy make a speech boring, but it’s just the opposite. Listeners get bored when they lose track of what is being said or they must struggle to make sense of the structure. If giving a speech is like driving down a highway, planned redundancies are the road signs. When they are repeated with the right frequency, people don’t get lost.
Additional techniques to make your speeches listener-friendly include writing a strong introduction that captures the attention of the audience from the outset, the use of presentation aids, movement at key points in the speech (if appropriate) and incorporating specific examples and stories.
If listeners are at a disadvantage in terms of comprehension, impediments brought by the environment of the speech occasion further impede good listening. Since you’re a listener as well as a speaker, you are susceptible to these barriers. Here’s a summary of the most common ones. See if you can recognize them in yourself.
- Some people are not strong aural learners and listening may not be a personal strength. However, that does not make listening unimportant or something that can’t be improved upon.
- The noisiness and constant distractions of our lives make sustained listening difficult for many. We may be distracted by the constant lure of our devices. Life concerns as well as negative news feeds hurt our ability to listen.
- Listeners can be physically uncomfortable, from hunger, fatigue, or pain, for example. Even if a person does not have a condition that makes sitting and listening difficult, the physical environment (uncomfortable chairs, a room that is too hot or too cold) may make listening to a public speaker difficult.
- Listening can be difficult because of other people. Perhaps the scent of soap or shampoo is unpleasant to you. Perhaps neighbors sitting by you can’t put their cell phones down or perhaps they are whispering to each other.
Finally, in addition to these mostly environmental barriers, there is a subtle barrier in the attitudes that audiences bring to the topic or speaker. One is confirmation bias. The term means “a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions” (Nickerson, 1998). It can cause a listener to discount, reject, or re-interpret what they hear to fit their preconceptions. Related to this barrier is prejudging a speaker from opening remarks, dismissing their topic or position at the outset due to perceived disagreement, or “tuning them out” due to appearance or nonverbal behavior. Prejudgment is a counterproductive behavior.
What can a speaker do to overcome the barriers of environment and attitude?
- For the barriers of noise in the room, see if there’s any adjustments you can make. Is the microphone adjusted? Is there an air conditioner or blower that’s making noise? Should doors be closed? Should you be closer to the audience?
- For the barriers of distractions. There isn’t much one can do if an audience member prefers to look at their phone instead of you. That said, at the start of the speech you could ask people to silent their phones or turn them off completely.
- Like phones, there is little a speaker can do to keep audience members from distracting each other. Don’t stare down a distracting audience member. Focus on another section of the audience. They’ll get the message.
- Confirmation bias and prejudgment is a barrier to listening that a speaker can do little to control. The best techniques for improving the changes that your speech will reach even a biased audience include establishing your credibility as a speaker, being an ethical speechwriting through honesty, sources, and integrity. These are discussed later in this chapter and in chapters to follow.
Finally, learning about barriers to listening isn’t only valuable to the speechwriter/performer, but to you as a listener. Decide that good listening in specific situations and improving your own listening behavior are important.
- Go into listening knowing that you might disagree and that the automatic “turn off” tendency of confirmation bias is a possibility. Tell yourself to keep an open mind.
- Notice if you make prejudgments about a speaker. Once you do, you can let them go.
- Be prepared to listen. This means putting away mobile devices, having a pen and paper, and situating yourself physically to listen. Have a purpose in listening.
- When taking notes, keep yourself mentally engaged by writing questions that arise. This behavior will fill in the gaps when your mind could wander and create more of an interaction with the speaker.
- Avoid temptations to talk to those sitting next to you. It’s far more distracting to both the speaker and your co-listeners than you might think.
