II. Choose a clear, concise purpose for your message.

1. Ask yourself, ?After hearing this message, I want my audience to . . . ?

Examples:

NOT: My specific purpose is to inform the audience about politics.

BUT: My specific purpose is to inform the audience about the role of the two-party system in American politics.

NOT: My specific purpose is to persuade the audience against drunk driving.

BUT: My specific purpose is to persuade the audience of the need for stiffer penalties for drunk driving.

NOT: My desired outcome is to sell this product.

BUT: My desired outcome is to have you buy this product.

NOT: My desired outcome is to explain photosynthesis.

BUT: My desired outcome is to have you understand the workings of photosynthesis.

2. Be specific with your specific purpose.

a. The emphasis is on the behavior you want the audience to adopt.

b. Teachers have learned to phrase their previously fuzzy goals as concrete behavioral objectives.

c. The Management by Objectives movement has helped employers and employees analyze tasks and set definite goals and deadlines.

d. Example

?I want my audience to appreciate art? is fine for a primary audience outcome, but you must go further and ask yourself how you will know if you have succeeded. What, exactly, are people doing when they are appreciating art? If you think about the specific behaviors or operations that contribute to appreciating art, you will come up with a list like this:

Go to galleries.

Read books on art.

Create pieces of art themselves.

3. Examples

a. Informative Message

i. General purpose: To inform

ii. Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the steps of a successful job interview

iii. Primary Audience Outcome: I want my audience to become familiar with the steps of a successful job interview.

iv. Contributing Audience Outcomes: I want my audience to:

1.) distinguish between the job interview and other types of interviews.

2.) understand what the interviewer expects.

3.) be able to list the four phases of the typical employment interview

4.) recognize the importance of appearance and body language.

b. Persuasive Message

i. General purpose: To Persuade

ii. Specific Purpose: To convince the audience that changes in individual behaviors are needed to protect our environment.

iii. Primary Audience Outcome: I want my audience to commit themselves actively to environmental concerns.

iv. Contributing Audience Outcomes: I want my audience to:

1.) use public transportation, when possible.

2.) minimize the use of nonbiodegradeable materials.

3.) recycle paper, glass, aluminum, and steel.

4.) make their dwellings energy efficient.

5.) support environmentally-oriented political candidates and contribute money and time to environmental causes.

c. Entertainment Message

i. General purpose: To Evoke

ii. Specific Purpose: To celebrate a successful tennis season and honor the individuals responsible for the success.

iii. Audience Outcome: I want my audience to experience a sense of community with all those who participated in or supported the Central High School tennis program.

iv. Contributing Audience Outcomes: I want my audience to:

1.) recognize the contribution and achievement of each group: players, coaches, staff, parents, booster club, and fans.

2.) feel pride in their individual contribution.

3.) relive some of the high points of the past season.

4.) identify with each other by laughing at ?in jokes? that only someone involved in this program would understand.

5.) share in the warmth felt for Coach Pierce.

B. Strategic Choices: Factors affecting the Purpose of a message (EGM)

1. Your Private or Ultimate Aim as a Speaker.

What do you know about the topic?

What are you willing to risk?

2. The Authority of the Listeners or Their Capacity to Act.

What does this audience have the ability or authority to do?

3. The Existing Attitudes of the Listeners.

What is this audience willing to do given their opinions?

4. The Nature of the Speech Occasion.

What is appropriate for this occasion?

5. The Time Limits of the Speech.

What?s possible within the time or space that you have?

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 212