Chapter nine was very interesting because it focused on public speaking and everything that goes into creating a good speech and being an influential speaker. One section in this chapter that I really liked focused on the relationship between the audience and the speaker.
Without an audience the speaker has no purpose. So it is very important for the speaker to know exactly who he is talking to and how it will affect his persuasion. "When audience members come to hear a speech, they bring prior beliefs, attitudes, values, and life experiences with them. In constructing messages, speakers must take into account what audience members may already be thinking" (257). I think that many speakers come off as being great because they have an easy audience. If everyone in the audience is the same and has mostly the same attitudes, then it will be easier for the speaker to create an effective message. If the audience is very broad in their attitudes than it is much harder for a speaker to persuade all of them.
I think it takes a very gifted speaker to persuade thousands of people to think a certain way. The larger and more diverse the audience; the harder it is for the speaker to influence them all.
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The audience has a passive role while the speaker has to display an active one. This is an essential dynamic and never to overlooked. Audience and speaker communicate surprisingly well with each other, to the degree that they both understand and respect the dynamics at play. They are not to be confused or interchanged. Only the speaker is active, he or she is the doer. Audiences appreciate remaining passive, and they become active only by permission like in a workshop situation or when given permission to ask questions. This implies a thorough and clear understanding of what is at play.
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