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Without context, words and actions have no meaning at all.
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| —Gregory Bateson
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We've already seen how important it is to think about our audience and our purpose when preparing for a speech or presentation. These both form part of the context or rhetorical situation; in other words, the circumstances in which we give our presentation.
Read Chapter 12 Introduction and
Section 12.1: Rhetorical situation, in Saylor Academy (Ed.) 2012. Business Communication for Success. (See page(s) 461 - 467 in PDF version.).
These readings explain how understanding the rhetorical situation, or speech context, will help you choose the best ways to connect with audiences and express your messages. By focusing on the audience, you shift your view to an ‘other-orientation,’ which is the key to becoming an effective speaker.
The rhetorical situation involves three elements:
- context expectations,
- audience, and
- presentation purpose.
This means you need to consider the ‘who, what, where, when, why, and how’ of your speech from the audience’s perspective. For example, what is relevant to your audience? How can your information help them? Where is the common ground between their perspectives and your own? These readings provide practical guidance on how to answer these presentation planning questions.
- Do the two Introduction exercises, which ask you to practise organising sentences and words in logical ways, and
- Look at exercises 1-5 in Section 12.1. Make notes on your thinking for each question, and add this reflection to your learning journal. Be sure to label or tag your post ccom102.
