- Topic: Use of alternative energy sources.
- Purpose: To inform the audience about renewable energy sources and their importance.
- Audiences: Junior students, Energy policymakers, and investors.
When preparing a speech, it is necessary to take into account many factors that affect it. Tinianow (2017) notes that speech situation consists of setting, occasion, audience, speaker, and purpose. When considering an audience element, it is worth noting that the same topic can be introduced contrastingly for different groups of listeners. For example, talking about alternative energy for children will differ significantly from presenting this issue to influential politicians and investors.
The upbringing of children determines the future of a society in which their generation will make decisions, and for this reason, it is necessary to inform them of global issues. However, it will be difficult for the speaker to interest young students and explain a complex topic like renewable energy. Lewis (2021) notes that it is necessary to start with the most straightforward and most understandable ideas, for example, to explain sustainability as a property of something to exist for a long time. Then it will be easier for children to understand the constant need for energy sustainability. The speech venue is of critical importance – pictures of power plants on a digital projector can be tedious and incomprehensible for children, but speech in the garden, outdoors – exciting.
Speech for adults and influential people is significantly different from educating children. The speaker needs to inform the audience and demonstrate the benefit and potential opportunities for them. The statistics presented on the screen in the form of diagrams and graphs are understandable and compelling. For example, the fact that fossil fuel prices are unstable and investments in renewable sources give economic returns 3-8 times are valuable to such an audience (Layke & Hutchinson, 2020). At the same time, the setting will have significant features – meetings are often held in the conference room, and speech for such an audience is not spontaneous.
References
Layke, J., & Hutchinson, N. (2020). 3 reasons to invest in renewable energy now. World Resources Institute. Web.
Lewis, M. (2021). How to get children interested in renewable energy. EcoWatch. Web.
Tinianow, D. (2017). New traditions in public speaking. Bridgepoint Education.