Chapter 14

On part in chapter 14 that i found useful was the part about persuading different types of audience. There are different types of audiences, and one of them is a negative or hostile audience. This is when your audience knows your topic but holds a different view of it. So for example if i am giving a persuasive speech on Stem cell research and I want to influence my audience to support it, there is always gonna be someone who already knows about stem cell research but is against it. This is a hostile audience, where he is informed about stem cell research but holds the opposite view. There are different ways to deal with this. Some ways to handle this sort of audience is to establish credibility, take a common-ground approach to the topic, help your audience visualize your topic in appositive ways and to prepare for your audience's negative reaction to your position. Another sort of audience is a positive audience, which is exactly the opposite of a hostile audience. This audience is informed about your topic and shares your position on the topic. There are ways to give a speech to this type of audience to reinforce your stance. You can do this by using narratives to show your points, using evidence to support your stance, and using vivid imagery so that the audience is even more confident about your stance. Another sort of audience is the divided audience. This is where the audience is split between your topic. That means that some of the audience agrees with you, and the other half disagrees. Your main goal with this type of audience is to convince the opposition audience to understand your message and points, and to reinforce your idea with the ones who already share the same stance as you. There are also uninformed audiences and apathetic audiences. Uninformed audience do not know the topic and that means that you have to take time in your speech to explain the topic thoroughly so that you can convince them. An apathetic audience doesn't care about your topic and is disinterested. Your goal with this type of audience is to get them excited and interested in your topic by relating it to them. There are many types of audiences and usually you will get some of each in your audience.