Navigating Public Speaking Challenges: Apologizing and Adapting

Abstract

An Essential Guide to Public Speaking Chapter 6 Anticipate Challenges and Opportunities What would you have done if you offended a group, such as with the joke about the world’s oldest profession? Apologize before moving on with the speech. According to Schultze (2020), flexibility is essential in speech delivery as it enables the speaker to anticipate unexpected responses from the audience. Since servant speaking is an art to learn and practice to minimize mistakes and maximize effectiveness, the need to prepare well and not expect perfection is essential. It is through flexibility that when a servant speaker receives contrary responses from the audience can adjust through ignorance or corrections on the experienced mistake. An effective servant speaker must remain aware of possible offences that might adversely affect the audience. Such insight enables proper preparations for responding to any offence and enhancing the presentation flow by engaging the target audience. Some offences effectively deliver the text as intended as a gimmick by nature. However, it is imperative to remain conscious of the language to use during a presentation to avoid unnecessary adverse effects on audiences after feeling offended. However, to prevent the occurrence of such negative effects attributed to language offences, the speaker should test some jokes with other attendees during rehearsals before presenting them to the main target audience. Such an approach can help understand the effect such lines or words would have on the target audience, creating room for an amendment to ensure positive results. In short, addressing the offence through apologies or using lighter words to replace the hurting ones is essential before moving on with the speech, as this will help reconnect with the offending audience. Should the possibility of offending our audience leads us to avoid all risky language or stories? Is the speaker who verbally shocks audiences to get them to consider the plight of the poor justified in doing so? According to Schultze (2020), if speakers offend the target audience and realize it, they can quickly apologize and then continue. However, if they discover later that they offended, there is no reason to dwell on it as people speak and learn. An effective speaker must anticipate positive and negative responses from the target audiences and plan to handle either of the effects very well. For this reason, the possibility of offending audiences should not limit the speaker from using all risky language and stories during the presentation. On the contrary, the speaker should express a defined ability to respond to any offence by acknowledging its occurrence and correcting it using the right language or phrase to reconnect back with the offended audience. Following the preacher's statement, "If God can speak through a jackass, he can speak through me. Numbers 22:21-31", it is clear that the pastor could have used a better word like a donkey than Jackass but chose to use it to emphasize on the point. Though offensive, it positively affected the target audiences as it made them better understand how God uses his people to serve others through speech. Another example is Schultze's Christian friend, who uses offensive words like hell and damn while emphasizing Christian apathy towards injustice and, after pausing, directly attacks the audience's concern about his language rather than about exploited poor in the world. The direct use of offensive language enables the preacher to ensure a positive effect of the main message on poverty to the target audience. He makes them understand its impact on humans across the globe and the need to contribute to addressing it. To this effect, proper use of offensive language and stories can positively affect understanding key points like poverty issues within the world. What do you...