1. Essentials of Public Speaking
Listening:
What Speakers
and Listeners
Should Know
Chapter 3
Essentials of Public Speaking
Cheryl Hamilton
5th Edition
Cheryl Hamilton, Ph.D.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

2. Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know
Key Ideas
Identify stages in the listening process
Define the term listening filters
Discuss how the filers of culture, gender and technology affect the listening process
Discuss effective listening strategies
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

3. Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers Should Know
Flashback . . .
One way listeners avoid being persuaded is by convincing themselves that the speaker’s credibility is questionable and therefore not to be trusted. Aristotle, trained as a Greek field biologist to rationally investigate subjects, writes about the importance of creating credibility (ethos) during a presentation through arguments that are sound, truthful, and show the audience that you have their best interests at heart. Aristotle came to realize that a speaker’s credibility depends less on logical proof and more the listener’s perception of the speaker.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers Should Know

4. Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know
Stages of Listening
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

5. Stages of Listening: Receive
Listeners are bombarded with stimuli
Listeners attend to (or ignore) stimuli
Selective attend to things of interest
Gender, age, culture and emotions affect attention
Goal: help listeners focus
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

6. Stages of Listening: Comprehend
Listeners understanding of the message
Can be affected by
Frame of Reference
Vocabulary
Attitudes about the speaker
Gender
Culture
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

7. Stages of Listening: Interpret
Most serious problems occur here
Listeners supply meaning
Words can have different meanings
Listeners assume they understand and can stop listening
Goal: Maximize understanding
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

8. Stages of Listening: Evaluate
Listeners think about the message
Listeners assign a value judgment
Judgments affected by
Attitude toward the speaker
Appearance, gestures, visual aids (visual code)
Speaking voice (verbal code)
Importance of topic
Goal: Anticipate issues
and respond
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

9. Stages of Listening: Respond
Feedback from the listeners
Speakers need feedback to know if and how they have communicated
Feedback and be verbal or non-verbal
Goal: Adequately interpret feedback
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

10. Stages of Listening: Memory
Listeners decide what content they will retain
Most listeners retain 10% - 25%
Goal: Help listeners decide what information is important to remember
Receive
Respond
Comprehend
Memory
Evaluate
Interpret
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

11. Major Listening Filters
Culture
Gender
Technology
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

12. Listening filters: Culture
Types of cultures
Individualistic Cultures – places move value on the individual and on individual rights
Examples: The US, Australia, Great Britain
More problem oriented
Collectivistic Cultures – places more value on group identity and group right the individual and on individual rights
Examples: Japan, Korea, Mexico
More relationship oriented
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

13. Listening filters: Culture
Culture and message contexts
Message context – The information that surrounds an event. (Hall & Hall 1990, p.6)
Low Context messages
Communicators tend to be from individualistic cultures
Messages should be direct and clearly spelled out
The meaning is provided by words
Presentation is organized
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

14. Listening filters: Culture
Culture and message contexts
High Context messages
Communicators tend to be from collectivistic cultures
Messages should be brief, indirect and implicit
Receivers take responsibility in determining meaning
The context is the most important part of the presentation (e.g. setting, facial expressions, gestures, speaker’s friends)
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

15. Listening filters: Culture
Culture and time
Monochromic cultures
Time is a sacred resource and is controlled through schedules and appointments (Smith & Bond 1994, p. 149)
Tend to be individualistic/low context cultures
Monochromic cultures prefer speakers who are on time, direct and get to the point.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

16. Listening filters: Culture
Culture and time
Polychromatic cultures
Relationships are the most important element in using time. The use of time is flexible to do right by people to whom we have obligations (Smith & Bond 1994, p. 149).
Audiences in Polychromatic cultures expect speakers to build on history, use personal stories, are have content that is implicit.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers Should Know

17. Listening filters: Gender
Women
View communication as a cooperative tool
Better at decoding the non-verbal and emotional aspects of a message
Tend to talk as much as men
Give supportive verbal and non-verbal responses
Tend to listen more carefully when the speaker is a man
Men
View communication as a competitive tool
Tend to recall the factual aspects of a message
Tend to talk as much as women
Tend to interrupt, ask questions and give minimal response
Tend to listen more carefully when the speaker is a man
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers Should Know

18. Gender: Listening Orientations
People
Women show preference overall
Both men and women show preference in situations involving friends
Action
Content
Men show overall preference
Both men and women show a preference in instructional situations
Time
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

19. Promoting androgynous listening
Analyze your audience carefully
Don’t talk down to either gender
Relate importance of your topic to both men and women in the introduction
Use a variety of examples
Use nonsexist vocabulary
Avoid gender-linked terms
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

20. Listening filters: Technology
Can both hamper and help listening
The key is adapting your message to your audience
Use proper wording so that your audience will positively react to your message
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

21. Technology: E-Mail Tips
Watch tone of voice
Keep sentences and paragraphs short
Mention social ties when appropriate
Apologize even when you think it’s not your fault
Use adjectives, verbs and adverbs that fit the receiver’s preferred sensory channel
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

22. The Receiving Stage: Stimulate and Motivate
Stimulate using Attention Grabbers - In the introduction & throughout, use a startling statement, brief examples, personal narratives, questions, humorous anecdote, etc.
Motivate by showing listeners how your presentation will benefit them in some way.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

23. Needs that motivate listeners (Table 3.2)
Reduce stress and anxiety
Earn more money
Gain personal satisfaction
Impress others and gain esteem
Develop self-confidence
Try something new and exciting
Solve a pressing problem
Achieve desired goals with less effort
Improve prestige or power
Improve rank/position with new skill
Gain a feeling of pride in the job
Reach more customers
Increase job stability and security
Look more attractive
Become healthier
Improve parenting skills
Help others
Make a difference in the world
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

24. Comprehend Stage: Maximize Understanding
Analyze the audience
Personalize with narratives
Increase speaking rate
Make sure what you say is what you intend to say
Pay attention to the visual part of the message
Prepare for misunderstanding
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

25. Interpret Stage: Circumvent 100% communication myth
Message filtered through frame of reference
Pay attention to visual and vocal codes
Minimize conflicting messages
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

26. Evaluate stage: Counteract Resistance to Persuasion
Strengthen personal credibility
Highlight credibility of your sources
Keep listeners from evading your message
Keep listener’s attention on the speech
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

27. Respond stage: Read listeners’ feedback cues
Put feedback cues in context
Don’t generalize from single listener response
Look for subtle signs of inattention
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

28. Memory stage: Make message easy to remember
Incorporate cues to aid memory
Don’t state key ideas in the first or second sentence
Use visuals
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know

29. Essentials of Public Speaking
Ethics and
You
Chapter 1
Essentials of Public Speaking
Cheryl Hamilton
5th Edition
Cheryl Hamilton, Ph.D.
Chapter 3 – Listening: What Speakers and Listeners Should Know