Captive Audience

I cannot specifically recall a time that I have been in a large crowd of people who had to sit through a lecture or presentation not geared at me. I have, however, been a member of a captive audience, which I feel is very similar. When I visited my parents a couple of months ago, they had made some new friends. These friends met me and my room mate that I brought along with me. I feel like they must have seen us and thought "ooh, impressionable college students.." Unfortunately, the whole evening, they were preaching to us about 401k's and retirement funds. They also happened to be particularly pessimistic people who felt it was their job to inform us of how shoddily our government has been running everything. They even went so far as to tell us that by being independent and by not supporting the government, we are much better off. This entire situation was ridiculously uncomfortable because we did not share the beliefs of the people trying to enforce their own onto us. It was a very patronizing experience that neither my roommate nor I care to repeat.

In order to prevent such discomfort and upset in the audience of the people I am speaking to, I plan on considering my audience while I am writing my speech. It is very difficult to prepare a speech when you don't know who you are speaking to anyway, so this is actually a highly beneficial part of the process. I also plan on directing my speech at a broader spectrum of people, interests, and points of view, so as not to make anyone uncomfortable or upset upon hearing my speech.