Public Speaking Classes for Technology Majors
Strategies for Speaking to a Nontechnical Target Audience
Jun 18, 2009
Undergraduate technology students often are required to take a special public speaking course created specifically for technology majors. Although many students have a fear of public speaking and may dread this class, it may be one of the most useful courses a technology major has to take. After all, knowledge of complicated technological topics does not automatically come with the ability to communicate this information to others.
Here are some tips for students who plan to take a public speaking course for technology majors, and some ideas to keep in mind.
Technology Speaking for a Target Audience
The main reason technology majors are required to take public speaking is because many technology professionals lack the ability to communicate technological concepts to people in the workplace. Most technology professionals work with teams of people with a variety of job duties, and some of these people have limited technological knowledge. Thus, it's important for a technology major to learn how to communicate information to different types of audiences.
Because of this, one important takeaway lesson from public speaking classes for technology majors is to learn how to tailor a presentation to a target audience. A target audience is a group of people who receive a message, and the more the speaker knows about the audience, the more able the speaker will be to speak in a way that is useful to audience members.
Public speaking courses for technology majors teach students to adjust the technical level of a speech based on the expertise and background of the audience. If an audience is filled with other people with the same technological background, there is no reason to simplify a speech. However, if the target audience does not know as much about technology, the presentation needs to be simplified to meet their needs.
The speaker should keep in mind that audiences may have less technical knowledge than he or she realizes. Just because an audience has technical knowledge does not mean this knowledge will encompass the speaker's topic. Moreover, technical speakers often underestimate how much knowledge they themselves have, and therefore will speak on too technical of a level because they misperceive their knowledge as common knowledge.
How to Speak to Nontechnical Audiences
In a public speaking class for technology majors, students will learn strategies for simplifying a technical speech for nontechnical audiences. One important lesson is to avoid jargon. The term jargon refers to words and phrases that are very familiar to people who work with or study a particular subject matter. People who do not work with this subject matter may not know these words. Therefore, it's important to limit jargon in a technical speech. If jargon must be used, it's important to take the time to explain these terms carefully.
Some other useful strategies include:
- Illustrate technological information with examples that will be easy for the target audience to understand.
- Use visual aids that clearly demonstrate concepts.
- Use simple PowerPoint slides to help outline information for the audience.
- Limit the amount of information in the speech so there will time to explain everything.
- Practice the speech in front of friends with a nontechnical background, and get feedback as to whether the speech makes sense to them.
- Choose topics that the audience will be at least a little bit familiar with already.
Learning to Speak Clearly About Technology
Ultimately, the purpose of public speaking for technology majors is to help students learn how to share complex information with others. This is a valuable skill that many technology professionals do not have, so a good public speaking class can be a real advantage in the workplace.
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