Public Speaking in a Multicultural World
If you are an experienced public speaker, you may have noticed that your audience is changing, just as the world is changing. Most likely, you are seeing more people from other lands and cultures sitting in your audience. Public speaking in a multicultural world demands that you learn to adjust to other cultures, as well as adapt to how people from other lands will respond to you, the public speaker.
Here are some tips for speaking in a multicultural world:
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Know your audience
As with any audience, learn as much as you can about the audience before your presentation. -
Find common goals
Discover what you have in common and concentrate on the similarities, rather than the differences. -
Show respect for other cultures
Avoid being perceived as ethnocentric, the tendency to believe that our culture is superior to others. If your audience members feel as if you are attacking their culture, they will inwardly defend themselves and tune you out. -
Learn to pronounce their names
This is especially important if you will be calling on members of your audience or introducing one of them. -
Adapt to their listening preferences and reactions
Audiences respond to speakers in various ways around the world. Learn all the nuances you can about how an audience may react.
For example in general:
Audience members in Java, Indonesia turn to their neighbors and repeat what the speaker says when they like it, even as the speaker continues the presentation. -
In some Asian cultures, audience members sit in complete silence, not wanting to break the speaker’s concentration.
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African-American audiences participate in a “Call and Response” pattern in which the audience members respond directly to the speaker’s statements as if to add an extra emphasis.
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American students like speeches that are short and to the point.
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Germans prefer precise, error free presentations and are very annoyed at disorganization.
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Israelis like to be presented with challenging and complex information so they can draw their own conclusions.
Public speaking in a multicultural world is basically finding what you and your audience have in common, focusing on the similarities, showing respect for your differences and adapting to their listening preferences.
