Question

In developing her speech on scuba diving, Rachael is trying to decide whether or not to tell the audience in her introduction that she has been a diver since she was Freshman in high school. She wonders if this will help or hurt her credibility. What textbook advice applies here?
A) Rachael should avoid describing her experience with the topic because she will appear to be speaker centered and not audience centered.
B) Rachael should give a brief, credibility-building explanation of her experience with the topic.
C) Rachael should give a full explanation of her experiences with the topic, including when she started diving, how many years she's diving, how often she dives, etc.
D) For the sake of suspense, Rachael should wait until her conclusion to describe her diving experience.

Answer 1

Answer: B) Rachael should give a brief, credibility-building explanation of her experience with the topic.

Explanation: By giving a brief explanation, Rachael avoids appearing speaker-centered and also builds credibility. This makes the audience believe they can trust her. Nobody wants to listen to someone give a speech about a topic they are not familiar with. Establishing that she is an authority on the topic will inspire confidence in her audience and motivate them to listen to her.

Option A, avoiding describing her experience will achieve the opposite of this and she risks the audience losing interest by giving a long detailed explanation of her experiences.