Question: When do you find facts and statistics are most effective in a speech? When are facts and statistics not as effective?
Throughout my whole life, I’ve listened to many speeches and come across speakers who use data effectively and not so effectively. I have come around to learn how statistics and facts can be used to create a strong foundation for a speech, and on the other hand when it can be used and be totally invalid. I believe that when a speaker is giving an informative speech and persuasive, it would be the best time to bring in statistics on a subject. For example, if your trying to convince teenagers that smoking is bad for them, an individual can give statistics on how many teenagers who smoke have lung cancer in their adult years. Although, statistics and facts could be used in situations where they are not so useful. When giving a speech on a personal experience sometimes statistics and facts wouldn’t be necessary in your speech, since all the important information is coming from you.
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2 comments:
Hello Jane:
I enjoyed reading your post about the use of statistics within speeches. I agree that statistics do complement informative speeches well. They provide support for a given idea and also can be used as a tool to persuade the audience. I believe you made a valid point about not using statistics while describing a personal experience. This generally appeals to the audience's emotions, while statistics have a logical appeal.
I would think that the mixture of the two could likely cause a disconnect between the speaker and the audience. The speaker's intention has to be clear and well-defined; in this way he/she will know when or if to use this form of support.
I really agree with what you had to say about facts and statistics! I think that both have their ideal time to be used, and then there are some situations where they really shouldn’t be used as much. Sometimes I feel like when a speaker uses too many facts or statistics in a speech, it gets really confusing because all you are trying to absorb are all the different facts and statistics while missing the main message of the speech. It also seems like they are sometimes used to “pad” a speech, and make it longer then it actually should be since you’re just reciting information back at the audience.
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