direct
(adjective)
Straight, constant, without interruption.
Examples of direct in the following topics:
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Variations in Directness
- Use force and directness to add dynamic contrast and texture to your speech.
- Directness is a state of being straight, constant, and without interruption.
- As you can see, force and directness can be both cause and effect.
- Certain ideas in your speech may lend themselves to force and directness.
- Don't be shy about using force or directness with your audience.
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Hold the Audience's Attention
- This brief introduction is important because it helps to establish the speaker's credentials and prepares the audience members so their attention is properly directed.
- Remember that the first important function of the introduction is to "capture the attention of the audience" and them immediately direct attention to the speech's main message.
- Using vocal variety purposely helps the audience know what is important and directs their attention to those elements.
- To understand where he or she wants the audience to direct their attention, the speaker can consider a quick internal summary of an idea.
- Create a narrative that is relevant to the topic and is dramatic for the audience, and use a surprise ending to direct the audience attention to the message.
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Scoping Your Speech
- The key word here is relevance; the speech should not go in so many different directions that none of those directions relate to the original purpose and thesis of the speech.
- The evidence and supporting arguments should not only be related tangentially; there should be direct lines of relevance to every piece of information included in your speech.
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Solicit Information
- Use direct observation of small audiences and use interviews, surveys and Likert rating scales to collect data about larger audiences.
- There are several useful methods to consider, including: (1) direct observation of members of the potential audience, and (2) data collection through interviews surveys and rating scales for opinions.
- Direct observation allows you to get to know the members of your audience personally.
- Analyze your audience using direct observation, interviews, surveys, or Likert rating scales
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Eye Contact and Facial Expression
- Certain Asian cultures can perceive direct eye contact as a way to signal competitiveness, which in many situations may prove to be inappropriate.
- Direct, attentive eye contact between the speaker and the receiver of the certificate during the ceremony shows respect.
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Antithesis
- Antithesis is a counter-proposition that denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition.
- Antithesis is a way to express contrast through direct opposites.
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Tailor Abstraction to Your Audience
- Abstraction is the process of perceiving similarities from our direct, specific observations in the universe, organizing the similarities, and then assigning a word label for the more general concept.
- Here I have a direct observable experience with the objects and I see the color in them.
- When you want the audience to make a concrete connection to their direct experience, remember to come down to earth on the the abstraction ladder.
- Think of abstraction as a ladder: the most specific, direct experiences are at the bottom and each step above is more abstract.
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The Importance of Listening
- Regardless of how we're engaged with listening, it's important to understand that listening involves more than just hearing the words that are directed at us.
- Basically, an effective listener must hear and identify the speech sounds directed toward them, understand the message of those sounds, critically evaluate or assess that message, remember what's been said, and respond (either verbally or nonverbally) to information they've received.
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Gender
- When addressing an audience composed primarily of women versus one composed mostly of men, a political candidate may alter her communicative style to be more or less direct or responsive while still communicating the same information.
- When the goal is independence, on the other hand, members of this speech community are likely to communicate in ways that exhibit knowledge, refrain from personal disclosure, are abstract, are focused on instrumentality, demonstrate conversational command, are direct and assertive, and are less responsive.
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Persuasive Speeches on Questions of Policy
- Discussing the causes of the problem directs attention to specific points that the solution must address.
- The Causes: Consider the direct relationship between the problem and its causes.
- Show a direct relationship between the problem and causes, not just a correlation where one thing occurred before, after, or at the same time as another.