Problem
I. Explain how to read nonverbal cues to understand listeners' reactions to your speech.
While speaking, pay attention to your listeners' eye contact with you, their facial expressions and amount of movement, and their verbal and nonver- bal responses to you.
II. Describe several adaptations you can make to respond to listeners' nonverbal cues.
When you receive clues that listeners are bored, don't understand, or disagree with you, change what you are doing. You can try many strategies to com- municate more effectively.
III. List several ways you can customize your message to your audience.
Adapt to your specific audience by using audience members' names or mentioning the group they belong to; relating your speech to the location where you are speaking or to a historical or recent event, and relating statistics to your specific audience.
IV. Discuss strategies for adapting to diverse groups of listeners.
Adapt your speech to your listeners' cultural orienta- tions toward individualism or collectivism, time, power, need for certainty, and attention to context. Consider directing your message toward a target audience.