The Listeners

Listeners may be indifferent to a message or distracted by other concerns. Worries over money or an upcoming test, or dreams about the weekend ahead, can further block communication. Stereotypes about race, gender, nationality, etc., that clutter our heads with prejudice may multiply interference and dramatically raise the barriers between speakers and listeners.
As these formidable barriers develop, the speaker may lose control over what the listeners hear. As most of us have learned from experience, what speakers intend and what listeners hear can be miles apart, and messages may have unintended, unexpected, and unfortunate meanings. When one masters the art of public speaking, one learns how to minimize interference so that listeners understand the intended message.
At the beginning of a public speaking course, the barriers of fear, suspicion, indifference, distraction, and prejudice may seem quite formidable. The frustration that speakers and listeners may feel as they first confront this “Interference Mountain.” that climbing this mountain can be the first challenge students confront in the public speaking class. Be on top, both as speaker and as listener. You will discover that as you grow more confident and knowledgeable about public speaking, your topic area, and your listeners, Interference Mountain will become smaller. In most cases your anxiety will become controllable, trust will replace suspicion, involvement will overcome indifference, and mutual respect will reduce prejudice. By the end of the course, you will have reduced Interference Mountain to a quite manageable hill.