What are your rights and duties and how do you distinguish them? A right is basically the freedom to do something while a duty is something you are obliged to do. Reminding people of their obligations is like nagging a teenager to their homework, never popular and rarely productive. Granting liberties is more fun and effective. Offer a teenager a car to use after they finish their homework and they will amaze you with how fast they will hit the books. A savvy teen-ager’s homework is done regardless of whether they are offer the car. Having it done gives them a better chance of getting the car when they really want it, right?. On the road to enhancing your speaking skills, it is helpful to remember that both, you and your audience, have rights and duties. Learning how to create civility by respecting rights and expressing duties is essential for every civic minded citizen who wants to exercise their first amendment right effectively.
When you are looking for a parking spot, have you ever noticed how many negative signs there are? No Parking. No stopping. Violators will be towed. Heck, 8 out of the 10 commandments are “Thou shall not”. Are obligations are inherently negative? Nope. It is just easier to tell people what not to do. As a speaker, introducer or Master of Ceremonials, it is your job to communicate the ground rules. You could post a sign or flash a slide and read it, saying: No Cell phones. No Photography. No questions until the end. You might as well add: “and that means you, buster”. Turning proscriptive messages into positive pronouncements is at the heart of effective communication. Saying , “If your cell phone rings during the presentation there is a mandatory $20 donation to the speaker’s favorite charity, himself; encourages people to turn off their cells phones. When you add a respectful and intelligent why, tinged with a bit of humor, people are happy to oblige, right?.
The audience has the right to expect that their time and intelligence will be respected. If you don’t dutifully honor them, they have the right to tune you out. Letting people know how long you are going to speak can be communicated on an agenda and repeated by whoever introduces you. A quick audience survey, by a show of hands, can confirm their level of interest and knowledge. Knowing this, you can adjust your presentation to their level. They also have the right to be physically and emotionally comfortable. Sharing disturbing statistics and stories, without warning, creates undue emotional stress. It is your duty to let people know, before you share something disturbing. Discomfort can come from the temperature, the acoustics, and the chairs. Sitting in a chilly room on a metal folding chair, with the sound echoing off the wall, is unpleasant. Have the courtesy to create a comfortable environment or the courage to cut short your presentation. Why? Because the mind can only absorb what the bottom can endure, right?.
Your duty as a speaker is to be prepared, interesting and respectful. Your right as a speaker is to be heard (not necessarily listened to). The duty of the audience is to pay attention or at least not distract those that are. A civil presentation is like a civil society which works best when rights are respected and duties performed. When you are prepared, interesting and respectful, the obligation to listen is a pleasure. When you shirk your duty, you have no right to expect your listeners to respect you.
The civility of common courtesies is really the residue of rights respected and duty done. In an ideal world performing your duty would naturally lead to additional rights. The rub is that you must continue to be dutiful, in order to preserve your rights. The first amendment to the US constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Elegantly exercising this right is your duty, as a civic minded citizen, and begins by finishing your home work, before hitting the road.