Speaking of Amateur Radio

Keep one thing in mind

It isn’t about Amateur Radio . . .

It’s about the audience . . .

Or it’s about to bomb!

In real estate it’s

Location, Location, Location,

but in public speaking it’s Audience, Audience, Audience

Ask yourself:

WHO ARE THESE GUYS, ANYWAY?

WHY SHOULD THEY CARE?

Believe it or not . . .

Most people know very little and care even less about Amateur Radio.

Our goal is not just to increase how much they know about ham radio.

It’s to increase how much they know so we can influence their attitudes and change their behavior.

What do I want my listeners to do?What do I want them to believe?

Maybe I want them to . . .

• Decide to become hams.

• Agree to cooperate with my ARES / RACES group.

• Stop being afraid of RF from my station.

• Support reasonable antenna regulations, oppose bad ones.

• Be convinced that ham radio is valuable and hams are good neighbors.

That’s what I want, but what do they want?

• To know: “What has this got to do with me and my life?”

• To think: “This was a good use of my time.”

• To feel: “This speaker respects me enough not to bore me, confuse me, or make me feel like an ignoramus.”

Two good ways to go wrong

• Don’t think about the audience’s backgrounds, interests, and needs

• Don’t have a point they’ll care about, or if you do have a point, bury it in so much mind-numbing blab that nobody will notice it

Seriously?!

Would anybody really give the same sort of talk to history majors or Cub Scouts that he or she would give to a group of electrical engineers?

Would anybody really assume that non-hams want to listen to an hour of ham jargon, FCC rules & regs, and the physics of RF?

Would anybody really give a talk that doesn’t make a recognizable point, has no logical flow, dishes out indigestible lumps of disconnected facts, and generally bores the pants off the audience?

Yep. Been there, heard that!

How will your talk influence their attitudes and change their behavior?

“Looks like hams are good neighbors in my town. I’m all in favor of ham radio, and I might even want to become a ham.”

“What a stupid waste of my time! I would rather have ants in my socks than listen to another word about ham radio as long as I live.”

Amateur Radio is the topic.

But the talk is really about the audience.

Or it’s about to bomb.

73, Kay Craigie N3KN

Vice President, ARRLTo learn more about presenting

Amateur Radio, visit

www.arrl.org/pio