You work as a technical support manager for a satellite television company. As part of a company-sponsored tuition reimbursement program, you are also attending college courses part time and pursuing a degree in communications. Your Human Resources representative asks you to give a presentation to a group of people at an upcoming career fair. The HR manager is interested in you helping motivate potential applicants to apply for part-time positions that pay a relatively low hourly wage and include only limited benefits. This is exactly the type of position you accepted when you first started with the company. The job fair will be held in a part of the city with a relatively low unemployment rate. The people attending are likely to come from middle- to upper middle-class families. The people who attend the career fair from upper middle-class families are used to getting what they want without too much effort; therefore, they may not be able to relate directly to the persistence you showed to work your way from a part-time low-paying position into a higher-paying one that includes benefits. The ones from middle-class families may relate more to your personal story. You can’t gather all the characteristics of all the career fair attendees in advance, but you do know that the way in which you explain the advantages of working for the satellite television company and the type of language you use will affect the attendees’ decision on whether or not to apply for a position with the company.

Step 3: Write a paragraph or more to answer each of the following questions related to this speaking situation:

When you state you thesis, how will you phrase it to avoid negative reactions from potential applicants who are expecting more pay and better benefits when they first start with the company?

What language strategies would you use in your speech to make it sound more appealing to the entire group?

What techniques could you use to establish common ground with everyone in the audience?

How would you change your speech delivery if the audience consisted mostly of low-income mothers trying to enter or re-enter the workforce?