| By :
Dirik Hameed
The duration of a keynote speaker speech is a matter of intense speculation at a certain private school. At the annual prize giving ceremony teachers in academic garb gather behind a stage before trooping in ceremoniously in strict order of superiority. Before proceeding they all pay into a sweep stake, speculating on the duration of the main address by the guest of honor. People who are sufficiently well known to be asked as honored guests or keynote speakers to such functions usually have extensive experience and skill in public speaking. They know how to interest an audience, hold attention and stop before interest wanes. Usually the sweep stake winner has bet on a time between fifteen and twenty minutes. Some are entranced because they or their offspring have won a prize, but the majority are rueful because they have not. The orator must find a way between saying something worthy of a report in the local newspaper and the brevity longed for by those waiting to go on holiday. In other contexts the demands of the circumstances may be different. He needs about twenty minutes to satisfy both demands. At an academic conference there will often be many world experts on a topic such as ichthyology but the theme of the conference might be quite arcane, summing up a current issue that concerns delegates. In this context the speaker will have an audience who should have extended concentration spans, especially when listening to words that touch on essential developments in their field. Most will expect a measured speech of longer than twenty minutes but less than an hour. At a political rally in Africa or Blackpool, England, the majority of the audience will have little intellectual input but very large emotional tenure. They may wait for hours for a political figure to arrive. No intellectual endurance is required but emotions are fired up and ready to run. Even sober statesmen seem to bow to the inevitability of rhetoric. They modulate the pitch and pace of their delivery pausing opportunely for their audience to clap. TV shots of an audience often reveal delegates with their hands held together, ready to clap on cue. Since the mid twentieth century the appropriate duration of a keynote speech has increasingly been determined by television cameras. It is said that the approximate concentration span of the average TV viewer is ten minutes, before he has to take a break. With this in mind veteran politicians try to speak in 'sound bytes'. They may go on for a long time to please delegates in the hall but produce an increase in volume, pace and pitch every ten minutes or so for the benefit of the media. Key note speeches make special demands on orators. They are tasked with summing up important points that pertain to an issue, an opening up important points for further investigation. Summing up is such an important task that it is often placed high in the order of academic activities. The note that is struck should not be obscured by distractions or irrelevancies. Critical points should be cogently and then the speaker should stop as a wise guests leaves before overstaying his welcome.
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