Imagine that you have been asked to speak at a pep rally for your high school’s football team on the day of a big game. You will be in front of the entire student body and will be tasked with celebrating the team’s past wins and the skills of the coach and players in a 5 - 10 minute presentation. List at least 4 of the characteristics of public speaking (ie. message, channel, noise, audience, context, and delivery) that you should be most concerned with in preparing for this speech and explain why. Answers should include 4 characteristics with explanations, for example: 1. Noise - With such a large crowd and with the nature of the event (pep rally) there is the potential for a lot of noise interference from the crowd (shouting, cheering, noisy bleachers, etc.). 2. Delivery - The style of the presentation should be upbeat and exciting (it would not be a good idea to bore students at a pep rally). 3. Channel - Audio equipment will be necessary to be heard, visual aids (images of the team, the coach, etc., trophies, video clips from past games, etc.) would be very helpful, music or other audio clips, gestures and body language must be animated, etc. 4. Context - I should give careful thought to which moments from the team’s past are most important to include, what contributions by the coach are most worthy of celebration, what is the purpose of this presentation, etc. 5. Audience - I should consider what the expectations of my peers are, as well as the teachers, the administrators, the football team, etc. 6. Message - I will need to carefully plan the words I will use, the visual aids and/or gestures I will use, the music and/or audio clips I will play, etc.