TEACHING AND INFORMATION GIVING 47 



this personal acquaintance between the county agent and 

 the farmers of the county, gained through meetings and 

 discussions, is one of the strongest influences towards bet- 

 ter farm practices in the whole system. When the lecture 

 or address is formal and impersonal it is of less value than 

 when there is opportunity for discussion and the exchange 

 of views. Unless the speaker is able to produce sooner or 

 later definite reactions on the part of his audience through 

 questioning or action he has largely failed. 



There is of course, as every one has observed, a wide 

 difference in the effectiveness with which different indi- 

 viduals deliver the spoken message. Every farmer knows 

 that he gets much more from some speakers than from 

 others. Why? It is practically impossible to lay down 

 any set rules for giving a successful public address. One 

 speaker succeeds by one method and another by an entirely 

 different and perhaps even an opposite method. But poor 

 public speaking is so common among county agents and 

 farm bureau leaders and indeed everywhere and the 

 usefulness of the speakers ' message is so much reduced 

 thereby, that it may be helpful to make a few suggestions 

 to try to answer the question of why one speaker makes 

 his points when another fails utterly to do so. 



WHAT MAKES A GOOD SPEAKER? 



Perhaps the cardinal sin of public speaking is lack of 

 preparation. Many county agents and farm bureau lead- 

 ers have no doubt tried to address audiences without hav- 

 ing a definite message to deliver. The attempt was to ' ' give 

 a talk" and they just "talked" without giving their audi- 

 ences either information or useful advice or suggestions. 

 Others know what they want to say but do not give thought 

 enough as to how to say it so as to convince. The first 



