Personalize your language

I this weeks reading, the idea of personalizing your language to your audience really stuck with me. Personalizing your language is one of the five strategies in developing audience centered language for your speech. If I think about speaking to a group of young people, teenagers for example, I might use some slang terms to appear more credible to that particular audience. On the other hand, if I am speaking speaking at a professional function or to an older audience, it would be better to avoid slang as these types of audiences might take it as unprofessional or uneducated. The concept of personalizing your language is crucial to a successful speech. Instead of following blanket rules such as no slang or acronyms, I think you should first consider your audience. To one audience certain verbiage might be offensive but an audience of a different age group, or gender, or culture might appreciate it.