Location, also known as forum, is the setting where your audience will listen to your speech. Speech locations vary widely—from classrooms and auditoriums to conference rooms and outdoor venues. Each type strongly influences how you deliver your speech.

Consider the following true story. Loren, a high school junior, was running for student-body president. Each candidate had to deliver a campaign speech at an afternoon rally. The location of the rally was the recently completed high school quadrangle (quad), a sunken plaza built about eight feet below the foundations of four surrounding brick buildings. This design produced some rather spectacular acoustics when sound within the plaza was projected against the brick buildings.

Loren spoke first at the rally. Concerned that the huge crowd would not be able to hear him, he had decided to speak with a microphone. What he hadn’t realized was that the plaza design would amplify his voice anyway. When he spoke into the microphone, the sound was so loud that his listeners grimaced and covered their ears. Because of his inattention to location, Loren’s speech was literally too painful to hear!

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Loren failed to consider the acoustics of his speech location. In addition to acoustical problems, locations can present other challenges, such as availability of audiovisual equipment (are there electrical outlets for your presentation aids, or should you bring handheld visual aids?), lines of sight (will your listeners be able to see your visual aids?), and lighting (is it adequate?).

How can you anticipate and address location challenges? Go to the place where you’ll deliver your speech. Stand there and imagine yourself giving the presentation. Now position yourself where the audience will be, and imagine listening to the speech. Will all your listeners be able to see and hear you?

If Loren had taken stock of the forum for his speech ahead of time, he probably wouldn’t have elected to use a microphone. Given the size of the forum, he also might have decided to walk from behind the podium and make himself more accessible to his audience so that listeners could hear and see him better.