Friday, July 24, 2015

Analyze the following text in terms of audience, purpose, and context: "Mr. President, Members of the International Olympic Committee. I'm Denise Lewis, Olympic Heptathlon champion from the Sydney Games. I have the pleasure of speaking on behalf of the London Athletes Commission. I was eight when I was inspired by the Moscow Games. I dreamt of emulating the athletes I watched. And my dreams came true when I completed in Atlanta, in Sydney, and in Athens. Like every Olympian, I have unforgettable Olympic memories. And we in London are determined every athlete will leave our city with friendships and memories which last forever. Our Athletes Commission had to answer one fundamental question: how do you give athletes the best possible Olympic experience? We said: give us the best Village in the most convenient location. Everything else follows. Our Village is within walking distance of nine venues. In London, athletes will compete, not commute. The Village is inside the Park to guarante the athletes a special experience. Take it from me: It makes all the difference to be as close to the action as possible. In fact, the whole London plan was conceived with our input. Everything athletes need was designed from day one. Training venues. Security. And, of course, the needs of Paralympians. These are the things athletes want."

The purpose of this speech is to persuade the International Olympic Committee (the audience) that London is the best venue to host the 2012 summer Olympics. Because the speaker is Denise Long, an Olympic gold medal champion, she has credibility: she knows what it is like to stay in an Olympic village and compete as an athlete in the games. 
Long's context is that she can speak as an insider with persuasive knowledge of what athletes need and how the London location meets those needs. She uses facts about the London location to show that it will be a good place for athletes, primarily because the Olympic Village is close to where the athletes will compete, so they will not have a long commute. She also notes that athletes had input into designing the London plan from the beginning, so it accounts for their needs for safety, security, and training.
Coming from an athlete speaking to a commission made up of people who are not necessarily athletes, this speech makes a persuasive case for the London location.   


To analyze the audience, purpose, and context of this speech, we actually need a bit more background information. We can find this speech both published and analyzed in Jon Steel's book Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business.
Through some basic research, we can discover both the context and purpose of this speech. Olympic champion Denise Lewis gave this speech as part of a lobbying effort to win the bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. In terms of more specific context, the speech was given at the Raffle City Convention Centre in Singapore on July 6, 2005. Lewis was chosen to seek in order to establish "ethos" (or credibility) for London's bid, as she had participated (as she states) in the Games in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens and knows what athletes want. Lewis uses her time in the spotlight to discuss London's plan for giving future Olympic athletes the best possible experience by centralizing the location of the Olympic Village. This establishes London as a great geographic candidate for hosting. 
We can note that Lewis identifies her audience right at the beginning of the speech by directly addressing the President and Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who was responsible for voting on who would host the 2012 Olympics. 
Finally, the good news is that this was obviously an effective speech! The IOC did indeed choose London to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. 

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