Prize giving ceremonies can be tedious affairs, especially for those who have not been nominated as a prize winner. An eminent person is usually invited to give a key note speech. Before processing onto a stage in academic garb the staff members engage traditionally in a sweep stake. They bet on how long the keynote speakers delivery will be.
At this particular event bets usually range between fifteen and twenty five minutes and some seconds. The circumstances must be taken into account. A keynote speaker is faced with the challenge of making some witty and a few serious remark to a captive audience of parents and students.
At a prize giving a guest speaker has to respond to an audience with diverse emotions. Those who have been awarded prizes are thrilled and enthusiastic. Those who have not may be disappointed and most interested in an impending vacation. The context requires a wise and adept speaker who can judge just how long he needs to speak.
Academics often travel around the globe to confer with fellows of like interests. Speakers at such conferences may expect their audiences to be able to listen for up to an hour, often in the wake of a banquet enjoyed by delegates. Usually the speaker will expound on a theme which is also the theme of the conference so there should be a natural well of interest. A speaker may safely plan to speak for an hour in order to make a substantial contribution on the theme.
At a political rally in Africa or Blackpool, England, the majority of the audience will have little intellectual input but very large emotional tenure. They may wait for hours for a political figure to arrive. No intellectual endurance is required but emotions are fired up and ready to run.
The audience wait for certain oratorical signs such as an increase in pace and pitch, followed by a slogan. Then they clap enthusiastically. In these circumstances a speeches may endure for hours before the inevitable standing ovation that concludes it. President Muammar Gadaffi, once one of the world’s longest speech makers, was eventually shot, but not before he had delivered a speech reportedly eight hours long.
Since the mid twentieth century the appropriate duration of a keynote speech has increasingly been determined by television cameras. It is said that the approximate concentration span of the average TV viewer is ten minutes, before he has to take a break. With this in mind veteran politicians try to speak in ‘sound bytes’. They may go on for a long time to please delegates in the hall but produce an increase in volume, pace and pitch every ten minutes or so for the benefit of the media.
Key note speeches make special demands on orators. They are tasked with summing up important points that pertain to an issue, an opening up important points for further investigation. Summing up is such an important task that it is often placed high in the order of academic activities. The note that is struck should not be obscured by distractions or irrelevancies. Critical points should be cogently and then the speaker should stop as a wise guests leaves before overstaying his welcome.