Communicating Outside Your Field

Whatever is communicated has to meet the needs of the group so you definitely match the content to the audience. A speaker won't ever connect with everyone due to learning styles, personality types, varying levels of competancy in the field being talked about (details given; amount and technicality).

It is incumbent upon the speaker to provide information in a way that is the most interesting way possible, i.e. rate of speech, variance in tone/inflection, words used, illustrations, etc. It is the speakers job to relate to the audience, not vice versa. If the audiences "eyes glaze over", the speaker and his effectiveness is done. He will have to go to great lengths to recapture their attention.

The type of information and it's format will be determined by the purpose of the time of communication.

A great book for this is by Andy Stanley titled "Communicating for a Change". Reading the how-to's of public speaking is good but it is probably more important to immerse yourself in listening to great speakers in person and by audios. You'll learn by example and, who knows, you might even gain some great information in the process.