Kamala Harris, Titanic and 'Nothing Without an Audience'

Public speaking often evokes fear and insecurity, especially when facing unfamiliar faces. Kamala Harris, the American politician and exceptional speaker, offers a simple yet powerful piece of advice: a speech isn't about the speaker—it's about the audience. This principle is key to every successful presentation, and her Titanic example illustrates it brilliantly.

The rapid changes in the world over recent years are evident even in the way we can follow the U.S. presidential campaigns on social media in Croatia as if we were in the front row. Among the many videos available on TikTok (especially for younger audiences), I came across a campaign clip where two young women, fans of a presidential candidate, asked Kamala Harris about her secret to being such a great public speaker. She replied, 'Public speaking isn’t about you or for of you —it’s for your audience,' and then asked if they knew the story of the Titanic (one of the women admitted she had never seen the movie—she’s really young…). Kamala Harris continued, 'If you were on the Titanic and the only one who knew it was about to sink, would you worry about how you looked or sounded? The most important thing would be to make sure everyone knows what you know. When giving a speech, you know something that others need to know too.' She reminded them that public speaking is about focusing on others—speaking for them."

I often see public speaking courses that cover nonverbal communication or managing stage fright. These are relevant topics, but they’re not the core of a successful public speech. As Harris highlights, impactful speaking isn’t rooted in the speaker; it’s rooted in the audience and their needs. This concept isn’t new. It dates back to ancient rhetoric and is affirmed by Lloyd Bitzer's (1968) rhetorical theory, which underscores that every rhetorical situation relies on three things: an audience, an exigence (the reason for speaking), and constraints. Without an audience, there’s no true occasion for speech, as it only finds meaning in relation to its listeners. Nonverbal cues are just a part of these constraints, especially when we consider that rhetorical situations don’t just happen in speech—they occur in writing too.

If you don't have an audience (that's listening) - you don't have a rhetorical situation.

For public speakers, the audience is everything. They are the central focus. The same speaker, with the same message, at the same time and place, but add just one new member to the audience, and the speech will be different. The good news? The audience doesn’t have to be large.

You might have an audience, but no occasion or reason (no 'exigence') to speak. Bitzer describes it as a 'question/answer' relationship: if no question is asked, the answer is redundant. The question doesn’t have to be verbalized; it can 'hang in the air,' but it must be recognized. In scripted, formal events, this is clearer. For instance, an award ceremony where the recipient is expected to say a few words. If they took the award and ran off stage, we’d see it as rude. Just as there are public figures, like politicians, who speak at any sight of a microphone, there are also speakers who don’t recognize—or don’t want to recognize—the opportunity. Recognizing the right moment (known in Greek as kairos ) is a skill, one that might reveal someone’s true capability: judging whether or not we’re 'called' to speak publicly. A crisis demands swift, clear communication, while a speech at a formal event calls for careful thought and formality. The beginning of the coronavirus pandemic posed a question, and the crisis response briefings that followed daily provided the answer.

If you’re speaking at a conference, you may be limited by time or a formal structure, but these limits can actually sharpen your message. Constraints don’t have to be negative – they can help clarify or frame your message, making it sharper and more focused. Your credibility, persona, all your experience, knowledge, and skills, all transform into your strength (or weakness) in that moment. The bigger the change or action you want your speech to inspire, the better you need to know the limitations you face. Is it your audience’s first time seeing you, and they have to listen because the ship’s going down? Are you speaking in a large hall without a microphone? Do you have a cold, so your voice is hoarse and nasal? All of this will influence your speech at that moment. The next day, or even 15 minutes later—with a microphone in hand or after telling a joke that relaxes the crowd—your speech would flow differently, because the moment would be different

Reflecting on Kamala Harris’s quick advice, public speaking isn’t about the speaker, and it’s not just a presentation of information—it’s a chance to connect your audience with your message. Recognizing the right moment, adapting your message, and focusing on the audience – that’s the key to success.