The space of an open letter versus the space of a lecture.

The tones of the two products are entirely different, but I am unsure if it has to do as much with the writing as it does with he reading. Clearly, the tone of the writing has to shift, as no longer is the author addressing just one intimate person but a large range of people. When lecturing, or writing, someone has something to say. In effective communication, it is essential to know how to say what you need to say in a way that it will be perceived and heard correctly by the people you need to say it to. I want to examine the different ways this occurs in the space of an open letter versus in the space of a lecture.

In an open letter, the dialogue is between one person and another, while others get to look in. Because the dialogue is intimate, the tone of the writer will be different. It will be laced with all the emotion and memory of the relationship between author and receiver. The reader, the open audience, will perceive this from an outsiders perspective, and thus maybe it will be more impactful to them. To perceive the emotion without having it directed to them. Then, they can process it more happily, they have an escape because it is not about them, but it is relevant and moving to them.

In a lecture, on the other hand, the speaker is dealing with a range of emotions and people and relationships, from student to stranger to peer to mentor. The speaker needs to withhold certain emotion that is directed towards these people, because when people feel attacked they will shut down. People don’t want to listen when they feel like they need to defend themselves. Rather, the speaker must be tactful so as not to enact these systems of defense within their audience.

But ultimately, all of this is about being wary of the reader’s emotions. Were one not want to allow the reader the comfort of guiltlessness or being removed or not being spared, what medium would they use? How would they trouble that space of an open letter or of a lecture in a way that is effective?