When considering topics for your speech, it is critical for you to keep your audience in mind. Not doing so will put your speech at risk of not corresponding with the information needs of your audience, and further jeopardize your credibility as a speaker. This chapter examined methods of conducting an audience analysis and five categories of audience analysis. In sum, this information equips you with the foundational knowledge and skill-set required to ensure that your topic complements your audience. And, after all, if we are not adapting to meet the needs of our audience, we are not going to be informative or convincing speakers. Show
Winston Churchill is credited with the origin of the saying: “Fail to plan, plan to fail.”[1] We, your authors, believe that if you have failed to fully consider the nature, make-up, and characteristics of your audience, you are—for all intents and purposes—neglecting the spirit of the public speaking exercise. Confidently speaking to audiences can be somewhat addictive. The experience, when properly executed, can be empowering and help you succeed personally and professionally throughout your life. But, you must first consider the audience you will be addressing and take their every requirement into account.[2] We are linked to, joined with, if not bound by, our audiences. Your main speaking ambition should be to seek identification with them, and for them to seek identification with you. Review Questions
Activities
Updated March 02, 2021 - Sophie Thompson This article will teach you how to perform audience analysis for your speech or presentation and the different types of audience you might encounter. The type of audience affects the choice of language, humour, opening sentences, length and many more. OverviewHere is a great overview from the University of Pittsburgh:
Four types of audience1. HostileThis audience does not want to be listening to you. This could be for many reasons, from not liking the organisation you are representing, to wanting to get home and watch their favourite TV show. They can be openly hostile and disagree with you. If audience analysis shows that you’ll be faced with this audience (e.g. you have the last slot of a busy day of presentation), consider the following:
Speaking to a hostile audience? Make sure you understand the type of audience you will be up against and build you speech accordingly. 2. CriticalOften at technical conferences, you get critical people who believe they are extremely intelligent and relish the thought of proving part of your presentation incorrect. Use the following techniques:
3. UninformedThis is the most common type of audience you will encounter. They might know a little about your presentation topic but certainly not in great detail.
Build Career Skills OnlineFast-track your career with award-winning courses and realistic practice. Start a Free Trial 4. SympatheticThis audience is willing to listen and wants to be there. They can be interested in your topic, excited to see you talk (you might be a well-known figure in your speaking field), have an emotional attachment – these people are the easiest to persuade.
People checking their watches? Make sure you understand the situation your audience is in. If your presentation is the last of the day, you’ll most likely have a hostile audience. Take this into account and structure your speech accordingly. Different personalities in a meetingThe following section discusses the four types of audience personalities and an audience analysis on them. Analytical
Driver
Amiable
Expressive
Features of each personality:Analytical – 100% accurate, chronology, don’t rush, focus on facts, internally focussed, distant from others, systematic, critical Driver – 100% task, headlines, don’t waste time, focus on action, future focused, leading others, quick to decide, impatient Amiable – 100% social, relationships, don’t intimidate, focus on feelings, present focused, asks questions, dislike conflict, support, kind Expressive – 100% impulsive, vision & ideas, don’t limit, focus on themes, externally focused, makes statements, competitive & chaotic, unpredictable, energetic How to gauge the audiences interestGreet people before your SpeechThis is a great way to perform early audience analysis. If possible, stand near the entrance and greet people as they come in. Ask them questions to gauge their level of knowledge and expectations. Example questions can be “what industry are working in?” and “how long they have been working at…” Call and Response TechniqueAsk carefully prepared questions at the beginning of you speech to understand the mood and experience of the audience. You could ask “Raise your hand if you have used a virtual reality headset before” for example. Research the EventRead up about the conference you are attending. Find out what the other presentations are about and how they might relate to your speech to give you a head start on audience analysis. This gives you an idea of how technical and prepared your audience might be. For additional information on understanding your audience and audience analysis, read:
Build Career Skills OnlineFast-track your career with award-winning courses and realistic practice. Start a Free Trial Key audience analysis factorsAudience expectationsDifferent audiences can have completely different expectations about the topics and speaker. Ignoring these differences can have a negative effect on your speech. Imagine that you’re asked to speak at the memorial service for a close friend. The audience will expect your speech to praise the life of the deceased. If you start talking about the flaws of the person, the audience is likely to react badly to it. Knowledge of topicYou need to find out how much your audience already knows about your topic as an audiences knowledge can vary widely. Two ways to achieve this could be:
Never overestimate the audience’s knowledge of a topic. If you start speaking about complex algorithms for robotics, but the listeners are not familiar with basic genetics, they’ll quickly lose interest and find something to distract themselves with. On the other hand, drastically underestimating the audience’s knowledge may result in a speech that sounds condescending. SettingPresentation setting, such as what time you are presenting and style of the conference room, will influence audience’s ability and desire to listen. Finding out ahead of time the different environment and situational factors. This will give you plenty of time to prepare for an audience of 1000 when you were expecting 50. You want to understand whether there will be a stage, where your slides will be shown, what technology is available to you, who is presenting before you and other factors. Take into account the way that the setting will affect audience attention and participation. If you’re scheduled to speak at the end of the day, you’ll have to make the speech more entertaining and appear more enthusiasm to keep their attention. Read more about how to speak to an unruly crowd if you're stuck with an end of day presentation slot. Audience sizeYour speech will change depending on the size of the audience. In general, the larger the audience the more formal the presentation should be. Using everyday language when speaking to a group of 5 people is often appropriate. However, you’ll need a well throughout structure and literary techniques when talking to 500 people. Large audiences often require that you use a microphone and speak from an elevated platform. Attitude toward topicBeing able to understand the audiences attitudes about a topic will help you connect with them. Imagine you’re trying to convince people at a town hall to build a new college. You’ll be inclined to spend the majority of the speech giving reasons why a college would benefit the town. If you find that the major worry was how much this would cost students, you can talk more about funding available to the students. The persuasive power of the speech is therefore directed at the most important obstacle to the building the college. DemographicsThe demographic factors of an audience include:
These categories often underpin the individuals experiences and beliefs, so you should tailor your speech accordingly. Presenting at a conference in London will be a very different experience to presenting in Shanghai. The structure of your speech and words you use will probably be very different. Using demographic factors to guide speech-making does not mean changing the goal of the speech for every different audience; rather, consider what pieces of information will be most important for members of different demographic groups. VoluntarinessAudiences are either hostile, critical, uninformed or sympathetic. Knowing the difference will assist in establishing the content of your speech. It’s very hard to generate and maintain interest with a hostile audience. You’ll definitely want to know if you’re up against this so you can plan ahead for it. EgocentrismMost audience members are interested in things that directly affect them or their company. An effective speaker must be able to show their audience why the topic they are speaking on should be important to them. Why is it important to conduct an audience analysis prior to developing your speech Why is it important to conduct an audience analysis prior to developing your speech?You want to analyze your audience prior to your speech so that during the speech you can create a link between you, the speaker, and the audience. You want to be able to figuratively step inside the minds of audience members to understand the world from their perspectives.
Why should you conduct audience analysis before you decide on a topic?Audience analysis should be conducted so you can acknowledge your audience and their beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes. Audience analysis should guide your choice of a topic so that you select a topic that is relevant and useful to them.
What is an audience analysis and why is it important to consider one when writing?An audience analysis is a tool that allows the technical writer to gain a more complete perspective of who the audience is and what their goals, interests, and needs are. Completing an audience analysis is the first step in document preparation, and without it, you can't effectively plan the document or start writing.
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