Analyzing the Audience

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Chapter 3

• Analyzing the Audience

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• Introduction
• Important to consider in planning your
  presentation is the audience who will be in the
  audience and what are their characteristics
• Thinking about the audience can make the
  difference between an effective presentation and
  one that is a failure
• Without audience analysis, presentation may be
• Uninteresting to the audience
• Irrelevant to the audience
• Too difficult for the audience
• Covering too much information that the audience
  already knows

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• Considering Your Audience
• Need to consider a number of questions, including
  
• 1. What are the interests of your audience?
• Important to consider your audience's interests
  as well
• Need to consider your own interests
• Difficult to get an audience interested in a
  topic you have no interest in yourself
• Need to consider this question both in the topic
  you choose and the aspect of the topic you choose
  to emphasize.
• Audience more interested in the practical aspects
  of the topic or in theory?

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• 2. How much does the audience know about the
  subject already? Are they specialists in the
  subject, or do they have little knowledge of it?
• If audience has little knowledge of the subject,
  need to explain more about the background than if
  the audience already has considerable knowledge
• If audience has little knowledge, need to
  consider what background information they need to
  understand main points
• If audience is already knowledgeable need to
  avoid giving too much background information,
  which will bore the audience
• Probably better to give too much background
  information than too little

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• In some cases, might not be able to find out in
  advance what the audience knows
• Should be flexible
• Can ask questions at the beginning of the
  presentation about whether people are already
  familiar with the basics of the subject
• If they are not, should briefly go over necessary
  background information

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• 3. How large will the audience be?
• Useful to know the size of the audience you will
  be speaking to
• With larger the audience, presentation may be
  more formal
• Difficult to be informal with a large audience
• Awkward to be very formal with a small audience
• With a large audience
• Need to speak more slowly and more formally
• Need to use a microphone and a lectern (a high
  desk behind which speakers sometimes stand)

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• With a small audience
• Can speak a little faster
• If appropriate to the occasion, can speak more
  informally
• Might not need a lectern and a microphone
• Size of the audience can also influence
• Visuals you use
• Whether you can get the audience to participate
• By asking members of the audience questions
• By eliciting opinions

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• 4. What are the attitudes of your audience?
• May not be easy to find out
• Useful to know what the attitudes of your
  audience might be, especially if you are planning
  to give a persuasive presentation.
• Will the audience members be receptive?
• Will they be likely to agree or disagree with
  you?
• If you expect audience to disagree
• Need to spend more time developing your arguments
  than if you expect them to agree
• Can consider the points of disagreement your
  audience might have, so you can plan how to
  answer their objections

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• 5. Why is your audience at your presentation?
• Are they required to attend, or did they choose
  to attend?
• If required to attend, might need to make an
  effort to convince the audience that your topic
  is important or useful to them
• Will the audience expect to participate?
• What does your audience expect to get out of the
  presentation?
• Try to figure out how you can meet their
  expectations

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• 6. What will be the age range of audience
  members?
• Age will influence some aspects of your speech
• Type of examples you can give
• Examples from current popular music
• Might not be useful for middle-aged audience and
  would only confuse them
• Would interest teenagers
• Examples related to historical events from 30
  years ago
• Teenagers might not be familiar
• People of all ages in the audience
• A challenge to find examples that are familiar to
  most or all audience members

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• Getting information about your audience
• Various ways to find out about your audience
• Classmates or familiar co-workers
• Might already have some idea of their
  characteristics
• If not sure, can briefly survey a few potential
  audience members, or people similar to the
  audience
• Find out about characteristics, attitudes, etc.
• If someone else has organized the event
• Can ask the organizer about the expected audience
• Can ask someone else that has spoken at a related
  event or who is otherwise familiar with the
  audience.
• Knowing the occupations of members of the
  audience
• might give you information about background
  knowledge is

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• Conclusion
• Knowing your audience one of the most important
  aspects of doing an effective presentation
• If you do not know your audience, difficult to
  adjust your speech to their knowledge,
  expectations, and attitudes