Analyzing the Audience Communications 1020 Instructor: Dave Gagon To capture an audience’s attention and bring them to your point of view, you must present a topic in ways that are meaningful to your listeners. Audience analysis is the process of gathering and analyzing information about your listeners with explicit aim of adapting your message to the information you uncover. This is the single most critical aspect of preparing for any speech.

Audience Analysis Evaluate Attitudes Beliefs Values People tend to evaluate messages in terms of their own – rather than the speaker’s – attitudes, beliefs and values. NEXT 3 LINES ONE AT A TIME Attitudes reflect a predisposition to respond to people, ideas, objects or events in evaluative ways, judging to be good or bad. Attitudes are based on beliefs – the way people perceive reality. The less faith listeners have in a subject, the open they are to hearing about it. Both attitudes and beliefs are shaped by values – people’s most enduring judgments about what is good and bad in life. Values are more enduring than attitudes or beliefs. More resistant to change. Understanding an audience’s values points you in the direction of their attitudes and beliefs.

Audience Analysis Evaluate The topic of your speech You as the speaker Attitudes Beliefs Values The topic of your speech You as the speaker The speech occasion You are far more likely to sustain your listener’s attention if you can uncover audience members’ attitudes, beliefs and values – or briefly, feelings – toward NEW LINE The topic of your speech You as the speaker The speech occasion. Such perspective taking is critical in seeing things from your listener’s point of view.

Gauge Listener’s Feelings Toward you as the Speaker Speaker credibility Have a sound grasp of the subject Display sound reasoning skills Are honest and unmanipulative Are genuinely interested in the welfare of their listeners How audience members feel about you will have considerable bearing on their attentiveness and responsiveness to the message. Research on NEW LINE Speaker credibility reveals that people place their greatest trust in speakers who NEW 4 LINES – Read each as they appear Listeners tend to distrust speakers who deviate even slightely from these qualities. But being an expert is not enough to inspire listeners’ trust. We trust only those speakers whom we believe have our best interest in mind.

Gauge Listener’s Feelings Toward the Topic If topic is new to listeners, Show why it’s relevant Relate topic to familiar issues and ideas If listeners know relatively little about your topic Stick to the basics and include background information Try to determine what your listeners know about the topic. What is their level of interest? How do they feel about it? Once you have this information, adjust the speech accordingly. NEW LINE If the topic is new to your listeners, start by NEW LINE showing why the topic is relevant to them. Relate the topic to familiar issues and ideas. If your listeners know relatively little about your topic stick to the basics and include background information.

Gauge Listener’s Feelings Toward the Topic If their attitudes about the topic differ from yours Make points relevant to their attitudes and beliefs rather than to yours Seek a common ground Focus on issues of general social concern NEXT LINE If their attitudes about the topic differ from yours NEXT 3 LINES IN ORDER. Read them.

Gauge Listener’s Feelings Toward the Topic If your listeners are negatively disposed toward your topic Consider modifying or changing your topic. Give them a good reason why their attitudes are unfounded. Give them a good reason for changing their attitudes. If your listeners are negatively disposed toward your topic NEXT 3 LINES ONE AT A TIME

Appeal to Your Listener’s Concerns QUICK TIP Appeal to Your Listener’s Concerns As a general rule, people give more interest and attention to topics toward which they have positive attitudes and that are in keeping with their values and beliefs. The less we know about something, the more indifferent we tend to be. Any speaker seeking a change in attitudes or behavior does well to remember this. Read verbatim.

Gauge Listener’s Feelings Toward the Occasion “ Depending on the speech occasion, people bring different sets of expectations and emotions to it. The speaker who fails to anticipate such attitudes and expectations risks alienating audience members.” Dan O’Hair “A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking,” pg. 36 Read verbatim.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Demographics are the statistical characteristics of a given population. Six such characteristics are typically considered in the analysis of speech audiences. NEXT LINE Age. Each age group brings its own concerns, psychological drives and motivations. People of the same generation often share a familiarity with significant individuals, local and world events, noteworthy pop culture, and so forth. Be aware of the age differences and develop points for all.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background An understanding of and sensitivity to the ethnic and cultural composition of your listeners are key factors in delivering a successful – and ethical – speech. Some audience members may have a great deal in common with you. Others may be fluent in a language other than yours and must struggle to understand you. Some members of the audience may belong to a distinct co-culture, or social community, who perceptions and beliefs differ significantly from yours

Treat Your Listeners with Dignity QUICK TIP Treat Your Listeners with Dignity In any speaking situation, your foremost concern should be to treat your listeners with dignity and to act with integrity. You do this by adhering to certain ethical ground rules, or, in the words of ethicist Michael Josephson, “pillars of character.” These include being trustworthy, respectful, responsible and fair in our presentation. (See section 2) Read verbatim.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status includes income, occupation and education. Knowing roughly where an audience falls in terms of these key variables can be critical in effectively targeting your message.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Income determines people’s experiences on many levels. It directly affects how they are housed, clothed, and fed, and it determines what they can afford. Income also affects whether we have good health insurance, travel and leisure activities. Given how pervasively income affects people’s life experiences, insight into this aspect of an audience’s makeup can be quite important.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Occupation In most speech situations, the occupation of audience members is an important and easily identifiable demographic characteristic to uncover. The nature of people’s work has a lot to do with what interests them. Occupational interests are tied to other areas of social concern, like politics, the economy, education and social reform. Personal attitudes, beliefs, and goals are also closely tied to occupational standing.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Occupation Education Level of education strongly influences people’s ideas, perspectives, and range of abilities. If the audience is generally better educated than you, your speech may need to be more sophisticated. When speaking to a less educated audience, you may choose to clarify your points with more examples and illustrations.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Occupation Education Religion The “Encyclopedia of American Religions” identifies more than 2,300 different religious groups in the United States, so don’t assume that everyone in your audience shares a common religious heritage. And don’t assume that members of the same religion tradition agree on all issues. Divorce, abortion, same-sex unions, etc., can diversify the same group.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Occupation Education Religion Political affiliation Beware of making unwarranted assumptions about an audience’s political values and beliefs. Some like a lively debate on public issues, others shy away from it. Unless you have prior information about the audience’s political ideas, you won’t know where your listeners stand.

Adapt Your Message to Audience Demographics Ethnic or cultural background Socioeconomic status Income Occupation Education Religion Political affiliation Gender Be wary about making generalizations based on gender. This includes avoiding sexist language and other gender stereotypes. Don’t oversimplify male and female. Strive for language that is inclusive of and respectful toward both sexes.

Consider Disability When Analyzing an Audience QUICK TIP Consider Disability When Analyzing an Audience One out of every five people in the United States has some sort of physical or mental disability; thus you must ensure that your speech reflects language that accords persons with disability dignity, respect and fairness. Read verbatim.

Adapt to Cultural Differences Individualism versus collectivism High uncertainty versus low uncertainty High power distance versus low power distance Masculine versus feminine Audience members hold different cultural perspectives and styles of communicating that may not mesh with your own. This becomes apparent when attempts at humor fall flat on its face. Be alert to differences in order to avoid ethnocentrism. To do this consider audience members’ cultural orientations. Four broad cultural identifications have been identified that are significant across all cultures in varying degrees. NEXT 4 LINES IN ORDER Individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and masculinity versus femininity.

CHECKLIST: Reviewing Your Speech in the Light of Audience Demographics Does your speech acknowledge potential differences in values and beliefs and address them sensitively? Have you reviewed your topic in light of the age range and generational identity of your listeners? Do you use examples they will recognize and find relevant? Have you avoided making judgments based on stereotypes? Are your explanations and examples at a level that is appropriate to the audience’s sophistication and education? Read verbatim.

CHECKLIST: Reviewing Your Speech in the Light of Audience Demographics Do you make any unwarranted assumptions about the audience’s political or religious values and beliefs? Does your topic carry religious or political overtones that are likely to stir your listeners’ emotions in a negative way? Is your speech free of generalizations based on gender? Does your language reflect sensitivity toward people with disabilities? Read verbatim.

Seek Information through Surveys, Interviews and Published Sources Conducting surveys and interviews of audience members and seeking out published information such as polls and company reports will help uncover critical demographic and psychological information about members of an audience. Often it takes just a few questions to get some idea about where audience members stand on each of the demographic factors.

Survey Audience Members Questionnaire Closed-ended questions Fixed-alternative questions Scale questions Open-ended questions Surveys can be as informal as a telephone poll of two audience members or as formal as the distribution of a written survey NEXT LINE Questionnaire – a series of closed-ended, fixed-alternative, scale and open-ended questions. READ FROM PAGE 41 By using a mix of these questions you can draw a fairly clear picture of the backgrounds and attitudes of the members of your audience. Closed-ended questions are helpful in uncovering shared attitudes, experiences, and knowledge. Open-ended questions are useful for probing beliefs and opinions. They elicit more individual or personal information about the audience’s thoughts and feelings. They are also more time intensive than closed-ended questions TURN TO PAGE 42 AND LOOK AT CHART

Conduct Interviews Prepare questions for the interview Word questions carefully Create neutral questions Avoid vague questions Avoid leading questions An interview is a face-to-face communication for the purpose of gathering information. Interviews can be conducted on-on-one or in a group. NEXT LINE Prepare questions for the interview. Plan well in advance the questions you will ask. Word questions carefully. The wording of a question is almost as critical as the information is seeks to uncover. NEXT 3 LINES IN ORDER LOOK ON PAGE 43 TOP

Conduct Interviews Open interview carefully Explain purpose of information State a reasonable goal Acknowledge interviewee Establish time limit for interview and stick to it NEXT LINE Open the interview carefully. Briefly summarize your topic and informational needs. NEXT 4 LINES IN ORDER Explain the purpose for which the information will be used. State a reasonable goal, such as what you want to accomplish in the interview, and reach an agreement on it. Acknowledge the interviewee, and express respect for his or her expertise. Establish a time limit for the interview and stick to it.

Conduct Interviews Don’t end interview abruptly Check to see you’ve covered the topic Offer a brief, positive summary Offer to send results to interviewee Send a written thanks NEXT LINE Don’t end the interview abruptly. Instead, offer to answer any questions the interviewee may have. NEXT 4 LINES IN ORDER Check that you’ve covered all the topics. For example, say “Does this cover everything?” Briefly offer a positive summary of important things you learned in the interview. Offer to send the result of the interview to the interviewee. Send a written not of thanks.

Investigate Published Poll and Other Sources As another source of information about audience members, consider consulting published opinion polls that report on trends in attitudes. Although the polls won’t specifically reflect your listener’s responses, they can provide insight into how a representative state, national or international sample feels about the same issue. Armed with this knowledge, you can then investigate your specific audience and use this polling data as supporting material. In addition, organizations publish all kinds of material on their missions, goals, operations, etc. Sources include Web sites, print brochures, newspaper and magazine articles, annual reports, industry guides and agency abstracts.

Assess the Speech Setting Where will the speech take place? How long am I expected to speak? How many people will attend? Will I need a microphone? How will any projecting equipment I plan to use in my speech, such as an LCD projector, speech function in the space? As important as analyzing the audience is assessing and then preparing for the setting in which you will give your speech NEXT LINE BY LINE ASKING THE QUESTIONS

Assess the Speech Setting Where will I stand or sit in relation to the audience? Will I be able to interact with the listeners? Who else will be speaking? Are there special events or circumstances of concern to my audience that I should acknowledge? CONTINUE GOING LINE BY LINE, ASKING THE QUESTIONS.