Chapter 7

 Audience adaptation  Adapting to audience demographics  Knowing your audiences demographics affect choices during speech development  Topic selection  Will be determined by audiences interests and needs  Demographics can help understand these  Examples  Demographics will also help use examples that your audience can relate to  How many of you have ever heard of “Super Chicken”

 Language  Culture, Sexual orientation, & diversity of audience will all play a part in the language you use during your presentation  Avoid Stereotyping ▪ An oversimplified picture of people different from us ▪ If you have a diverse audience be careful not to let these fall in to your speech ▪ What are some common stereotypes people have of different demographic groups

 Adapting to the speaking environment  Our classroom will remain the same, but with outside opportunities  Plan Ahead  Where will you position yourself, how will audience be seated,  Will you need a microphone, whiteboard, equipment, etc  Look the part  You should be as neat and professional as your audience  It is better to be a more formal than audience than less formal

 Adapting to the speaking environment  Our classroom will remain the same, but with outside opportunities  Arrive early  This will help you determine what adjustments, if any, are needed for your presentation before the audience arrives  Choose speaking style  Size of audience often dictates speaking style  Small groups more conversational (Sometimes seated with them)  Large groups more formal, vocal variety, amplification

 Meeting audience expectations  Make sure you address the content to be covered so audience will know what to expect during speech  Where would you identify what will be covered?  Take questions at the end of presentation incase there are unmet expectations you can clear up  Anticipating audience will help to customize your speech for that specific audience

 Benefits of audience analysis and adaptation  Maintain high levels of interest  By including content appropriate for that audience  Achieve speech goal & Meet expectations  By understanding what the audience wants and needs and focusing on that during development

 Benefits of audience analysis and adaptation  Handle adversarial audiences  Knowing you will have opposition (controversial topics) will help prepare for negative or angry audience members  Avoid embarrassing subjects or remarks  Knowing the make up of your audience will help prevent you from saying offensive or insulting comments during your presentation

 Read non verbal cues ▪ Eye contact ▪ Indicates engagement & listening ▪ Facial expressions ▪ Varies based on expressive nature of culture ▪ Movement ▪ Indicates lack of interest  Squirming, shuffling, etc.

 Read non verbal cues ▪ Nonverbal responsiveness ▪ Applauses, nods, etc. ▪ Indicates interest & support ▪ Lack of indicates disinterest ▪ Verbal responsiveness ▪ Shout outs ▪ Whispers to neighbors around them

 Respond to nonverbal cues ▪ Inattentive or bored audiences ▪ Tell a story ▪ Use relatable example ▪ Reinforce importance of message ▪ Eliminate abstract facts/stats ▪ Use humor (make sure it’s appropriate)

 Respond to nonverbal cues ▪ Inattentive or bored audiences ▪ Use direct references to audience ▪ Audience interaction (Ask Questions) ▪ Engage audience (Show of hands) ▪ Speed up pace or pause for drama

 Adapting to confused audiences ▪ Be more redundant, repeat key points ▪ Rephrase info or use an example ▪ Use a visual aid

 Adapting to confused audiences ▪ Adjust rate/tempo (if speaking fast) ▪ Ask for feedback (to find what’s unclear) ▪ Ask someone to summarize key points

 Adjusting to disagreeable audiences ▪ Offer more data/evidence ▪ Reinforce your credibility ▪ Less stories, more facts

 Customize message to audience ▪ Refer to ▪ Audience members by name ▪ City/community where speaking ▪ Significant event on day of speech ▪ Recent or local news events ▪ A group or organization ▪ Find ways to apply facts, stats & examples to audience

 Adapt to diverse listeners ▪ Individualistic/collectivistic listeners ▪ High or low context ▪ High or low need for certainty ▪ High or low power ▪ Long-Term/Short term