1. UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE
OFAD 487
Prof. M. Arce

2. DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION
TOPICS 1 2 3 4 5
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
PERCEPTION
DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION
KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE
THE POWER OF LISTENING AND READING
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

3. SELF-UNDERSTANDING

4. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Small Communication Activity
Answer the following questions about yourself:
What is your favorite subject?
What can you do?
What has been your experience writing to date?
What do you enjoy?
Who is important to you?
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

5. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
These five questions are key questions that talk about who you are and they are also five things that quickly can get us to understand who we are dealing with.
knowledge
skills
experience
interests
relationships
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

6. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
To be a successful communicator, it is helpful to be conscious of how you view yourself and others.
Please consider what groups you belong to, particularly in terms of race, ethnicity, or culture.
Look at everyone in the classroom and identify what you think are important qualities for them.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

7. SELF-UNDERSTANDING The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
INDEPENDENT/DEPENDENT
HARDWORKING/LAID BACK
PROGRESSIVE/ TRADITIONAL
SOPHISTICATED/
SIMPLE
START
FINISH
CREATIVE/ PRACTICAL
VERBAL/ NON-VERBAL
EXTRAVORTED/ INTROVERTED
YOU?
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

8. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Public communication starts with intrapersonal communication, or communication with yourself.
This terms starts with the communication that you have with your self-conscience.
You may ask yourself,
“How is this coming across?”
”Am I being clear in what I want or expect?”
“What point do I want to get across?”
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

9. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Your objective is to become aware or to have awareness.
Having awareness is vital to any human interaction.
Have you ever been broke and have a family member talk about how much they spent on a non-essential item? How did that make you feel?
Having awareness makes you avoid that unnecessary irritation that you may be giving to others.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

10. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Learning to recognize how your perspective influences your thoughts is a key step in understanding yourself and preparing to communicate with others.
In addition different things tend to shape the way we see the world and how we view others.
This is our viewpoints are created or altered.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

11. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Self concept
Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values
Self-Image and Self-Esteem
Looking-Glass Self
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

12. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
You can become a more effective communicator by understanding yourself and how others view you: your attitudes, beliefs, and values; your self-concept; and how the self-fulfilling prophecy may influence your decisions.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

13. PERCEPTION

14. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
PERCEPTION
When speaking or writing, your style, tone, and word choice all influence the reader.
The degree to which you can tailor your message to their needs will be associated with an increase in the overall effectiveness of your message.
These differences in perspective influence communication and your ability to recognize not only your point of view but theirs will help you become “other-oriented” and improve communication.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

15. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
PERCEPTION
Expectations affect our perceptions.
“The customary forms and configurations (of communication) that members expect” are called conventions (Kostelnick,1998).
This action of sorting competing messages, or choosing stimuli, is called selection.
The stage refers to the setting, scene, and context of the communication interaction, and can be equally applied to written or oral communication.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

16. PERCEPTION SELECTION ORGANIZATION INTERPRETATION
Perception falls into three main categories:
SELECTION
How we pay attention to a certain stimuli.
ORGANIZATION
The way we sort the information.
INTERPRETATION
Assigning meaning to your stimuli.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

17. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
PERCEPTION
Selection has three main parts:
exposure: what we decide to pay attention to or ignore
attention: Focus on one stimuli, ignore the other
retention: remembering one stimuli over other.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

18. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
PERCEPTION
When we present information to another person, we must take into consideration how is the person going to view what we are presenting this data.
Therefore, we must organize and arrange this information in a way where it will become valuable and useful for the person receiving the stimuli.
In our brains we are wired to arrange things according to their topics or similarities.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

19. PERCEPTION Gestalt Principles of Organization Closure Figure and
Proximity
Continuity
Symmetry
Figure and
Ground
Gestalt Principles of Organization
Similarity
Uniformity
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

20. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
PERCEPTION
From your past experiences combined with your current expectations, you assign meaning to the current stimuli.
You begin to relate things to things that you have lived before.
You begin to interpret messages according tp what you has happened with you before.
Perceptions are influenced by how we select, organize, and interpret words and ideas.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

21. DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION

22. DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION
People perceive things differently because we choose to focus on different aspects based on our interests, experiences and what we consider important.
Sometimes we need to focus on what has happened to us to determine which messages we choose to listen to and which ones do we ignore.
We all incur on selection, which is we engage in X stimulus while ignoring Y.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

23. DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION
Some perception involve our senses however, others are influenced on our upbringing and our culture.
The attributes that cause people to perceive things differently are known as individual differences.
In other words our perceptions are influenced by our individual differences and preconceived notions.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

24. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

25. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
ID AN AUDIENCE
Catering to your audience’s expectations is key to your success, but how do you get a sense of your audience?
Focus on demographic traits.
Demographic Traits
How do X or Y people think and act?
What is the difference between X or Y?
What is the level of education, employment or career status?
Remember audiences tend to be interested in messages that relate to their interests, needs, goals, and motivations.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

26. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
ID AN AUDIENCE
Other things to keep in mind:
How big is the audience?
What are their backgrounds, gender, age, jobs, education, and/or interests?
Do they already know about your topic? If so, how much?
Will other materials be presented or available?
If so, what are they, what do they cover, and how do they relate to your message?
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

27. ID AN AUDIENCE SUCCESS ACTIVE PERCEIVER CHECK YOUR PERCEPTIONS
PERCEPTUAL STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
ACTIVE PERCEIVER
RECOGNIZE OTHER’S PERCEPTIONS
CHECK YOUR PERCEPTIONS
SUCCESS
KEEP AN OPEN MIND
RECOGNIZE THAT THINGS CHANGE
UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF PERCEPTION
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

28. FAIRNESS IN COMMUNICATION
Think of why should you listen to a person.
Mutuality is the act of finding empathy with the message that the other person is trying to communicate.
Don’t judge the person, be honest and respect the other person and message.
To have successful communication become aware of your perceptions and theirs, and practice fairness in your communications.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

29. LISTENING AND READING FOR COMPREHENSION

30. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
ACTIVE LISTENING
The importance of listening comes up frequently as a success strategy.
Listening is one of the most difficult things that a human being can do.
It is because we are so focused on the message that we are trying to provide that we forget what the other person has asked of us.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

31. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
ACTIVE LISTENING
To listen and read actively, we must:
Maintain eye contact with the speaker; if reading, keep your eyes on the page.
Don’t interrupt; if reading, don’t multitask.
Focus your attention on the message, not your internal monologue.
Restate the message in your own words and ask if you understood correctly.
Ask clarifying questions to communicate interest and gain insight.
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com

32. The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com
ACTIVITY
I want you to look at everybody in your group and write the following things:
What music do they listen to?
What do you think they like or dislike?
What do their clothes say about them?
The Power of PowerPoint | thepopp.com