1. Analyzing The Audience
“Preparing A Presentation
With The Audience in Mind”
*A speaker nothing without them
cosmicray.umd.edu

2. Analyzing The Audience
What is an “audience- centered speaker?
“An audience-centered speaker is a speaker who seeks to gain a desired response from listeners.”
“Keeping the audience foremost in mind at every step of speech preparation is what audience-centeredness is all about.”
There are key questions you ask when you are preparing speeches:
(LUCUS, 2009)

3. Analyzing The Audience, cont’d
1. Who is the target group?
2. Audience Expectations?
3. Relevance of Topic to the target group?
(LUCUS, 2013)
team.lab.usc.edu

4. Analyzing The Audience, cont’d
4. Should I share the “need to know information,” “nice to know information,” or both?
5. How should I present the information to them?
6. Once I get their attention, how can I keep it?
Need to know/Nice to know
(LUCUS, 2012)

5. Analyzing The Audience, cont’d
7. What kind of examples would work best?
8. Do language or linguistic differences exist among the target group?
9. What method of organizing the information will be most effective?
cia.gov
(LUCUS, 2009)

6. Your Classmates As An Audience
Students that have to take a public speaking class, have this belief that since this is not a “real situation,” why should I go through great lengths to prepare for this speech? Just like cartoon characters, they see us as just that so we do not exist to them.
(LUCUS, 2012)

7. Your Classmates As An Audience, cont’d
“The best classroom speeches are those that take the classroom audience seriously.”
“You must believe that your audience is worthy of your BEST effort!”
ja-utah.org
(LUCUS, 2013)

8. The Psychology of Audiences
Auditory perception is
always selective.
The Frame of Reference
Same Sex Marriages, Cohabitation,
Death Penalty, Health Care, Abortion,
God Does Not Exist, Terrorism, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, Middle Easterners, Immigration, Confederate
Flag, police shooting of black men, Reverse Discrimination
etc….
Attitudes, beliefs, opinions,
behaviors, ethics, morals,
Experiences, etc,.
Reality
tension
“Your Reality”
(Adler & Rosenfeld, 2007;
Lucus, 2009)

9. howgetrid.org
I can’t find the
remote!!!!!!!

11. The Psychology of Audiences, cont’d
Audiences are egocentric.
They pay closest attention to messages that affect their values (fixed or variable), their beliefs, and their physical, emotional, and psychological health. (If not, they will ask……)
“Why is this topic important to me?”
(LUCUS, 2013)

12. Demographic Audience Analysis
Age
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
Individualist
Independence, low-context
Collectivists
Group Orientation, High-context
Religion
Group Membership
Socioeconomic Status
(Beebe & Beebe, 2007;
Lucus 2009)

13. Situational Audience Analysis
Size
Physical Setting
ccnmtl.columbia.edu/nme2006/photos/audience

14. Disposition Toward The Topic
Interest
Knowledge
Attitude
(LUCUS, 2009)

15. www.naeducation.org Competence Kinetic Audio Visual
There is no textbook,
that can teach you how
to teach!

16. Disposition Toward The Speaker
Credibility
Blogam design.com

17. Disposition Toward The Occasion
Audience members will psychologically know when the allotted time has elapsed because boredom has set in.
tweakyourslides.worldpress
(LUCUS, 2011)

18. Sources
Beebe, S. A. (2009). Public Speaking: An audience-centered approach. Allyn & Bacon, New York, NY.
Lucus, S.A. (2009). The art of public speaking. Mac-Millian, New York, NY.