1. Chapter 5
Audience Analysis

2. Audience Analysis: Introduction
When speakers tailor messages to audiences, audience members:
Become more attentive to the speech
Experience positive feelings toward the speaker
Open their minds to ideas that target their needs, interests, and values

3. Audience Analysis: An Overview
Understanding an audience involves:
Understanding situational characteristics
Incorporating demographics
Seeking common ground
Identifying prior exposure
Identifying audience disposition
Gathering information about your audience
Situational audience analysis

4. Understanding Situational Characteristics
Observable factors about a speech situation:
Size
Time
Location
Mobility

5. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Size
How many people will be in the audience?
Small groups
More interaction
Can tailor more detailed and specific message
Large Groups
Less interaction
Must anticipate reactions
Craft a widely accessible message

6. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Size

7. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Time
Presentation time issues:
Short speeches need to be concise.
Longer speeches can take more time to develop a message.

8. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Time
Chronemics or body clock refers to the time of day or day of the week speech is given.
Certain times (e.g., early Monday morning) can impede an audience’s attention.
Be sensitive to body clock and adjust speech as needed.

9. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Time

10. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Location
The setting where you deliver the speech (also called forum)
Take into account:
Acoustic characteristics
Level of technology
Sight lines
Lighting

11. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Location

12. Understanding Situational Characteristics: Mobility
Stationary audience: Sitting or standing
Mobile audience: Strolling by, stopping briefly
If audience members are free to leave during the speech, you must work extra hard to keep their attention.

13. Tips for Situational Characteristics
Tip: Don’t take captive audiences for granted, good speakers work just as hard at keeping their attention.
Tip: If it’s appropriate, consider rewarding a captive audience for their participation.

14. Incorporating Demographics
Characteristics of listeners that help you anticipate your audience’s beliefs about your topic:
Age
Gender composition
Sexual orientation
Race and ethnicity
Religious orientation
Socioeconomic background
Political affiliation

15. Incorporating demographics

16. Incorporating Demographics: Age
For audiences with diverse ages, tailor supporting materials to varied experiences.
Contextualize unfamiliar historical details.

17. Incorporating Demographics: Gender Composition
Craft messages that will appeal to the needs of both genders.
Do not use gender stereotypes or sexist language.

18. Gender Stereotypes

19. Incorporating Demographics: Sexual Orientation
Do not assume everyone is heterosexual.
Acronym GLBT includes various sexual orientations.
Inclusive word choice can help.
Overt: Gay couple
Passive: Loving couple

20. Sexual Orientation

21. Incorporating Demographics: Race and Ethnicity
Race: Common heritage based on genetically shared physical characteristics
Ethnicity: Cultural background
Be sensitive to racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Do not assume all people from the same backgrounds think alike.

22. Incorporating Demographics: Religious Orientation
Numerous religions exist in the world and in the U.S.
Religion can influence an audience’s attitude, but it does not predetermine it.

23. Incorporating Demographics: Socioeconomic Background
Refers to audience’s socioeconomic status
Measure of financial resources, educational level, and occupation
Consider how this influences audience’s individual and collective concerns
Tailor examples as needed

24. Incorporating Demographics: Political Affiliation
Political affiliation can be hard to pin down, but knowing an audience’s political orientation or position on a specific issue can help you design your speech.

25. Incorporating Demographics: Putting the Demographic Pieces Together
Every audience is unique.
Analyzing shared audience characteristics can help you frame your message effectively.

26. Seeking Common Ground
Sharing beliefs, values, or experiences you have in common with listeners builds connections.
Nonverbal signals, especially dress, build connections, if authentic.

27. Identifying Prior Exposure
Extent to which audience has already been exposed to the message
Prior exposure can change how you present a message.
Speaker should answer the three following questions ahead of time.

28. Identifying Prior Exposure: Has My Audience Heard This Message Before?
If “No,” craft the message you want, as few will have strong prior beliefs (you may have to provide more details)
If “Yes,” move on to the next question

29. Identifying Prior Exposure: Has My Audience Responded Positively to the Message?
If “Yes,” use this speech to reinforce the previous message and motivate your audience to take action.
If “No,” move on to the next question

30. Identifying Prior Exposure: Why Did the Previous Message Fail?
Ask why the previous message failed.
Use those insights to tailor your speech for a more successful approach.

31. Identifying Prior Exposure

32. Identifying Audience Disposition: Sympathetic Audience
Already likes you or your message
They already agree, so get them to act.
Do not spend extra time on persuasion.

33. Identifying Audience Disposition: Hostile Audience
Opposes you or your message
You probably will not persuade them to act.
Set smaller, more realistic goals.

34. Identifying Audience Disposition: Neutral Audience
Has no opinion of you or your message
May be apathetic or interested
May act positively or negatively

35. Identifying Audience Disposition

36. Gathering Information About Your Audience: Surveying Your Audience
Survey: A set of written questions you ask audience before speech
Three common forms:
Fixed-response questions: Multiple choice, true/false
Scaled questions: Range of feelings (strongly agree to disagree)
Open-ended questions: Invite respondents to write what they want

37. Tips for Surveying Your Audience
Tip: If the way an audience feels about a topic is important to you, try scaled questions.
Tip: If you are unsure what issues your audience is concerned with in regard to your topic, use open-ended questions.

38. Gathering Information About Your Audience: Interviewing Your Audience
Interview: Face-to-face or phone interactions with audience
Interaction gives more depth in responses.
Interview a few audience members.
Ask any type of survey question.
Interview a range of audience members.
Be sure to use good listening skills and to thank the interviewee.

39. Interviewing Your Audience

40. Gathering Information About Your Audience: Considering and Observing Your Audience
Ask yourself questions about what the forum or event tells you about the audience.
Stationary or mobile audience?
Sympathetic, hostile, or neutral?
Seek literature about the organization or audience you are addressing ahead of time.

41. Situational Audience Analysis
What to do if the audience is not like the one you expected.
Don't act surprised—the audience may hear this as a lack of preparation.
Check outline and adjust it if necessary.
Check visual aids: Are some now unnecessary, or do some of them now need more explanation?
Use audience feedback to adjust.
If an audience unexpectedly appears hostile, seek common ground.

42. Situational Audience Analysis

43. Tips for Audience Analysis
Tip: Using the extemporaneous style makes it easier to adapt to audience feedback during your speech.
Tip: The more you learn about your audience before your speech, the more specific you can make your persuasive pitch, so don’t skip this step.