1. Public Speaking Chapter Five
Analyzing Your Audience

2. Gathering Information About Your Audience
the simplest way to gather information about your audience informally is to just observe them and ask questions before you speak
try to get as much information as possible about your audience before you speak
demographics are statistical information about the age, race, gender, sexual orientation, educational level, and religious views of an audience.

3. Gathering Information About Your Audience
you can also choose to gather information about your audience formally
a survey allows you to gather both demographic information and information about what audience members:
like or dislike
believe to be true or false
think is good or bad about the issues that you are discussing

4. Gathering Information About Your Audience
open-ended questions allow for unrestricted answers by not limiting answers to choices or alternatives
closed-ended questions offer alternatives from which to choose, such a true / false, agree / disagree, or multiple-choice questions

5. Analyze Information About Your Audience
audience analysis is the process of examining information about the listeners who will hear your speech
when analyzing the information that you have gathered about your audience, consider:
How are audience members similar to one another?
How are audience members different from one another?
Based on these similarities or differences, how can I establish common ground?

6. Analyze Information About Your Audience
to establish common ground with your audience is to identify ways in which you and your listeners are alike
although every person is unique, you are looking for general ways that they are alike or different
a relationship is an ongoing connection you have with another person

7. Adapt to Your Audience
audience adaptation is the process of ethically using information you’ve gathered when analyzing your audience to help your audience clearly understand your message and to achieve your speaking objective

8. Adapt to Your Audience
These key questions can help you to formulate an effective approach to your audience:
Consider Your Audience
To whom am I speaking?
What topic would be most suitable for my audience?
Consider Your Speech Goal
What is my objective?

9. Adapt to Your Audience Consider Your Speech Content
What kind of information should I share with my audience?
How should I present the information to them?
How can I gain and hold their attention?
What kind of examples would work best?
What method of organizing information will be most effective?
Consider Your Delivery
What language differences and expectations do audience members have?
What style of delivery will my audience members expect?

10. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
You can gather and analyze three primary types of information:
demographic
psychological
situational

11. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
demographic audience analysis is analyzing an audience by examining demographic information so as to develop a clear and effective message
age
age can suggest the kinds of examples, humor, illustrations, etc.
gender
a person’s sex is his or her biological status as male or female, based on anatomy and reproductive system

12. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
a person’s gender is the culturally constructed and psychologically based perception of one’s self as feminine or masculine
sexual orientation
an audience-centered speaker is sensitive to issues and attitudes about sexual orientation in contemporary society
culture, ethnicity, and race
culture is a learned system of knowledge, behavior, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms shared by a group of people

13. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
ethnicity is that portion of a person’s cultural background that relates to a national or religious heritage
a person’s race is his or her biological heritage (for example, Caucasian or Hispanic)
ethnocentrism is an assumption that your own cultural approaches are superior to those of other cultures

14. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
individualistic and collectivistic cultures
individualistic cultures place more value on individual achievement (ex. United States, Canada, Belgium)
collectivistic cultures are more likely to value group or team rewards (Asian cultures)
high-context and low-context cultures
high-context cultures place high importance on factors such as tone of voice, gesture, facial expressions, other nonverbal aspects
low-context cultures expect and need more detailed and explicit information

15. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
tolerance of uncertainty and need for certainty
people from cultures from with a greater tolerance of uncertainty are more comfortable with vagueness and are not upset when details are not spelled out
an audience with people who have a need for certainty need concrete details and want to know what steps that can take

16. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
high-power and low-power cultures
people from high-power cultures are more likely to perceive people in leadership roles – including public speakers – as credible
they are also more comfortable with differences in social classes
people from low-power cultures often favor more shared approaches to leadership and governance

17. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
long-term and short-term orientation to time
people with long-term orientation to time often value patience, persistence, and deferred gratification
cultures with short-term orientation to time value quick responses to problems

18. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
Group membership
we are social creatures who congregate in groups to gain identities, to help accomplish projects that we support, and to have fun
knowing what groups your listeners belong to can help you make inferences about their likes, dislikes, beliefs, and values

19. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
Different types of groups:
religious groups
political groups
work groups
social groups
service groups

20. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
Socioeconomic status
socioeconomic status is a person’s perceived importance and influence based on income, occupation, and education level
a target audience is a specific segment of an audience that you most want to influence

21. Analyzing Your Audience Before You Speak
Identify common values
People in all cultures:
have beliefs about death
have a childhood fear of strangers
have a division of labor by sex
experience certain emotions and feelings, such as envy, pain, jealousy, shame, and pride
use facial expressions to create emotion
have rules for etiquette
experience empathy
value some degree of collaboration or cooperation
experience conflict and seek to manage or mediate conflicts

22. Psychological Audience Analysis
psychological audience analysis explores an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, values, and other psychological information about an audience in order to develop a clear and effective message
an attitude is an individual’s likes or dislikes
an individual’s perception of what is true or false is a belief
a value is an enduring concept of what is right and wrong

23. Psychological Audience Analysis
a captive audience is required to be there
a voluntary audience has a choice

24. Situational Audience Analysis
situational audience analysis is an examination of the time and place of a speech, the audience size, and the speaking occasion in order to develop a clear and effective message

25. Adapting to Your Audience as You Speak
identifying nonverbal cues
eye contact
facial expression
movement
nonverbal responsiveness
verbal responsiveness

26. Adapting to Your Audience as You Speak
responding to nonverbal cues
tell a story
use personal examples
use appropriate humor
be redundant
use visual aids
as someone in the audience to summarize
provide additional evidence to support
remind your listeners of your credibility
offer to provide additional information at a later time

27. Adapting to Your Audience as You Speak
Strategies for customizing your message to your audience
appropriately use audience members’ names
refer to the town or community
refer to a significant event that happened on the date of your speech
refer to a recent news event
refer to a group or organization
relate information directly to your listeners

28. Analyzing Your Audience After You Speak
nonverbal responses
is audience clapping politely or is applause enthusiastic
facial expressions
verbal responses
what do audience members say to you about your speech
survey responses
behavioral responses
will the audience ultimately behave as you intended