Analyzing Audience, Purpose, and Occasion

 You should consider three factors when preparing to speak before a group of people:  1. your audience: age, interests and attitudes  2. your purpose: be clear about your purpose or reason, for speaking and what you hope to accomplish.  3. and the occasion: pep rally, town council, class

 Develop a profile of your audience and what you know about them. Ask yourself the following: 1. What are your audience’s assumptions and values? 2. What do they know and what do they need to know? 3. What is your relationship to the audience 4. What effect do you want to have on them Audience

Purpose  What do I hope to accomplish with my speech?  Entertain  Teach/educate  Convince/win over  As always humor is good in small amounts, too much humor might distract listeners form your main purpose of informing.

Understanding the occasion  Why will everyone be gathered at this time and place?  What do they expect?  What does the occasion call for?

Purpose Statement  A purpose statement is one way to focus your speech. It is a written account of the specific outcomes you want your speech to achieve. This statement may or may not be included in your speech.  Example:  Topic: basketball team’s victory at state finals  Purpose statement: to inform the community about the basketball team’s success in order to inspire pride and good feeling about the achievements of its young people

Thesis Statement  A thesis statement is a way of concisely and gracefully expressing the essential idea of your speech. Typically it is a single sentence. It doesn’t mention the audience or the effect you hope your speech will have on them.  Topic: basketball team’s victory at state finals  Purpose statement: to inform the community about the basketball team’s success in order to inspire pride and good feeling about the achievements of its young people  Thesis statement: Winning the state championship was an achievement not only for our team but for our school and our community.

A good thesis statement...  Creates interest- the audience wants to know more  Is precise- it uses exact words-words that appeal to the audience  Is concise- it is brief. It leaves out fillers such as “I believe” or “in my opinion”  Is reasonable- it doesn’t overstate the case or promise things that can’t be proven. It avoids words such as: never, all, always, and totally.

 Weak: I’m going to tell you about walking dogs at the animal shelter. Walking dogs at the animal shelter is a good thing.  Improved: walking a dog is fun and great exercise, and I’m going to tell you how you can do it even if you don’t own a dog.  Why It’s better: the audience will want to hear about something that promises to be fun and good exercise.