1. Chapter 6-Analyzing the audience

2. Audience-Centeredness
Audience-centeredness: Keeping the audience foremost in mind at every step of speech preparation and presentation
Objective is to gain a desired response from the listeners
Do not have to compromise your beliefs
Do not have to use unethical tactics to achieve your goal

3. Audience-Centeredness
Keep in mind these questions to be audience centered:
To whom am I speaking?
What do I want them to know, believe, or do as a result of my speech?
What is the most effective way of composing and presenting my speech to accomplish that aim?

4. Your Classmates as an Audience
The best classroom speeches are those that take the audience as seriously as a lawyer, politician, or advertiser takes an audience

5. The Psychology of Audiences
The speaker must make the audience choose to pay attention
Every speech contains 2 messages:
One sent by the speaker
One received by the listener
What the speaker says is filtered through the listener’s frame of reference
Listeners want to hear about things that are meaningful to them
Egocentrism: The tendency of people to be concerned above all with their own values, beliefs, and well-being
How does this affect you as a speaker?
Listeners will hear and judge based on what they already know and believe
You must relate your message to your listeners

6. Demographic Audience Analysis
Demographic audience analysis: Audience analysis that focuses on demographic factors such as age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, group membership, and racial ethnic or cultural background
There are two steps of demographic audience analysis:
Identifying the general demographic features of your audience
Gauging the importance of those features to a particular speaking situation
When used improperly, it can lead to stereotyping
Stereotyping: Creating an oversimplified image of a particular group of people, usually by assuming that all members of a group are alike

7. Demographic Audience Analysis
Consider the following demographic factors:
Age
Speaking to an older audience vs. a younger audience
Gender
Take in current gender attitude and practices
Be aware of both gender differences and similarities
Avoid generalizations
Sexual Orientation
Be mindful of language, examples, and other elements that may exclude listeners with same-sex partners
Religion
Current events around the world show religious views are among the most emotionally charged of all human concerns
There is great diversity within different faiths
Consider the religious orientation of your listeners
Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Background
Some listeners may have perspectives that will affect how they are listening to the speech
Group Membership
Knowing the groups or memberships you audience is in may give excellent clues about your listeners interests and attitudes

8. Situational Audience Analysis
Situational audience analysis: Audience analysis that focuses on situational factors such as size of the audience, the physical setting of the speech, and the disposition of the audience towards the topic, the speaker, and the occasion
Consider the following demographic factors:
Size
The larger the audience, the more formal your presentation must be
Audience size may affect you language, choice of requests, and use of visual aids
Physical Setting
Know in advance of any difficulties in the physical setting
Do everything you can to control the influence of the physical setting
If the physical setting is not desirable, work hard to adapt to the aspects

9. Situational Audience Analysis
Disposition Toward the Topic
Interest
Assess the interest in advance and adjust your speech accordingly
If interest is not there, take special steps to involve the audience
Knowledge
Often a strong correlation between interest in a topic and knowledge on it
Audiences like learning about a subject that interests them
Your ability to talk more technically or more trivially on a topic depends on your audience’s knowledge of the subject
Attitude
Attitude: A frame of mind in favor of or opposed to a person, policy, belief, institution, etc.
If you know in advance the prevailing attitude among members of your audience, you can adjust your speech to address the concerns or answer their objections

10. Situational Audience Analysis
Disposition Toward the Speaker
An audience’s response to a message is colored by their perception of the speaker
The more competent, honest, and thoughtful the listeners perceive the speaker to be, the more they will respond positively to the message
Disposition Toward the Occasion
Do not exploit a situation for your own purposes with a speech
The occasion will dictate how long a speech should be

11. Getting Information about the Audience
Audience Analysis Questionnaire
There are 3 major types of questions to choose from
Fixed-alternative questions
Scale questions
Open-ended questions

12. Getting Information about the Audience
Fixed-alternative questions
Questions that offer a fixed choice between 2 or more alternatives
Find clear answers but ambiguous answers
Do you know what the insanity plea is in the U.S Legal System?
Yes______
No_____
Not sure_______

13. Getting Information about the Audience
Scale questions:
Questions that require responses at fixed intervals along a scale of answers
Allow more leeway in responding
Gets you at the strength of an audience’s attitudes

14. Getting Information about the Audience
Open-ended questions:
Questions that allow respondents to answer however they want
Gives maximum leeway in responding
Increases the likelihood of getting answers that do not give the information you need
How do you feel about the parking situation at GCIT?
It is common for questionnaires to utilize all 3 types of questions

15. Getting Information about the Audience
When putting one together keep the following in mind:
Plan the questionnaire carefully to elicit precisely the information you need
Use all 3 types of questions
Make sure the questions are clear and unambiguous
Keep the questionnaire relatively brief

16. Adapting to the Audience
There are 2 stages in the process of audience adaptation
Audience Adaptation Before the Speech
Remember who the listeners will be
Assess how you audience is likely to respond to what you say in your speech
Adjust what you say to make it as clear, appropriate, and convincing as possible
Anticipate how your audience will respond
Audience Adaptation During the Speech
If something unexpected happens do not panic. Modify based on the challenge and continue
Examples:
Projector is broken
Your time is more or less than planned
Someone else has your topic
Look for audience feedback and adjust

17. Now You try!
Create a 5 Question Audience Analysis Questionnaire for your speech topic that your classmates will take following these guidelines:
Plan the questionnaire carefully to elicit precisely the information you need
Use all 3 types of questions
Make sure the questions are clear and unambiguous
Keep the questionnaire relatively brief