1. Working with Audiences Talking with Your Audience About Your Text Created by Jessie Moore Kapper

2. Overview Projects with Consulting Audiences Identifying an Audience Contacting Your Audience Collaborating with Your Audience

3. Projects with Consulting Audiences Although all writing you compose has an audience, some projects might require you to consult with members of your audience as you are creating your project.

4. Projects with Consulting Audiences Projects which might require you to consult your audience during the writing process include: –Public Brochures –Proposals –Reports

5. Identifying an Audience Before you can consult with your audience, you need to identify who are members of your audience. Sometimes documents have multiple audiences with different uses for the same document. You might need to work with members from both audiences in order to produce an effective document.

6. Identifying an Audience Example: Creating a Public Document Public Documents often involve two groups of people: –A group transmitting information –A group using or receiving information Both groups should be consulted as the public document is created.

7. Identifying an Audience Example: Creating a Public Document, Cont. An effective public document requires: –Consultations with the group transmitting information to assure that all necessary information is included –Usability testing with the group receiving information to determine if the group can use the document as intended

8. Identifying an Audience Who is your audience for your project? Who is the primary audience for your project? Who else might use or read your document?

9. Contacting Your Audience Once you have identified your general audience, you need to determine who you can contact within the audience. Has someone in your audience already volunteered to participate in your project? Do you know a member of your audience? If your audience is part of the university, what institutional unit is involved (the Registrar’s office, the English Department, the CoRec, etc.)?

10. Contacting Your Audience If you do not know who would disseminate or receive your document, consider consulting the following resources: Community or campus phone book University web site Organization web site

11. Contacting Your Audience Once you have identified someone in your audience to contact: Call or email the individual and concisely explain your project if your potential contact is not familiar with it –Will you produce a written document? –Will the product be published? –Who are other audiences for the document? Give the person an estimate of how much of their time is required

12. Contacting Your Audience Once you have identified someone in your audience to contact: Make an appointment to consult with, interview, or observe the person, and keep the appointment –Remember that your contact has a busy schedule –Prepare for your meeting so that time during the meeting is used productively After the meeting, send a note thanking the individual for their assistance.

13. Collaborating With Your Audience Remember that both you and your audience contact might have unique goals for your document. You might need to negotiate with your audience contact to resolve differences. Remember, although you are creating the document, your audience contact will be using the document.

14. Collaborating With Your Audience Your collaboration will be most successful if you: –Respect your contact’s time, –Explain the reasons behind the design and content choices you make, and –Listen to your contact’s concerns and ideas.