Topic 9

Know Your Audience

9.1 Audience Appreciation

Objective: To be able to understand different purposes and

audiences for document production.
 Topic Success Criteria/PLC
Skill R/A/G
❏ I can analyse the needs of an audience when creating
presentations for them.

❏ I can show a clear understanding of who an audience is when

planning and creating ICT presentations so that it is respectful of the
needs of that audience.
Audience Appreciation
Analyse:

● Before you start a presentation, there are two main criteria to consider:
○ The purpose of the presentation
○ The audience of the presentation
● People create presentations for many purposes such as:
○ To entertain - the presentation should be about something all of the audience are
interested in and probably be light hearted and humorous. It will probably contain
images and video.
○ To inform - the presentation should give a clear explanation without distractions
such as funny videos and images. It should present the facts in a clear, logical order.
○ To educate - the audience should leave understanding more about a particular
subject than when they entered. This goes beyond stating facts. You want the
audience to learn and so you may use examples and go into everything into a
greater depth. The presenter needs a thorough understanding of the subject.
Audience Appreciation
Analyse:

○ To inspire, motivate or activate - the presentation should fill the audience with a
desire to go out and achieve something. It may highlight current hardships and
show how the group can overcome them and succeed. But the audience should
leave determined to accomplish a common goal such as winning a sporting event.
The presentation will be more emotional and may have rousing music and symbols
that unite the audience.
○ To persuade - the presentation should convince the audience to make a particular
action such as going out to buy a particular product or go and carry out a
particular action. The presentation should display whatever is being promoted in a
good light.
● The purpose will influence the structure and content of the presentation and the media
used but without considering the particular audience of the presentation, then it will fail.
Audience Appreciation
Analyse:
● There are many audience characteristics such as:
○ How old they are - presentations for young children will need more simple language and
fewer words with more images and videos. The facts should not go beyond their
understanding.
○ How much money they have to spend - this will be important if the presentation is to
persuade them to buy something.
○ What gender they are - is the audience all one gender or are they mixed? Different
examples given in a presentation might appeal more to different genders.
○ What is their education level - everyone has a level of education and become frustrated
if the information they are presented with is too difficult or simple.
○ What is their lifestyle, culture or beliefs - certain things in a presentation may cause
offence to certain groups and a presentation should be respectful to their beliefs - unless
the presentation is intended to shock and cause discussion. But even that has to be
considered carefully.
○ What the audience wants - have the audience come be entertained? Do they want to
learn to improve their education? Have they got problems in their lives that the
presentation will help them solve? Do they want to be stirred into action?
Audience Appreciation - Question
Complete the following questions on this slide on your copy of this
presentation.
Which of the following factors
need to be considered when
designing ICT solutions for a
suitable audience? (highlight your
answers)
● Experience of the audience
● Expectation of the audience
● Country of residence of the audience
● Age of the audience
● Height of the audience
● Knowledge of the audience

There are several research methods that can be used to learn more about the target audience.
Describe how each of the following can be used:

Market research Help you gather demographic information such as age, gender,
location, income, education, and occupation. This can be
using primary or secondary research.

Interviews We can use interview to know the prospects/target audience’s

personal preference of what you want to find out. This is more
reliable than questionnaires as each person is asked in
detailed, but more time consuming and expensive
Audience Appreciation - Question
Complete the following questions on this slide on your copy of this presentation.

The image is used as the front cover for a

presentation meant for children in a nursery
school. Evaluate the suitability of this image.

Target Audience: Children In School/General:

1. Age: 2-6 Year old kids
2. Design: Balloons and Confetti making it exciting
and fun, simple drawings, simple cartoonish
visuals.
3. Knowledge: Using easy, uncomplicated use of
words to help these childrens understand
simple english.
Audience Appreciation - Question
Complete the following questions on this slide on your copy of this
presentation.
One of the methods of researching a new product is through the use of interviews.

State two advantages and one Advantages:

disadvantage of using this method - Provides detailed evaluations
- Can provide the prospects personal preference
to research about a product
Disadvantages:
instead of a questionnaire. - Time Consuming

The audience of an ICT solution can also be the actual users of the system.

Describe two considerations that - How easy it is to operate the system

must be made when designing ICT - How easily it is accessible.
solutions for computer users.
 Topic Success Criteria/PLC
Skill R/A/G
❏ I can analyse the needs of an audience when creating
presentations for them.

❏ I can show a clear understanding of who an audience is when

planning and creating ICT presentations so that it is respectful of the
needs of that audience.