Audience

Analysis
Audience-Centeredness

– Good public speakers are audience-

centered.
– The primary purpose of speechmaking is to
gain a desired response from listeners
Audience-Centeredness

– 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?
Audience-Centeredness

– Effective speakers create a bond with the

audience by emphasizing common values,
goals and experiences (identification)
– Think in advance about your audiences’
background and interests, their level of
knowledge about a topic your speaking on,
their attitudes about certain topics
The Psychology of Audiences

– When you listen to a speech, sometimes you pay

close attention, other times your thoughts
wander.
– You can force people to ATTEND a speech, but you
cannot force someone to listen
– What a speaker says is filtered through the
listener’s frame of reference (the sum of his/her
needs, interests, expectations, knowledge and
experience)
Egocentricism

– The tendency of people to be concerned above all

with their own values, beliefs and well-being
– People want to hear things that are meaningful to
them
– They pay closest attention to messages that affect
their own values, beliefs, and well-being
– Listeners will hear and judge what you say on the
basis of what they already know and believe
– You must relate your message to your listeners
Demographic Audience Analysis

– Analysis that focuses on demographic factors like

age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, group
membership, racial, ethnic or cultural background,
etc.
1. Identify the general demographic features of
your audience
2. Gauge the importance of those features to a
particular speaking situation
Situational Audience Analysis

– Builds on demographic analysis, focuses on

situational factors like size of the audience, the
physical setting for the speech, and the
disposition of the audience toward the topic, the
speaker and the occasion.
Size: the larger the audience, the more formal your
presentation must be. Size can also affect your
language, and choice of visual aids.
Situational Audience Analysis

Physical setting: size of the room, A/V technology availability,

microphones, hot/cold temperature, time of day, etc.
Disposition toward the topic:
– Interest - is the audience engaged or distracted?
– Knowledge - can you use technical language if the audience
is experienced in the topic? Do you have to change your
level of speech if the material is new to the audience?
– Attitude - how would you change your speech if you knew
the audience favored/opposed your topic?
Situational Audience Analysis

Disposition toward the speaker: understanding

that an audience’s response to a message is
invariably colored by their perception of the
speaker (credibility)
Disposition toward the occasion: is the speech
appropriate for the occasion?
 Adapting to the Audience

Before the speech: assess how your audience is likely to respond to what
you say in your speech, and adjust what you say to make it as clear,
appropriate and convincing as possible

How will the audience react to my introduction and

conclusion?

Do the visual aids actually make my message clearer, or do

they distract?

How will the audience respond to my delivery and choice of

words?
 Adapting to the Audience

During the speech: you may have to make on-the-fly

adjustments to remedy a variety of circumstances:
maybe you have to shorten your speech or fill
more time, maybe there will be no computer
to use for visual aids, maybe a venue change.
It’s most important to stay flexible and be ready to
expect anything! Control what you can before the
speech, and adjust what you can during the speech.