ANALYZING YOUR AUDIENCE

TERMS
ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE

Audience analysis is the process of examining information

about the listeners who will hear your speech.
AUDIENCE CENTERED
A speaker who acknowledges the audience by considering
the individuals perspectives before, during and after the
speech.
ADAPT TO YOUR AUDIENCE

Audience adaptation is the process of ethically using

information youve gathered when analyzing your
audience to help your audience clearly understand your
message and to achieve your speaking objective

Audience-Centeredness
Good public speakers are audiencecentered, meaning, they keep the audience
foremost in their minds at every step of
speech preparation and presentation
The primary purpose of speechmaking is to
gain a desired response from listeners

Audience-Centered
Questions

To whom am I speaking?
What does my audience expect from me?
What topic would be most suitable to my audience?
What is my objective?
What kind of information should I share with my
audience?
How should I present the information to them?
How can I gain and hold their attention?
What kind of examples would work best?
What language or linguistic differences do audience
members have?
What method of organizing information will be most
effective?

WHEN DO YOU ANALYZE

AUDIENCE???

Look for observable audience traits

Identify the general features
Gauge their importance to the situation

Traits
Age
Knowing audience age helps speaker to deliver the speech better
Topic : Music
Teenagers kpop,
Mid aged (40)

Gender
Old stereotypes no longer apply
Avoid sexist language and references
BE INCLUSIVE : Speech for all not on targeted gender

Racial, Ethnic or Cultural Background

Be aware of differences and be able to adapt

Group Membership

Learn about Group membership.

Offer sincere support

Socioeconomic Status

Income : dont judge people by the amount of money they make

Occupation :
Education : adopt and adapt your speech to cater listeners needs.

Religion
Highly charged emotional issue, be sure to consider the religious
orientation or you might end up being embarrassed.

Psychological data about an audience such as values, belief and attitudes

VALUE : Judgment of what is right or undesirable, usually expressed as words or phrases.
:: value of equality, freedom, honesty, justice, good health, family
BELIEF : A belief is something we accept as true or false and it usually can be changed.
Eating healthy food why ? So that we can live longer
ATTITUDE
A statement expressing an individuals approval or disapproval, like or dislike.
You value good health and belief fast food is harmful for you health. Hence, you avoid eating fast food.

 A good speaker will analyze the audience as he speaks. Analyzing

audience during speech involves 3 aspects :

 HOW ? By looking for non-verbal clues.

Eye contact : the more they look into likely the are

interested in

your speech
Facial expression :
Movement :

calm or confused

an attentive listener doesnt move much.

Nonverbal Responsiveness :

Respond to speakers instructions.

Verbal Responsiveness :

actively gives feedback orally. Such as,

answers

question posted by the speaker

CLOSE ENDED
QUESTIONS

OPEN ENDED
QUESTIONS

 A closed question looks for specific facts and often only requires one word answer which

can be yes or no.

Closed questions have the following characteristics:
They give you facts.
They are easy to answer.
They are quick to answer.
They keep control of the conversation with the questioner.
EXAMPLE :
Did you finish your homework?
What time did that happen?
Are you going to buy a drink?
Who won the football match?

DISADVANTAGES
Closed question are good for

finding out specific information.

Can help make a decision

quickly.
Can help gather more

information

Closed questions are not useful

when dealing with emotional

situations.
Not effective when you want

the response to be expressive

and communicate feelings.
Respondent may think their

answers are irrelevant

 An open question allows the respondent to develop their ideas without limiting

responses or controlling responses.

The questions often require more than one word answers.

Open questions have the following characteristics:

They ask the respondent to think and reflect.
They will give you opinionsand feelings.
They hand control of the conversation to the respondent.

EXAMPLE :
What do you think would happen if?
Sounds interesting. How does that work?
How do you feel about that?

DISADVANTAGES
they permit an unlimited number of possible

different respondents give different degrees of

respondents can answer in detail and can

responses may be irrelevant or buried in

unanticipated findings can be discovered

comparisons and statistical analysis become

answers.

qualify and clarify responses

detail in answers

useless detail

difficult
they permit adequate answers to complex

issues

they permit creativity, self-expression, and

richness of detail

they reveal a respondents logic, thinking

process, and frame of reference

coding responses is difficult articulate and

highly literate respondents have an advantage

questions may be too general for respondents

who lose direction

a greater amount of respondent time, thought,

and effort is necessary

respondents can be intimidated by questions

Sensitive speakers attuned to their audiences are

able to gauge the reactions of those listeners.

Do members of the audience seems to agree with

what you are saying?

Do they approve the suggestions you are making?

AUDIENCE ATTENTION
-

Tell jokes
Relate your speech to audiences life by providing appropriate examples
Posts questions to your audiences
Give pauses in between your speech
Show videos or use it

AUDIENCE UNDERSTANDING
-

Use simple language/ paraphrase your sentence

Ask someone to summarize your speech
Ask questions about your speech and clarify listeners misunderstanding
Use a visual aid such as a chalkboard or flip chart to clarify your point

AUDIENCE EVALUATION
If your audience seems to be disagreeing with your message:
Provide additional data and evidence to support your point.
Remind your listeners of your credibility, credentials, or background.

 after delivering the speech, a speaker should continue to analyze the audience for signals about their

evaluation of the message.

How :
NONVERBAL RESPONSES :Responsive facial expressions, smiles,

and nods,

applauses
VERBAL RESPONSES

: I enjoyed your talk

SURVEY RESPONSES :

:questionnaire or quiz about the speech

BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES

:Audience shows changes in their

IMPORTANCE : to improve PS skills

behavior

THE END OF LECTURE

Now take out your pen/pencil
QUIZ TIME

1. Why is it important to conduct an audience

analysis prior to developing your speech?
2. What is the purpose of performing a
demographics survey?
3. What are the differences between beliefs,
attitudes, and values?
4. What challenges does a speaker face when
delivering a speech to a multicultural
audience?