I. How Do I Analyze My Audience?
I. How Do I Analyze My Audience?
Whenever thinking about your speech, it is always a good idea to begin with a thorough awareness of your audience and the many factors comprising that audience. In speech communication we simply call this “doing an audience analysis.” An audience analysis is when you consider all of the pertinent elements defining the makeup and characteristics of your audience. There are many elements to consider, too, such as: age, gender, education, occupation,
language, ethnicity, culture, background knowledge, needs and interests, and previously held attitudes, beliefs, and values. Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list. But, it does help you get a good general understanding of the demographics shaping up whom, precisely, you will be addressing.
From the Greek affix demo (of the people) we come to understand that demographics are detailed accounts of human population characteristics. These accounts are usually rendered as statistical population segments. Demographics are widely used by advertising and public relations professionals to analyze specific audiences so that their products or ideas will carry influence. However, all good public speakers consider the demographic characteristics of their audience, as well. It is a, if not the, fundamental stage of preparing for your speech.
So now you may be saying to yourself: “Gee, that’s great! How do I go about analyzing my particular audience?” Well, first you need to know that there are three overarching methods (or what we like to call “paradigms”) for doing an audience analysis: (1) audience analysis by direct observation, (2) audience analysis by inference, and (3) audience analysis through data sampling. Once you get to know how these methods work a bit better, you should be able to select which one (or even combination of these methods) is right for your circumstances.
