AUDIENCE RECOGNITION & INVOLVEMENT

Audience is the receiver of any message. In technical writing, the people who will read your written documents or the people for whom you write will be your audience. You can recognize your audience on two levels i-e According to the command on the subject level 1. Recognize four major audience profiles: High-tech audience Low-tech audience Lay audience Multiple audiences

High tech audience is generally the people who are the experts of the field, who share the same level of understanding and for whom you do not have to define the jargon or the theories and procedures related to the subject. Low tech audience includes people who may not be experts of the field but are effectively familiar with the subject matter. For these people you need to explain the terminology a little bit and may have to explain procedures a bit. Lay include people who are totally unaware of the subject matter. These may include your clients/ customers etc. According to the level of diversity they show 2. Address biases in language that affect diversity in the workplace: Age Gender Ethnicity and/or religion Multicultural and/or cross-cultural language Multicultural and/or cross-cultural customs

3.

While writing for multicultural audiences: Define acronyms and abbreviations Avoid jargon and idioms Watch for cultural biases/expectations Avoid humor and puns Avoid figurative language

4.

Involve your audience: Use a personalized tone

Reveal benefits to readers Use positive words and power verbs

Personalization can be achieved by using pronouns like you/your for the reader, us/we/our for the team and I for myself. However it is generally recommended to focus on you instead of I. since you have already studied the you-attitude we will not go into this detail. You can also use names in your correspondence, last name is generally preferred where the formality level is very high. Sometimes the use of contractions also helps personalize your message. Audience benefit may be shown in the beginning, which gives your writing an interesting start, or may be used at the end, where it is useful in motivating the reader to act. Always use positive words as well as positive ideas in your writing. Instead of focusing on things which cant be done try to focus on those which can be. For instance, instead of writing we cannot open an account for you as the bank is closed. Try to write, your account will be opened first thing in the morning as the bank reopens tomorrow.