Audience Anal ysis

A well prepared presentation given to the wrong audience can have the same effect as a poorly prepared presentation given to the correct audience. They both can fail terribly.

Int ro d uc t i o n
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called the "reader"), theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art. It is critical that your p r ep a r a t i o n e f f o r t s i n c l u d e s o m e a m o u n t o f a u d i e n c e a n a l y s i s . T h e m o r e you know and understand about your audience and their needs, the better y o u c a n p r e p a r e y o u r s p e e c h t o a s s u r e t h a t y o u m e e t t h e i r n e e d s . Th e m o r e you know about your speaking environment and your audience, the more r e l a x e d y o u w i l l b e w h en d e l i v e r i n g y o u r s p e e c h . M a n y s p e a k e r s , h o w e v e r , often overlook the need to include any kind of audience analysis as part of their speech preparation. Proper audience analysis will assure that you give the right speech to the right audience. Most professional speakers send their clients a multi-page questionnaire in order to gather enough information about them and the speaking event to properly customize their speeches.

Ty p e s o f Aud i e nc e
a. High Tech These are the audience who share similar educational back ground, experience and knowledge. b. Low Tech These are the audience who do not share similar experience and knowledge ,

c. Lay A lay audience is a group of people who do not have any special knowledge about the particular subject your talking about d. Multicultural A multicultural audience would be one from different ethnic backgrounds or from different countries

Fac t o rs f o r Aud i e nc e Ana l ysi s

The audience is often referred to as the end user, and all communications need to be targeted towards the defined audience. When defining an audience, factors that must be considered include: 1. Age 2. Skills 3. Language 4. Culture 5. Background knowledge 6. Needs and interests 7. Where the presentation will be delivered 8. How the presentation will be delivered 9. Why the presentation will be accessed 10.When the presentation will be accessed

Ba si c c o nt ro l s fo r l ay a udi ence

Change the level of the information you currently have.

Try to explain briefly, remove jargons and add some extra information.

Add examples to help audience understand.

Examples are one of the most powerful ways to connect with audiences, particularly in instructions. Even in non instructional

t e x t , f o r e x a m p l e , w h en y o u a r e t r y i n g t o e x p l a i n a t e c h n i c a l concept, examples are a major help.

Change the level of your examples.

You may be using examples but the technical content or level may not be appropriate to your listeners.

Change the organization of your information.

Sometimes, you can have all the right information but arrange it in the wrong way. For example, there can be too much background information up front (or too little) such that certain readers get lost. Sometimes, background information needs to woven into the main information.

Add cross-references to important information.

In complex presentations, you can help non specialist readers by pointing them to background sources. If you can't fully explain a topic on the spot, point to a book or article where it is.

Tak i ng t he wo rd "A- U- D- I- E- N- C- E" as an acronym

A nalysis - Who are they? How many will be there? U nderstanding - What is their knowledge of the subject? D emographics - What is their age, sex, educational background? I nterest - Why are they there? Who asked them to be there? E nvironment - Where will I stand? Can they all see & hear me? N eeds C ustomized E xpectations - What are their needs? What are your needs as the speaker? - What specific needs do you need to address? - What do they expect to learn or hear from you?

By answering all these questions and focusing on the above information the efficiency of the presentation will be doubled.