Wouldn't the world be a more spectacular place if everyone was just like you?
If only we all shared your interest in home brewing,
Irish folk dance, and the hibernation patterns of bears. Sadly, that's not how
the world works. As a public speaker, that means you're going to have to figure out
some things about the group of people to which you're speaking. This is called
audience analysis and conveniently enough for you is the topic of this very video.
We're going to talk about the importance of audience analysis,
the types of audience analysis, and how to conduct audience analysis. Let's get started!
Audience analysis is important for a variety of reasons. First, who
doesn't like to know that someone is thinking of them? Audience analysis shows
the audience that you've had them in mind throughout the entire preparation process.
Aristotle also talked about the importance of finding common ground with
your audience. In today's technical speech parlance we call that
identification. Audience analysis will also help us know what level and kind of
language we should employ, determine the types of presentational aids that will
be most effective, and develop strategies for relating the topic to the audience.
For these and many other reasons, audience analysis is a crucial part of
speech preparation. There are several different types of audience analysis
that a speaker can and should conduct. The most basic is demographic analysis.
Demographic analysis looks at audience characteristics in broad categorizations.
Some common categories of demographic analysis are age, gender, ethnic and cultural background,
socioeconomic status (meaning income, occupation, and education),
religion, political affiliation, and group membership. While it's important not to
let demographic analysis slip into stereotyping, a basic understanding of
the makeup of your audience can be quite helpful. You'll need different strategies
if you're going to give a speech on social security to a group of senior
citizens as opposed to a second grade class. Or if you're speaking about
stricter gun control laws at an NRA meeting. In these cases, a little
demographic knowledge can go a long way. Demographic analysis will give you some
basic surface information, but you'll also want to conduct an attitudinal
analysis of the audience. You need to know as much as possible about the
audience's attitudes, beliefs, values, feelings, and opinions about your topic,
you as a speaker, and the occasion for the speech. Do they already have strong
opinions about the topic you'll be covering or will you have to educate
them as you go? What does the audience know about you?
Will you have to overcome a bad reputation? Or do they not know anything
about you, in which case you'll need to work on building credibility? And what
are their expectations for things like the length and theme for a speech on
this occasion? If they're expecting you to speak for 20 minutes and you go for
an hour and a half you could be in trouble. Likewise, a speech about
diversity on Martin Luther King Jr. Day is likely to be better received than one
on fantasy football strategies. One last type of audience analysis that will
serve you well as a speaker is situational analysis. In a situational
analysis, the speaker carefully considers the setting and context of their speech.
This might include things like the size of the audience, the size of the room,
the time of day the speech will be delivered, and the technologies that will be
available. Knowing these things in advance will help you be better prepared
for whether or not you'll be using a microphone, fighting against the
audience's pre-lunch cravings or post-lunch drowsiness, and whether or not
it's even worth putting a PowerPoint together. You might be saying to yourself,
"Wow, that's really useful information! I definitely want to do an audience
analysis before my next speech. But how do I do it?" I'm glad you asked. Let me
tell you about three common methods for gathering information for your audience
analysis: observation, sampling, and general research. Observation is a
qualitative method of information gathering. In the simplest terms, it
involves getting your own eyeballs on the audience and the environment. Ideally,
you'll be able to do this before you actually speak. Take a look at the crowd
to get a feel for the mix of ages, races, and genders represented, the size and
temperature of the room, and any obvious kinds of interference that you'll have
to combat. You can also engage in observation
while you're giving your speech, which can be as simple as paying attention to
the nonverbal feedback provided by your audience.
Another type of information gathering that can be useful in audience analysis
is sampling. Sampling involves surveying the audience, either formally or
informally. If you have the time and opportunity before delivering your
speech, you can ask the audience to answer questions about your topic. These
could be closed-ended questions, like attitudinal questions, value ordered
questions, or likert-type questions. Or open-ended questions like, "What are your
feelings about vaccines for children?" You could then tabulate and analyze the
responses, making use of the resulting data in your speech. You can also survey
the audience less formally during your speech, such as a speaker who asks for a
show of hands after asking a question. This can provide quick and visible
feedback but it does involve some risk, as you won't know the answer in advance
and therefore can't prepare as thoroughly. Finally, a speaker can conduct
a little general research to find out more about their audience and the
situation. A quick search of published sources such as websites, newspapers, and
other publications may yield some information about a particular group.
You can also conduct interviews with people who will be a part of the audience and
infer information from their answers. Asking questions of the person who
invited you to speak can be fruitful. They should have some idea of the size
and makeup of the audience and also be able to provide some information about
the environment in which you'll be speaking. Remember, your audience isn't
likely to be a room full of mirrors. You'll need to account for the fact that
the people making up the audience will have their own interests, habits, and
concerns. I may want to spend hours dissecting every glorious hour of
Firefly but most people do not, which is why it was cancelled after only 14
episodes and you don't recognize the people in this picture as the cast of
the show. Public speaking is not about just you. It's your job as a speaker to
figure out how you can best connect the ideas, language, and other aspects
of your speech to your audience. And then you should totally watch Firefly.