What Is an Audience Analysis?

Prelude to Audience Analysis

Audience analysis is all about the "who" in the communication model. As the sender, you need to consider who will receive your message. You need to consider their current knowledge level and what new information you can bring to them on your topic. We need to understand our audience's needs and values so we can foster a connection. Before we choose a speech topic, we need to analyze our audience so we can prepare a presentation that meets their needs, from their knowledge level to their vocabulary level. Consider this scenario: A heart surgeon at your local hospital has been invited to talk to two different groups of students. One group is composed of teenagers getting ready to consider their college and career prospects. The other group is young children, all 8 years of age. The surgeon must consider the characteristics of each group when determining what they will share in their presentations. This may include the depth of content as well as the language they will use to describe their expertise. The purpose of the two presentations will most likely be different; for the older students it may be a persuasive presentation that encourages them to consider a career in healthcare. For the younger children, it may be an informative presentation about the role the heart plays in a person's health. As you can see, it is all about the "who".

What Is an Audience Analysis ?

One of the consequences of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which protects our right to speak freely, is that we focus so much on what we want to say that we often overlook the question of who our audience is. Does your audience care what you as a speaker think? Can they see how your speech applies to their lives and interests? The act of public speaking is a shared activity that involves interaction between speaker and audience. In order for your speech to get a fair hearing , you need to create a relationship with your listeners. Scholars Sprague, Stuart, and Bodary explain, "Speakers do not give speeches to audiences; they jointly create meaning with audiences". The success of your speech rests in large part on how your audience receives and understands it.

Think of a time when you heard a speech that sounded "canned" or that fell flat because the audience didn't "get it". Chances are that this happened because the speaker neglected to consider that public speaking is an audience-centered activity. Worse, lack of consideration for one's audience can result in the embarrassment of alienating listeners by telling a joke they don't appreciate, or using language they find offensive. The best way to reduce the risk of such situations is to conduct an audience analysis as you prepare your speech.

Audience analysis is the process of gathering information about the people in your audience so that you can understand their needs, expectations, beliefs, values, attitudes, and likely opinions . In this chapter, we will first examine some reasons why audience analysis is important. We will then describe three different types of audience analysis and some techniques to use in conducting audience analysis . Finally, we will explain how you can use your audience analysis not only during the creation of your speech but also while you are delivering it.

Source: University of Minnesota
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