Audience Analysis in Public Speaking

B.Com sem 4(MKBU)

An effective speaker knows that

the success or failure of his talk is not for him to decide, it will be decided in the minds and hearts of his hearers. 

 (Dale Carnegie)

Introduction

Communication is a two-way process. A speaker is a speaker as long as they have a listener on the other end. Therefore, it is evident that your audience plays an integral role in determining the efficiency of your public speaking skills. The word 'Public Speaking' shows how the public comes first when we talk about the subject. Unless you know your audience well, you wouldn't be able to pass your message across the room.

What is Audience Analysis?

Audience analysis is the process of examining information about your listeners. In everyday conversations according to context you  keep on changing your message. Similarly, on the basis of Audience Analysis speakers are supposed to change their speaking style.

Audience analysis does not mean ‘grandstanding’ or ‘kowtowing’ to a public. Rather, adaptation guides the stylistic and content choices a speaker makes for a presentation.

Acronym for Audience

Using the word "A-U-D-I-E-N-C-E" as an acronym we can determine some general audience analysis categories that these surveys should include.

Analysis - Who are they? How many will be there? Understanding - What is their level of knowledge of the subject?  Demographics - What is their age, sex, educational background? Interest - Why are they there? Who asked them to be there? Environment - Where will I stand? Can they all see & hear me? Needs - What are their needs? What are your needs as the speaker? Customized - What specific needs do you need to address? Expectations - What do they expect to learn or hear from you?

Factors of Audience Analysis

1. Audience's Expectations
2. Demographics
3. Voluntariness
4. Audience's Knowledge of topic
5. Audience's Attitude towards Topic
6. Audience Size
7. Settings
8. Egocentrism

Benefits of Audience Analysis

• Help to achieve your goals
• Allow to create Audience- centred speech
• Allow to establish a good relationship with your audience
• Help to make your speech more engaging

Audience Analysis - Adapting your audience before you speak

Demographic Analysis

Demographic Audience Analysis includes factors like Age, Gender, Race, Culture, Ethnicity, Marital Status, Socio-Economic Conditions, Education, Occupation, Etc.

Examples of Demographic Analysis Questions

What is the age of people in the audience?

Are there significant cultural differences within the audience?

What is the educational level of the audience?

How many males and females are there in the audience?

Age: Aristotle noted more than 2,000 years ago that few things affect a person's outlook more than his or her age. So, Age is a very important factor and it can be very helpful in picking a topic.

Gender is another characteristic. It is important to find out the ratio of men to women in the class. Also, make sure that you do not use any gender discriminatory language, stereotypical language or make jokes about gender. If  You make any gender specific comments then you may lose  your audience's  credibility.

Culture is the shared knowledge, behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms of a group. If audiences are sensitive regarding their culture then they might offend any comments related to it.

Ethnicity is a person's national or religious heritage. A group of people coming from different ethnic environments might be sharing different cultures, so you have to be neutral in your approach.

Race: A person's race is a person's biological heritage. It is important to learn as much as possible about these students before your speech, so you are sure not to offend them or make them feel hurt. 

Religion: Be very careful when you speak about different religions because people have deep seated feelings about their religion and beliefs. 

Education Background Education background of your listeners will help you in the choice of vocabulary, language style, and your use of examples. This can help you to select  your topic.

Attitudinal or Psychographic Analysis

Psychographic Analysis is one of the types of Audience Analysis that covers components like Attitudes, Beliefs, Values And Thinking Patterns of your audience. Values Such As Freedom, Honesty, Justice, Patriotism, Equality are universal and cherished by most of the audiences.  The audience is more likely to respect you and want to hear from you if your speech reflects any of these values.

Attitude: An attitude defines what a person likes or dislikes. When you choose a topic, it is important to find out your audience's attitudes toward the subject.

Belief: A belief is what you believe to be true or false. It includes the audience's moral perception regarding the subject.

Values:  Values are "a person's beliefs or standards" You may value the future and the young minds that will be running the future. It is very important to find out before your speech what people's attitudes are about your subject. If you know these three things, it will be much easier to bring your audience to the responses that you want.

Sample Attitudinal Analysis Questions

What are the audience's beliefs related to the topic?  attitudes, toward the topic?

What is the audience's attitude toward the topic?

What are the relevant values and motives of the audience regarding the subject?

Environmental or Situational Analysis

Situational Audience Analysis includes factors such as audience size, the occasion, the room layout, the stage layout. If your audience is smaller, there is a possibility of developing a rapport with each member. 

Environmental Analysis also includes findings about things like the seating arrangement, the number of people likely to attend, and the room lighting. The way the seats are arranged will affect the audience's response. It is also important to know how many people will be there for the speech. And the way the room is lit will affect the way the audience responds. If it is dark and the speaker is showing overheads, there will not be conversation. But if the room is well-lighted and open, the audience may feel more free to talk.

Sample Environmental Analysis Questions

What will be the size of the audience?

How will the seating be arranged?

Will there be a podium? a microphone?

Will there be noise and distractions?

Will I have access to A.V. equipment?

Multicultural Analysis

The content of your speech should acknowledge the diversity of your audience. Different cultures have different value systems and behaviour patterns. Being judgemental in your speech creates a negative impact. Cultural sensitivity and inclusivity should be part of your audience analysis.

Other Types Of Audience Analysis

Is it a niche audience with a high level of Expertise or a General Audience without any specialisation in the subject matter? Consider this before using Jargon Or Terms Of Art.

Why are they investing their time in your Speech? What inputs do they need from you?

Do a knowledge analysis of your audience and put your best food forward. Let your confidence and competence win over the audience.

Audience Analysis - Adapting your audience as you speak(During Presentation)

You don’t have good or bad audiences. You have audiences you read or you fail to read.

-Richard Hall

When you are giving your speech you have to keep 'Taking the pulse of your audience.' In order to figure out the audience's mood we need to adapt our ability to interact with our audience. We can do this by analysing the audience, and then adjusting as needed. Best way to understand your audience is to "check-in with your audience after every 3-4 minutes."

Some nonverbal identifiers to know your audience are mentioned below…

• Eye Contact: Is your audience looking at you?
• Facial Expression- Are they responsive to your message?Restless movement- Are they restless?
• Is there a lot of fidgeting, shuffling, and general body movement?
• Nonverbal Responsiveness: Do they respond to your questions? Do they laugh at the right time? Do they nod or shake their heads?
• Verbal Responsiveness: Do they respond verbally when necessary?

If you are not getting any positive response from your audience then here are some tricks and traits to be followed… 

• Try to talk more to the audience
• Tell a story
• Use an example
• Eliminate some boring facts and statistics
• Use appropriate humour
• Ask for feedback or may be questions

(Your audience are agreeing with you and enjoying your speech)

(Your audience are getting bored)

(Your audience is thinking on what you have said)

(Your audience are open minded and interested in your speech)

(Your audience are confused)

(Your audience is feeling neutral to you and your message)

(Your audience are feeling uncomfortable)

Audience Analysis - Analysing your audience after you speak (After)

After the completion of your speech, your task doesn't end. If you wish to become a good speaker then your audience reply matters a lot at the end. There are numerous ways to get back the audience's experience about the speaker and speech. Some indicators which will be helpful to identify the audience's reactions towards your presentation are mentioned below.

Nonverbal Responses 

• Did the audience applaud? Yes or No
• How did they applaud? Loud or Soft 
• What kind of facial expressions did they have? Smiling or Nodding

Verbal Responses

• What did the audience say to you after the speech?"
• Good job!"
• "That was really interesting?"
• "I have a question about…."

Survey Responses - You can conduct an online  survey and find out what people liked or learned from your speech. Try to keep the audience's reply confidential to get more specific results.

Behavioural Responses - If your purpose was to persuade your audience to do something, then their behaviour after the speech can be helpful to decide your success. If you were persuading your audience to vote at the next election, you could ask how many of them have actually voted previously.

References

• https://www.blackboardradio.com/post/benefits-of-audience-analysis-in-public-speaking
• https://speakerhubhq.medium.com/how-to-read-your-audience-in-10-seconds-619e9a2a2383
• https://www.duarte.com/how-to-interact-with-audience-members-while-you-present/