Analyzing the
Audience
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
2. Explain what it means to say that audiences are egocentric.
4. Identify the major situational traits of audiences.
6. Explain how a speaker can adapt to the audience while preparing the speech and
while delivering the speech.
6
CHAPTER 6—ANALYZING THE AUDIENCE 107
Chapter Outline
I. Good speakers are audience–centered.
A. They understand that the primary purpose of public speaking is to gain a desired re-
sponse from their listeners.
B. They keep three questions in mind as they prepare their speeches:
1. To whom am I speaking?
II. It is important for student speakers to approach their classmates as a real audience.
A. Because the classroom seems like an artificial speaking situation, it is easy for stu-
dents to lose sight of their classmates as an authentic audience.
B. The best student speakers take their audience seriously and treat their classmates as
worthy of their best effort.
III. Good speakers understand the psychology of audiences.
A. A speaker’s task is to make the audience want to pay attention to her or his message.
B. The auditory perception of audiences is always selective.
1. Everything a speaker says is filtered through a listener’s frame of reference.
2. Every speech contains two messages—that sent by the speaker and that received
by the audience.
C. Audiences are egocentric, paying closest attention to the messages that affect them
directly.
D. These psychological principles have two important implications for speakers.
2. Speakers must take care to relate their messages to an audience’s existing
knowledge and beliefs.
IV. The first stage of audience analysis is examining demographic traits of the audience and
how they might affect reception of the speech.
A. Demographic audience analysis is a useful tool in understanding audiences, but it
needs to be used properly.
1. When analyzing demographic information about the audience, it is essential to
B. Speakers should consider five demographic traits when working on their speeches.
108 CHAPTER–BY–CHAPTER GUIDE TO THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
2. The religious views of the audience need to be considered.
4. Issues of gender and sexual orientation can greatly influence how an audience re-
sponds to a speech.
5. The group membership of an audience is another important factor to consider.
C. There are also a number of other potentially important demographic variables, in-
cluding occupation, socioeconomic position, education, and place of residence.
V. Another stage of audience analysis is examining features of the audience unique to the
speaking situation at hand.
A. The first factor to consider is the size of the audience.
B. The second factor to consider is the physical setting of the speech.
C. The third factor to consider is the audience’s disposition toward the topic.
2. A speaker needs to assess the audience’s knowledge about the topic.
3. A speaker needs to assess the audience’s attitude toward the topic.
D. The fourth factor to consider is the audience’s disposition toward the speaker.
E. The fifth factor to consider is the audience’s disposition toward the occasion.
VI. There are several ways to get demographic and situational information about the au-
dience.
A. For speeches outside the classroom, speakers often make informal inquiries about
their audience.
B. For classroom speeches, students often use audience–analysis questionnaires.
1. There are three basic types of questions for such questionnaires.
a. Fixed–alternative questions offer a choice between two or more specific re-
2. There are four guidelines for effective audience–analysis questionnaires.
a. They should be carefully planned to elicit the necessary information.
b. They should use all three types of questions to get specific and detailed in-
CHAPTER 6—ANALYZING THE AUDIENCE 109
VII. Once speakers complete their audience analysis, they use that analysis to adapt their
speech to their listeners.
A. Most of the work of audience adaptation takes place before the speech as part of the
preparation process.
2. A speaker should keep the following questions constantly in mind while prepar-
ing the speech.
a. How is the audience likely to respond to what I will say?
b. How can I adjust my message to make it as clear and convincing as possible?
3. Adjusting the message to the audience requires that speakers anticipate how lis-
1. No matter how hard a speaker works ahead of time, things do not always go
smoothly on the day of the speech.
2. Skillful speakers learn to adapt to these kinds of changes.
Exercises for Critical Thinking
(from text page 113)
1. Advertisers are usually very conscious of their audience. Visit a popular Web site such as
Facebook, ESPN, YouTube, or Instagram. From that Web site, select three advertisements to
analyze. Try to determine the audience each advertisement is appealing to, and analyze the
appeals (verbal and visual) it uses to persuade buyers. How might the appeals differ if the ads
were designed to persuade a different audience?
Discussion: Because the audience appeal of most Web advertisements is obvious, this
exercise usually promotes vigorous class discussion on the principles of audience analysis
2. Below are three general speech topics and, for each, two hypothetical audiences to which a
speech might be delivered. For each topic, write a brief paragraph explaining how you might
adjust your specific purpose and message according to the demographic characteristics of the
audience.
a. Topic: “Cryptography”
110 CHAPTER–BY–CHAPTER GUIDE TO THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Discussion: Audience #1 will likely be more interested in and knowledgeable about the
b. Topic: “Sexual Assault: The Biggest Campus Crime”
Audience #1: 80% female, 20% male
Audience #2: 80% male, 20% female
Discussion: Although sexual assault is a topic of great interest to both male and female
students, the orientations of each toward the topic are usually different. Because women
c. Topic: “The Impeachment of Bill Clinton”
Audience #1: Day class: 70% age 18 to 22, 30% age 23 and over
Audience #2: Evening class: 50% age 35 and over, 30% age 23 to 34, 20% age 18 to 22
Discussion: Bill Clinton was impeached in December 1998, an event that people around the
globe watched on television. Although most members of audience #1 have probably heard of
the impeachment, they are too young to have a firsthand recollection of it or its political impact.
A speech to this group would have to provide substantial historical information about Clinton’s
presidency, the charges against him, and the political landscape of the 1990s. Nor can a
speaker addressing audience #1 assume that most of his or her listeners will necessarily be in-
terested in the topic.
In contrast, a speaker addressing audience #2 can assume that most listeners have a
3. For your next speech, design and circulate among your classmates an audience–analysis ques-
tionnaire like that discussed on pages 107–109 of the textbook. Use all three kinds of ques-
tions explained in the text: fixed–alternative, scale, and open–ended. After you have tabulated
the results of the questionnaire, write an analysis explaining what the questionnaire reveals
about your audience and what steps you must take to adapt your speech to the audience.
Discussion: Although speakers outside the classroom seldom use questionnaires, this ex-
ercise is extremely useful because it requires students to engage in systematic audience
analysis. It also requires them to conceive of their classmates as a genuine audience.
Using Public Speaking in Your Career
(from text page 106)
As a social–media consultant for several local businesses, your work on marketing through social
networks has attracted a lot of attention in your community. Now the local chamber of commerce
has invited you to speak on the subject at next month’s meeting.
Having taken a public speaking class in college, you know how important it is to analyze the
audience you will be addressing. To prepare for your speech, you have arranged a phone inter-
view with the chamber’s president. List (1) the two most important questions you want to ask the
president about the demographics of your audience, and (2) the two most important questions you
want to ask about the situational traits of your audience. Be specific in your questions and be
prepared, if necessary, to explain your choice of questions.
Discussion: There is no right or wrong answer to this scenario. Its purpose is to have stu-
dents see how the principles of audience analysis discussed in the chapter can be applied
in real–life situations outside the classroom. As far as demographic audience analysis is
112 CHAPTER–BY–CHAPTER GUIDE TO THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Additional Exercises and Activities
1. Below are five specific purpose statements for classroom speeches. For each specific purpose
statement, lead a class discussion that seeks to answer the question: “What steps would a
speaker with this specific purpose statement need to take to adapt her or his speech to the in-
terests, knowledge, and attitudes of this class?”
a. To inform my audience how they can protect their apartment or dorm room against bur-
glaries.
b. To inform my audience about the principles of aerodynamics that allow an airplane to fly.
c. To inform my audience about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of eating disorders.
d. To persuade my audience that the federal government should impose stronger safety
standards for school buses in the United States.
e. To persuade my audience to participate in intramural sports.
Discussion: This is an excellent alternative (or supplement) to Exercise 2 on page 113 of
the textbook. While that exercise asks students to generalize about hypothetical listeners,
2. Have students prepare an Audience Analysis and Adaptation Worksheet (see pages 114–115
of this manual) in conjunction with one or more of their speeches. Hand out the worksheets
early, so students can use them throughout the speech preparation process. You can have the
students turn in their worksheets at the same time as their initial preparation outlines, or you
can require that they be turned in on the day of each student’s speech.
CHAPTER 6—ANALYZING THE AUDIENCE 113
Discussion: This is a relatively detailed worksheet, but if students use it conscientiously, it
will help them become much more aware of the factors involved in audience analysis and
3. Distribute Barbara Bush’s “Choices and Change” from pages 466–470 of this manual. Have
students analyze the speech in light of how Bush adapts her message to the audience, situation,
and occasion.
Discussion: Barbara Bush’s commencement speech at Wellesley College is an excellent
study in audience analysis and adaptation. As the discussion on pages 469–470 of this
manual explains, the choice of Bush as speaker touched off a protest among roughly one–
114
Audience Analysis and Adaptation Worksheet
Part I
Speaker Topic
What is the audience for this speech?
What is the specific purpose of this speech?
In choosing a specific purpose, how can you narrow the topic so it will be appropriate to this
audience?
Demographic audience analysis: What special adaptation is necessary in the speech because of
the audience’s
age
religion
racial, ethnic, and cultural background
gender and sexual orientation
group membership
other (specify)
Situational audience analysis: What special adaptation is necessary in the speech because of the
audience’s
size
response to the physical setting
knowledge about the topic
interest level in the topic
attitude toward the topic
disposition toward the speaker
disposition toward the occasion
(continued in Part II)
Audience Analysis and Adaptation Worksheet
Part II
Speaker Topic
Adaptation in the speech: Answer each of the following questions.
What device(s) did you use in the introduction to gain attention from this audience?
What steps did you take to relate the topic directly to this audience in the introduction?
What are the main points of the speech? Why did you develop these particular main points for
this audience?
What decisions did you make in choosing supporting materials for this audience?
What steps did you take to make your language clear and appropriate to this audience?
What adjustments did you make in delivery—rate of speech, volume, tone of voice, gestures, and
the like—to communicate your ideas to this audience?