Ch 6

Question 1

Audience-centeredness (definition)

Answer 1

Keeping the audience foremost in mind at every step of speech preparation and presentation

Question 2

Audience-centeredness

Answer 2

Will influence every decision you make
(Selecting a topic,
determining specific purpose, etc.)

Keep 3 questions in mind:
- To whom am I speaking?
- What do I want them to know, believe, or do as a result of my speech?
- What is the most effective way of composing and presenting my speech to accomplish that aim?

Question 3

Your classmates as an audience

Answer 3

Use it as practice but still take it seriously

Question 4

Psychology of Audience

Answer 4

• Speaker must make audience choose to pay attention
• Auditory perception is always selective
• Every speech contains two messages–the one sent by the speaker and the one received by the listener
• Everything is filtered through a listener’s frame of reference
• People are egocentric
• What do these psychological principles mean to you as a speaker?

Question 5

Egocentric

Answer 5

Listeners approach speeches with one question in mind: why is this important to me?

Question 6

What do these psychological principles mean to you as a speaker?

Answer 6

• Means listeners will hear and judge what you say on the basis of what they already know and believe
• You must relate your message to your listeners show how it pertains to them explain why they should care about it as much as you do

Question 7

First stage of analyzing the audience

Answer 7

Demographic audience analysis

Question 8

Demographic audience analysis (definition)

Answer 8

Audience analysis that focuses on demographic factors such as age; religion; racial, ethnic, and cultural background; gender identity and sexual orientation; group membership; and the like.

Question 9

Demographic audience analysis

First step
Second step
Can be useful
Should always
Aim is to
Includes

Answer 9

• The first step is to identify the general demographic features of your audience
• The second step is to gauge them importance of those features to a particular speaking situation
• Can be useful but can be used improperly, it is essential to avoid stereotyping
• Should always combine demographic audience analysis with situational audience analysis
• Aim is to find in main traits your listeners have clues about how your listeners will respond to your speech

Includes
- Age
- Religion
- Racial, ethnic, and cultural background
- Gender identity and sexual orientation
- Group membership

Question 10

Age - Demographic audience analysis

Aristotle noted _________ that few things affect a person’s outlook more than _________

_____ of college students today are age __________

Answer 10

• Aristotle noted 2,300 years ago that few things affect a person’s outlook more than his or her age
• Each generation has more common values and experiences that set them apart from other generations
• 40% of college students today are age 25 or older

Question 11

Religion - Demographic audience analysis

Answer 11

• Cannot assume your views on religion are shared by your listeners
• US has become more diverse culturally and religiously
• There is great diversity within one religion

Question 12

Racial, ethnic, and cultural background - Demographic audience analysis

Gen Z
Because we live in an age of globalization…
More than ___ ___ Am

Answer 12

• General attitudes about race and ethnicity are quite different from what they were even a few decades ago
• Gen Z are Americans born after 1996 and are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in US history they are the most tolerant of racial and ethnic differences
• Because we live in an age of globalization you may also find yourself addressing listeners from other countries than your own
• More than 9 million Americans live abroad

Question 13

Gender identity and sexual orientation - Demographic audience analysis

Answer 13

• Be wary of pigeonholing listeners into stereotypical gender roles
• Some scholars now argue that the binary of “he” and “she” doesn’t reflect the full range of human experience
• Keep an eye out for language, examples, and other elements that may unintentionally exclude listeners with same-sex partners or listeners who identify with a gender other than the sex assigned at their birth

Question 14

Group membership - Demographic audience analysis

Answer 14

• Americans are very group oriented
• Group affiliations may provide excellent clues about your listeners interests and attitudes

Question 15

Second stage of analyzing the audience

Answer 15

Situational audience analysis

Question 16

Situational audience analysis (definition)

Answer 16

Audience analysis that focuses on situational factors such as the size of the audience, the physical setting of the audience, and the disposition of the audience toward the topic, the speaker, and location.

Question 17

Situational audience analysis

Answer 17

• Identifies traits of the audience unique to the speaking situation at hand

Includes
- Size
- Physical setting
- Disposition towards the topic
- Disposition toward the speaker
- Disposition toward the occasion

Question 18

Size - Situational audience analysis

Answer 18

• The larger the audience the more formal your presentation must be.
• Audience size may also affect your language, choice of appeals, and use of visual aids.

Question 19

Physical setting - Situational audience analysis

Answer 19

• Adverse conditions such as overheat or lack of heat can impact the audience’s willingness to accept your ideas or even listen to you at all
• Do everything you can to control the influence of the physical setting on your audience

Question 20

Disposition towards the topic - Situational audience analysis

Answer 20

Includes: Interest, Knowledge, Attitude

Interest
- Assess their interest in advance and adjust your speech accordingly
- Some listeners will inevitably have a higher interest level than others

Knowledge
- People tend to be interested in what they know about
(There are some exceptions like few people know much about handwriting analysis but most would find it interesting. Also almost everyone knows a lot about going to the supermarket but few would find it fascinating)
- Helps determine how trivial/technical you can be in your speech

Attitude
- Frame of mind in favor of or opposing a person, policy, belief, institution, etc…
- If you know their attitudes in advance you can adjust your speech to trust their concerns or answer their objections

Question 21

Disposition toward the speaker - Situational audience analysis

Answer 21

• The more competent listeners believe a speaker to be the more likely they are to accept what he or she says
• The more listeners believe a speaker has their best interests in heart the more likely they are to respond positively to the speaker’s message
• Listeners will always have some set of attitude towards you as a speaker
  (Estimate what those attitude and how they will affect your speech)

Question 22

Disposition toward the occasion - Situational audience analysis

Answer 22

• Listeners have fairly definite ideas about the speeches they consider appropriate. Speakers who violate those expectations infuriate the audience
• Most important–Occasion will dictate how long a speech should be
  (Do not exceed time under any circumstances)

Audience expectations that apply to the classroom:
- Speeches conform to the assignment
- Appropriate standards of taste and decorum
- If you fail these expectations it will disrupt classmates and damage your grade

Question 23

Getting information about the audience

Answer 23

• Speeches outside classroom–Best to get info by asking the person who invites you to speech
• Speeches inside classroom–Can learn a lot about classmates from observation and conversation
• Formal audience-analysis questionnaire

Question 24

Three major types of questions - Formal audience-analysis questionnaire

Answer 24

Fixed-alternative questions: Yes, No, Maybe.

Scale questions: Strongly agree to strongly disagree

Open-ended questions

Question 25

Fixed-alternative questions

Answer 25

Yes, No, Maybe.
- Least leeway in responses

Pros
- Produce clear answers

Cons
- Can be superficial answers

Question 26

Scale questions

Answer 26

Strongly agree to strongly disagree
- More leeway in responses

Pros
- Useful for getting at how strong a respondent’s opinion is

Question 27

Open-ended questions

Answer 27

• Maximum leeway in responses

Pros
- More detailed responses

Cons
- Increase likelihood of getting answers that do not give the kind of information you need

Question 28

Formal audience-analysis questionnaire

Answer 28

• Three major types of questions
• By using all three types speakers elicited specific info about the audience and probed more deeply into their attitudes toward the speech topic
• When putting your own questionnaire together keep in mind:
  - Plan questionnaire
  carefully to get the
  info you want
  - Use all three
  question types
  - Make sure questions
  are clear and
  unambiguous
  - Keep it brief

Question 28

Adapting to the audience

The key is…
Two types of audience adaptation

Answer 28

Key is how well you use what you know about your audience in preparing and presenting your speech.

• Audience adaptation before the speech
• Audience adaptation during the speech

Question 29

Audience adaptation before the speech

Answer 29

• Assess how your audience is likely to respond to what you say
• Adjust what you say to make it as clear, appropriate, and convincing as possible
• Submerge your own views to temporarily adopt the views of your audience
• Anticipate how your audience will respond

Question 30

Audience adaptation during the speech

Answer 30

• If visual aids don’t work→Find another way to present your visual aids
• If another student has same speech→modify your intro to mention other student’s speech on your topic
• If you find your speech is too long for the time allotted, present the most important points. Listeners will sympathize with your predicament and appreciate your regard for their time.
• Keep an eye out during the speech for audience feedback. If listeners frown or have quizzical looks, may need to go over point again.