Module 2: Adapting Messages To Your Audience

Question 1

5 Audiences

Answer 1

The initial audience
The primary audience
The secondary audience
A gatekeeper 
A watchdog audience

Question 2

The initial audience

Answer 2

your supervisor or the client, for example—receives the message first and routes it to other audiences. Sometimes the initial audience is the person who directs you to create the message.

Question 3

The primary audience

Answer 3

your supervisor, or the client, or your peers—will decide whether or not to act on your message.

Question 4

The secondary audience

Answer 4

may be asked to comment on your message or to implement your ideas after they’ve been approved. Secondary audiences can also include lawyers and researchers who use your message—perhaps years later—as evidence of your organization’s culture and practices.

Question 5

A gatekeeper

Answer 5

has the power to stop your message before it gets to the primary audience. The supervisor or executive assistant who decides whether or not you can speak to the boss is a gatekeeper. Occasionally gatekeepers exist outside the organization. For example, regulatory boards are gatekeepers.

Question 6

A watchdog audience

Answer 6

the media, boards of directors, and members of program advisory committees—has political, social, or economic power. The watchdog pays close attention to the communication between you and the primary audience and may base future actions on its evaluation of your message.

Question 7

think tank

Answer 7

a group of people, usually experts in their field, who work together to provide advice. People in the think tank often work for government or business to help solve a problem, such as how new laws will affect a company.

Question 8

channel

Answer 8

Include any of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste)

Question 9

feedback

Answer 9

Feedback may be direct and immediate, or indirect and delayed

Question 10

noise

Answer 10

Noise can be physical or psychological

the windows are open; both Mediha and you have your smartphones handy.

Question 11

Channel overload

Answer 11

occurs when the channel cannot handle all the messages being sent. Two people may be speaking to you simultaneously, or a small business may have only two phone lines, for example.

Question 12

Information overload

Answer 12

occurs when more messages are transmitted than the receiver can handle. Because of technology, information overload is a constant for most of us.

Question 13

different frames of reference

Answer 13

We always interpret messages in the light of our perceptions, based on personal experiences, our cultures and subcultures, and the time in which we live.

Question 14

Why communication can be challenging

Answer 14

Successful communication is an exchange of meaning. This meaning transfer is a complex process because each of us is unique and believes his or her own perceptions of reality (meaning) are true; therefore, misunderstandings can occur during any part of the process.

Question 15

What Do I Need to Know About My Audience?

Answer 15

You need to know everything that’s relevant to what you’re writing or talking about.

Almost everything about your audience is relevant to some message, but for any particular message, only a few facts about your audience will be relevant. These facts will vary depending on each communication situation

Question 16

Empathy

Answer 16

The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to feel with that person.

Question 17

Critical thinking

Answer 17

involves gathering as much information as you can about someone or something, and then making decisions based on that information.

Question 18

Audience analysis points

Answer 18

Current knowledge about your topic

Demographic factors, such as age, gender, education, income, class, marital status, number of children, home ownership, location

Personality

Attitudes, values, and beliefs

Past behaviour

Question 19

CURRENT KNOWLEDGE

Answer 19

Most of the time, you won’t know exactly what your audience knows. Moreover, even if you’ve told readers before, they might not remember the old information when they read the new message. In any case, avoid mind-numbing details.

Question 20

Demographic factors

Answer 20

can be objectively quantified, or measured, and include age, gender, religion, education level, income, location, and so on.

Question 21

PERSONALITY

Answer 21

Understanding and adapting to your primary audience’s personality can also help make your message more effective. You’ll be most persuasive if you understand and play to your audience’s strengths.

Question 22

Psychographic characteristics

Answer 22

qualitative rather than quantitative and include values, beliefs, goals, and lifestyles. Knowing what your audience finds important allows you to organize information in a way that seems natural to your audience, and to choose appeals that audience members will find persuasive.

Question 23

discourse communities

Answer 23

These groups are personal, social, religious, political, and class associations.
These groups include family, peers, professional associations, social media sites, clubs, and the workplace—all communities with which members of your audience identify

Question 24

When you are writing or speaking to a variety of audiences, research to identify

Answer 24

(1) who can best ensure your message gets to the decision makers, and (2) who those decision makers are. Meet the needs of those gatekeepers and primary audiences first.

Question 25

The communication process

Answer 25

includes a sender, receiver, message, channel(s), medium, and noise.

Question 26

Why Is Audience So Important?

Answer 26

When people know how they’ll benefit, they’re more likely to pay attention and respond to your message. Successful communicators analyze, identify, and meet the audience’s need to know what’s in it for them.

Question 27

Successful communication occurs

Answer 27

when both parties agree on the meaning and significance of the symbols they are exchanging

Question 28

Process of communicating

Answer 28

Encode, transmit (via a channel), perceive, receive, decode, feedback

Question 29

Psychological noise

Answer 29

including emotional, intellectual, or psychological interference, also distorts communication

Question 30

Organizational Culture

Answer 30

expressed through its values, attitudes, and philosophies. Once established, organizational or corporate culture can shape members’ attitudes and behaviors, and become very difficult to change.

Question 31

The Advantages of Oral Communication

Answer 31

Speaking is easier and more efficient when you need to

Answer questions, resolve conflicts, and build consensus

Use emotion to help persuade the audience

Provoke an immediate action or response

Focus the audience’s attention on specific points

Modify a proposal that may not be acceptable in its original form

Question 32

The Disadvantages of Oral Communication

Answer 32

Meaning and morale can be jeopardized, however, when people choose efficiency and formality over real communication

Question 33

The Disadvantages of Writing

Answer 33

Writing, however, often requires more time than speaking face to face. Furthermore, once you mail the letter or hit Send, your documents (including email messages) are permanent and potentially available to everyone.

Question 34

Polishing your prose

Answer 34

Comma Splices

To fix a comma splice

Use a semicolon if the ideas in the sentence are closely related: We shipped the order on Tuesday; it arrived on Wednesday.

Add a coordinating conjunction (and, yet, but, or, for, nor): We shipped the order on Tuesday, and it arrived on Wednesday.

Make the incorrect sentence into two correct ones: We shipped the order on Tuesday. It arrived on Wednesday.

Make one of the clauses subordinate, or dependent on the other for meaning: Since we shipped the order on Tuesday, it arrived on Wednesday.