Public Speaking Chapter 5 - Adapting to Your Audience

audience analysis

Obtaining and evaluating information about your audience to anticipate their needs and interests and designing a strategy to respond to them.

information credibility

The validity and reliability of sources and supporting materials presented in a speech.

speaker credibility

An audience’s perception of a speaker’s competence, trustworthiness, dynamism, and sociability.

information

Asserted facts that may or may not be true.

competence

The qualifications a speaker has to talk about a particular topic.

trustworthiness

An audience’s perception of a speaker as honest, ethical, sincere, reliable, sensitive, and empathic.

goodwill

An audience’s perception that the speaker has the audience’s true needs, wants, and interests at heart.

dynamism

An audience’s perception of a speaker’s activity level during a presentation.

sociability

The degree to which an audience feels a personal connection with a speaker.

target audiences

The particular group or subgroup a speaker most wants to inform or influence.

demographics

The ways in which populations can be divided into smaller groups according to key characteristics such as, gender, ethnicity, age, and social class.

Psychographics

Psychological data about an audience, such as standpoints that draw from a person’s values, attitudes, and beliefs.

Standpoint

The psychological location or place from which an individual views, interprets, and evaluates the world.

Values

Enduring concepts of what is good, right, worthy, and important.

attitude

How an individual feels about something in particular.

belief

Something an individual accepts as true or existing.

audience research questionnaires

A questionnaire used to assess the demographics, knowledge, and opinions of audience members about a speech topic; can take the form of in-class or web-based surveys.

closed ended questions

A question that limits the possible responses, asking for very specific information.

open ended questions

A broad, general question, often specifying only the topic.

summary statistics

Information in the responses to an audience-research questionnaire that reflects trends and comparisons.

direct quotes

Comments written in response to open-ended questions in an audience-research questionnaire.

voluntary audiences

Individuals who can choose to attend or not attend a speaking event.

captive audiences

Individuals who feel they must attend an event.