Chapter 5: Audience analysis

The time of day or day of the week when an audience will be listening to a presentation. An audience is more prone to distraction at certain times of the day, such as lunchtime, and certain days of the week, such as Friday

Body clock (chronemics)

• A scaled question such as a true/false, multiple-choice, or select-all-that apply question-gives your respondents a set of specific answers to choose from. These question are useful for gaining concrete insights into an audience's experience with or views on a topic.

F

A survey question that provides a set of specific answers for the respondent to choose from. Examples include true/false, multiple choice, and select all that apply questions

Fixed response question

The setting where a speaker delivers, and an audience listens to a speech

Forum (location)

A type of audience that has neither negative nor positive opinions about a speaker or a message

Neutral audience

An audience that already agrees with a speaker's message or holds the speaker in high esteem and will respond favorably to the speech

Sympathetic audience

• According to your textbook, if the audience ends up being different from one you expected, avoid communicating your surprise: audience members will likely interpret your comments as a signal that you are not prepared

T

The collection of beliefs, values, and experiences that a speaker shares with an audience. A speaker seeks to establish common ground with an audience, whether verbally or nonverbally, so that listeners will be more receptive to her or his or their message

common ground

The part of a person's cultural background that usually is associated with shared religion, national origin, and language

ethnicity

A person's political beliefs and positions

political affiliation

The extent to which an audience has already heard a speaker's message, which affects an audience's interest or belief in what the speaker is saying

prior exposure

A common heritage based on genetically shared physical characteristics of people in a group

race

A person's set of religious beliefs, which can shape his or her or their response to a speech

religious orientation

A survey question that measures a respndent's feeling on an issue by offering a range of fixed responses. These can take the form of a numerical scale (for example, the numbers one to ten or a list of options ("strongly agree," "agree," "neutral," disagree, or strongly disagree)

scaled question

A demographic characteristic that considers whether audience members may be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning

sexual orientation

A measure of the financial resources, education, and occupation of people compared to others

socioeconomic status

• According to your textbook _____ is an important aspect of any presentation you deliver. Thus, you will want to consider presentation and body clock.

time

A series of written questions that a speaker asks audience members to answer in advance of the presentation

Survey

A demographic consideration that affects an audience's response to and understanding of speaker's message. For example, avoiding popular culture references that are too old or too young for an audience is a good way to take age into consideration

Age

Listeners who do not have to sit or stand during a speech. Mobile audiences might be found at an exhibitor's booth, on a town common, or on a city sidewalk

Mobile audience

The characteristics of audience members, including age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religious orientation, socioeconomic background, and political affiliation

Demographics

An audience's likely attitude toward a subject. In most cases, an audience can be divided into three groups - sympathetic, hostile, and neutral

Disposition

A demographic characteristic that considers how many people of a particular gender will be in an audience

Gender Composition

An oversimplified, often distorted view of what it means to be a particular gender

Gender stereotype

A group of listeners who oppose a speaker or a speaker's message and resist listening to the speech

Hositle audience

A meeting of people face to face to gather information for research or audience analysis. A speaker speaks with experts or select members of a future audience and record their response. The interview can be conducted in person, by email, etc.

Interview

A survey question that invites respondents to give answers of their own choosing, rather than offering them a limited set of responses

Open ended question

The length of time that a speaker has to deliver his or her speech

Presentation time

Words that reveal a bias for or against a given gender

Sexist language

The process of learning about an audience's interests and backgrounds just before or during a speech. It usually is conducted when speakers discover the makeup of an audience is different from what the speaker expected or when the audience appears to be confused, lost, or hostile

Situational audience analysis

A factor in a specific speech setting that a speaker can observe or discover before giving the speech Examples include audience size, time, location, and audience mobility

Situational characteristic

Listeners who are relatively motionless during a speech. Classrooms, lecture halls, and conference rooms often contain stationary audiences

Stationary audience

The number of people who will be present for a speech

audience size