Presenting Ideas to an Audience

Audience and Style

Audience and Style Purpose and audience help shape the content and delivery of your information. They also influence your tone and word choice. Writers use different tones in different pieces of writing, depending on what they want to convey. Here, we'll focus on formal and informal tones. Tone To determine whether to adopt a formal or an informal tone, writers should consider their relationship to the audience. A formal tone is more serious, while an informal tone is more casual. Writing for a particular audience is similar to having a conversation. We change our tone and way of speaking to adapt to different audiences. For example, you would probably speak differently to an elderly neighbor or to your school principal (formal) than you would to your friends or classmates (informal).

Focus on Language

Editing and Audience Awareness Although it's important to determine the audience before you write a paper or prepare for a presentation, be sure to consider the audience all the way through the drafting and revising stages. Part of considering the audience involves editing a text for clarity, grammar, and spelling.

Presenting to an Audience

In this section, you will put together a short presentation. The paper will be informational or explanatory, and it will contain some analysis on the significance of the information you will present. You'll focus on the questions "How?" or "Why?" as you provide information or explain a process. Review the writing process before you begin writing in the following activity.

Analyzing Audience

It's important to identify your audience before you start writing. You need to have a clear sense of whom you will be addressing. Different audiences will have different backgrounds, attitudes, and expectations. You'll need to gather background information about your audience members so you can tailor your message to them. Essential information such as age, gender, cultural background, and education level can help you know your audience and what they may already know about the topic. It's important to identify your audience before you start writing. You need to have a clear sense of whom you will be addressing. Different audiences will have different backgrounds, attitudes, and expectations. You'll need to gather background information about your audience members so you can tailor your message to them. Essential information such as age, gender, cultural background, and education level can help you know your audience and what they may already know about the topic.

Purpose

Purpose and audience are closely tied. The purpose of your paper determines why you're writing, and the audience determines what and how you'll write it. Choose your tone, word choice, style, and other writing factors based on who your audience is. Knowing your audience and purpose will help keep your writing focused and effective.

Content and Word Choice

To communicate effectively, writers must adjust the content and language of their work to fit an audience. Different audiences will require different degrees of information and detail. An audience that is unfamiliar with a topic will require more information, context, and background. This audience may also need more examples to help explain unfamiliar concepts. It's important to consider word choice for an audience. Determine when to use technical terms that are specific to a certain topic and when to use slang and informal expressions. A more experienced audience is more likely to understand technical terms, while a less experienced audience will require familiar terms and everyday speech. Also think about when to use simple or complex phrasing and when to use short or long sentences. Using short, direct statements will help a less experienced audience grasp unfamiliar ideas.

Defining Audience

Your audience is the person or group of people for whom you are writing your paper. Although your teacher may be the only one who reads your paper, you should think of your audience more as the person or group of people that you want to inform, educate, or persuade. Good writing will anticipate the needs and expectations of the audience. If the audience knows a lot about the topic, there's no need to explain the information at a basic level. However, a less informed audience will need more instruction and basic information.