Communication Assessment & Learning Lab
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Analyzing Your Audience  

1. Know whether your audience is attending your speech voluntarily or if attendance is mandatory.  If your audience is required to attend your speech, they may be resistant to accepting you or your information; therefore, you may want to incorporate jokes, stories, or quotes to gain their interest or attempt to prove your topic expertise.
2. Determine the audience’s level of knowledge about the topic to help you determine what information to include or exclude.  This allows you to add to their knowledge, giving them information of interest, while avoiding areas where you know less than your audience.
3. Know how many people will attend so that you can determine if large gestures are appropriate (e.g., If there is a large audience, use large gestures.), that the last row can hear you clearly, and that you construct visuals accordingly.
4. Determine your audience’s background and interests, including gender, age, demographics, attitudes, values, beliefs, and cultural background of your audience (i.e., don’t give a speech on car mechanics to a room full of adolescent girls.).
5. Know the mood of the audience (i.e., are they tired, hungry, have they just eaten, are they anxious?).
6. Identify your audience’s needs so; if possible, the knowledge you share can help make them more successful.
7. If you are speaking to a particular group, know something about that organization (i.e., research the organization and interview some members so you know what makes them tick, what they value, and which other speeches have they heard?).
8. Do not stereotype or assume you know the audience.  Do your own research, without expecting a teacher or manager to evaluate the students or employees for you.
9. Know if you are the only speaker, or one of several speakers.
10. Be familiar with the day’s activities and refer to them once or twice to establish your credibility.