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AUDIENCE-CENTEREDNESS

Analyzing the Good public speakers are audience-

centered. You are an audience-
centered speaker if your purpose is
Audience
-centeredness

Audience to gain a favorable response from

your audience. You can do it by
presenting yourself and your ideas in
keeping the audience
foremost in mind every step of
speech preparation and
ways that are connected with the
presentation.
audience's goals, values, and beliefs.
Chapter 5

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Being audience-centered is the ability to be true to yourself and speak ethically while adapting
your message to meet the needs of your listeners. Being ethical doesn't mean using devious,
unethical tactics to achieve your goals.
● To whom am I speaking? Effective speakers seek to create a
● What do I want them to know, believe, or do as a result of my speech?
identification – bond with their listeners by
● What is the most effective way of composing and presenting my speech to accomplish
that aim? a process in which speakers emphasizing common values, goals,
seek to create a bond with the and experiences. Communication
Adapting to a public speaking role is not much different from adapting to life in a conversation. audience by emphasizing scholars call this process
People usually prefer to start controversial conversations with a fairly non-committal position. common values, goals, and
identification.
You do not have to agree with a viewpoint different from your own, but neither do you need to experience.
hit your listeners over the head with it.

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Your Classmates as
an Audience
Students and teachers often view the
classroom as an artificial speaking
environment. But each of your
classmates is a real person with real
ideas, attitudes, and feelings. Most of
your classroom speeches would not
have immediate impact. Nevertheless,
any topic that you handle
conscientiously can influence your
listeners.
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Demographic Audience Analysis
Speakers analyze their audiences
by looking at demographic traits
such as age, gender, and sexual
orientation. This is called
demographic audience analysis. It
consists of two steps: identifying
the general demographic features
of your audience, and then
assessing the importance of those
features to a particular speaking
situation.
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The Psychology of Listeners approach speeches with one question uppermost in mind: “Why
Audiences is this important to me?”. As Harry Emerson Fosdick, the great preacher,
once said: “There is nothing that people are so interested in as
themselves, their own problems, and the way to solve them. The fact is …
Every speech contains two messages – the primary starting point of all public speaking”.
the one sent by the speaker and the
one received by the listener. What a
speaker says is filtered through the
listener's frame of reference. Auditory egocentric –
perception is always selective. People the tendency of people to be concerned
listen and respond to speeches not as above all with their own values, beliefs,
they are, but as we are. and well-being.
stereotyping– Here are few of the major demographic factors
you should consider:
creating an
demographic oversimplified image
1. Age.
audience analysis – of a particular group of
it focuses on demographic factors people, usually by 2. Gender.
such as age, gender, religion, assuming that all 3. Sexual Orientation.
sexual orientation, group members of the group 4. Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Background.
membership, are alike. 5. Religion.
6. Group Membership.
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Situational
Audience
Analysis
Is the audience
analysis that focuses
on situational factors
such as the size of the
audience, the physical
setting for the speech,
and the disposition of
the audience toward
the topic, the speaker
and the occasion.
Here are few of the major demographic factors Getting Information from the Audience
you should consider: Constructing a questionnaire is the best way to learn more about an audience.
1. Size.
2. Physical Setting. 1. Fixed-alternative questions.
3. Disposition toward the Topic. Questions that offer a fixed choice between two or more alternatives.
For example: Do you know what the insanity plea is in the U.S. legal system?
3.1. Interest.
Yes ____________ No _____________ Not sure _________
3.2. Knowledge. Three
3.3. Attitude Major 2. Scale questions.
Questions that require responses at fixed intervals along a scale of answers.
4. Disposition toward the Speaker. Types of For example: How often do you believe that insanity plea is used in U.S. court
5. Disposition toward the Occasion. Questions cases?
Very seldom -----------l------------l---------------l---------------l------------ Very often
Attitude – a frame of mind in favor of or 3. Open-ended questions.
opposed to a person, policy, belief, institution, etc. Questions that allow respondents to answer however they want.
For example: What is your opinion about the insanity plea in U.S. court cases? Under
what circumstances do you think the insanity plea is legitimate in a criminal trial?

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Adapting the Audience

You should have a pretty clear picture

of your audience, but this does not
mean you know what to expect from
1. Audience adaptation before the speech.
them. The key is how you use what you
know in preparing and presenting the 2. Audience adaptation during the speech.
speech. There are two major stages in
the process - stage one and stage two
- where you adapt your ideas to the
audience.

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