How to Analyze an Audience for Public Speaking

Communication Coach Alexander Lyon

14 Feb 202206:58

Summary

TLDRThis video emphasizes the importance of tailoring your public speaking message to the specific audience in front of you. The speaker highlights that understanding your audience's interests, knowledge, and attitudes is crucial for delivering a relevant and impactful presentation. By taking an audience-centered approach, you can customize your message for maximum engagement. The video also offers practical tips for analyzing your audience, such as gathering information through questionnaires or conversations with event organizers. Ultimately, the goal is to deliver a message that resonates deeply with your audience.

Takeaways

🎯 Tailor your message specifically to your audience to increase its impact.
🧐 Understand your audience's demographics and group affiliations to better customize your presentation.
🤔 Audiences care about what benefits them, so focus on answering their question: 'What's in it for me?'
🔍 Analyze your audience's interest level, knowledge, and attitude to adjust your message accordingly.
📊 Learn about your audience's interest level—whether they are there voluntarily or out of obligation.
📚 Adapt to your audience’s knowledge level, whether they are beginners or experts on the subject.
💡 Assess the audience's attitude towards your topic, especially if persuasion is involved, and move them from point A to point B.
📋 Gather information about your audience beforehand through surveys or conversations with event organizers.
🗣️ Collaborate with the person who invited you to speak—they can provide valuable insights about the audience.
🎯 Customize every aspect of your presentation, including examples and research, to directly address the needs and expectations of the audience.

Q & A

What is one of the key strategies for effective public speaking?
-One of the key strategies for effective public speaking is to tailor your message to the specific interests and needs of the audience in front of you. Customizing your message increases the likelihood of hitting your communication target.
Why is it important to know your audience before delivering a presentation?
-It is important to know your audience because understanding their interests, knowledge level, and attitudes helps you shape your message to resonate with them. Audiences are there for their own benefit, and addressing their needs increases engagement.
What is the public speaking triangle, and what does it represent?
-The public speaking triangle consists of the speaker, the message, and the audience. It emphasizes that all three elements are interconnected and that the speaker should focus on the audience’s needs as much as the message.
What common mistake do new presenters often make?
-New presenters often make the mistake of focusing too much on themselves, trying to make the audience like them, or focusing only on their own thoughts and perspectives. This approach neglects the audience's needs and interests.
What are the three key factors to consider about the audience's disposition toward a topic?
-The three key factors are interest level, knowledge, and attitude. These aspects determine how much the audience cares about the topic, how much they already know, and their existing viewpoint on the subject.
How can understanding the audience's knowledge level influence your presentation?
-Understanding the audience's knowledge level allows you to adjust the depth and complexity of your content. For an expert audience, you may skip basic explanations, while for beginners, you may need to introduce foundational concepts.
What is the role of the event organizer or supervisor in helping a speaker prepare?
-The event organizer or team supervisor can provide valuable insights into the audience's composition, interests, and expectations. This information helps the speaker tailor their message to the specific needs of the audience.
Why should you avoid delivering a generic message?
-Delivering a generic message can disengage your audience, as it may not speak to their specific needs or interests. Customizing your examples, illustrations, and references makes your message more relevant and impactful.
What are two ways to gather information about your audience before a presentation?
-Two ways to gather information are: (1) sending out questionnaires or surveys to the audience before the event, and (2) having detailed conversations with the person booking you to speak, such as the event organizer or team supervisor.
What should you do after gathering information about your audience?
-After gathering information about your audience, you should adjust your message in every possible way, including examples, tone, and delivery style, to ensure that your message is relevant, engaging, and personalized to the audience.

Outlines

00:00

🎯 Tailoring Your Message to the Audience

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of customizing your message to match the specific interests of the audience. The speaker highlights that focusing on the audience's needs is essential for effectively delivering a message. Presenters should understand the audience's background and motivation and ensure that their message answers questions like 'Why should I care?' and 'What's in it for me?'. Public speaking should center around the audience's benefits, not the speaker's desire to shine.

05:02

👥 Analyzing Audience Demographics and Interests

Here, the speaker outlines how presenters can gather basic information about their audience, such as age, gender, and group affiliations, to tailor their message. This helps speakers create content that resonates with the audience. The speaker recalls a personal experience with nurses, showing how customizing the message to fit the group’s professional background improved the effectiveness of the presentation.

📚 Understanding Audience Knowledge and Attitude

This paragraph introduces the idea of understanding the audience’s knowledge level, interest, and attitude toward the topic. These factors affect how a presenter tailors their message. The speaker discusses adjusting content to account for whether the audience is new to the subject or has prior knowledge. Additionally, knowing their attitude, especially in persuasive speeches, is crucial for guiding them from their current position (Point A) to the desired outcome (Point B).

📝 Gathering Audience Information Through Surveys and Conversations

The speaker presents two methods to gather more detailed information about an audience: questionnaires or surveys and having in-depth conversations with the event organizer. The latter is considered more effective in professional settings, allowing speakers to receive tailored insights about the audience’s interests and needs. The speaker shares an experience of customizing a workshop after having a long conversation with a point person who was organizing an event.

🔧 Fine-Tuning Your Message for Maximum Impact

In this final paragraph, the speaker stresses the importance of adjusting every part of the presentation, including examples, research, and illustrations, to ensure the message directly speaks to the audience. They share an experience of refining a workshop in collaboration with an event organizer to make sure it was perfectly suited for the attendees. The speaker closes by emphasizing that while the speaker’s expertise and passion are important, the real key is customizing the message for the audience’s benefit.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Audience-centered approach

An audience-centered approach means focusing on the audience's needs, interests, and perspectives rather than the speaker's. In the video, the speaker emphasizes tailoring the message to address 'what’s in it for them,' as the audience is there for their own benefit. By customizing the message to align with the audience's expectations, the speaker ensures the message is more engaging and effective.

💡Disposition toward the topic

The disposition toward the topic refers to the audience's attitude, interest, and knowledge about the subject being presented. Understanding these factors helps the speaker tailor their message accordingly. For example, the speaker asks whether the audience is attending voluntarily or out of obligation, which can impact how the message is delivered to maintain engagement.

💡Interest level

Interest level is the degree of attention or curiosity the audience has about the topic. If the audience is not inherently interested, the speaker may need to invest more time explaining the value of the message. For instance, the speaker suggests adjusting the message to make it more relevant to those who might be attending the presentation as part of their job rather than by choice.

💡Knowledge level

Knowledge level refers to how much the audience already knows about the subject. If the audience is unfamiliar with the topic, the speaker needs to simplify the message. Conversely, if they are experts, the speaker can dive deeper. In the video, the speaker discusses how the knowledge level influences preparation and how detailed or technical the presentation should be.

💡Attitude

The attitude of the audience refers to their current stance or opinion on the subject matter. It is important to know where the audience stands (Point A) before trying to move them toward a different perspective (Point B). The speaker in the video emphasizes understanding this before crafting a persuasive message, ensuring the audience's mindset is considered when making arguments.

💡Group affiliation

Group affiliation refers to the specific group or organization the audience is part of, which can reveal their shared values and interests. For example, speaking to a group of nurses informs the speaker about their professional concerns and priorities, allowing the message to be customized to address those specific interests.

💡Tailoring the message

Tailoring the message means customizing the content to suit the audience's characteristics, needs, and expectations. The speaker emphasizes that a successful presentation is one where examples, stories, and advice are directly relevant to the audience. For instance, the speaker recounts how they customized every part of a workshop for emerging leaders based on detailed conversations with the event organizer.

💡Speaker

The speaker is the person delivering the message, bringing their own knowledge, experience, and expertise. While the speaker's role is important, the video stresses that successful public speaking requires shifting focus away from oneself and towards the audience's needs. The speaker's message should be carefully crafted to serve the audience, rather than focusing on personal desires to impress.

💡Captive audience

A captive audience refers to a group of listeners who are required to attend a presentation or speech, rather than choosing to be there voluntarily. This is relevant because the motivation behind the audience's presence can affect their engagement and receptiveness. The speaker in the video highlights that understanding whether the audience is attending out of obligation can help in adjusting the message to better capture their attention.

💡Questionnaires and surveys

Questionnaires and surveys are tools used to gather information about the audience’s demographics, interests, and attitudes before a presentation. The speaker mentions that sending out questionnaires weeks in advance can help tailor the message by providing insights into the audience's knowledge and disposition toward the topic.

Highlights

Tailoring your message to the specific interests of the audience increases the likelihood of it hitting the target.

It's crucial to understand as much about your audience as possible before speaking.

The audience is there for their own benefits, not just to listen to the speaker.

Every audience member is subconsciously asking, 'Why should I care?' or 'What's in it for me?'

An audience-centered approach ensures your message resonates with your listeners.

Demographics like age, gender, and group affiliation offer a quick glance into who you're speaking to.

Knowing the audience’s interest, knowledge, and attitude about the topic helps shape your presentation.

Understanding whether the audience is there by choice or obligation can inform how you approach the presentation.

Tailoring your message based on what the audience already knows or doesn’t know is essential.

Recognizing the audience’s current attitude toward the topic helps guide how to persuade them effectively.

You can gather audience information through surveys or conversations with event organizers.

Having detailed conversations with the person who booked you helps in tailoring your message effectively.

Customizing your presentation ensures it doesn't sound generic but speaks directly to your audience’s needs.

Working closely with event organizers and supervisors can help refine your message for better impact.

Taking an audience-centered approach increases the likelihood that your message delivers maximum value.