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INGL-3250, Chapter 5
27
Adapting to your Audience
Delmarie M. Rivera Rodríguez, Saul A. Sandoval Rodríguez, Jorge Ramos, Adriana T. Borges, Anmary L. Elías Rodríguez
Analyzing demographics
Demographics are important when presenting a speech as it may help you obtain your audience’s attention, avoid uncomfortable scenarios, and deal with diversity accordingly.
Understanding Audience demographics
Consider:
Motives
Attitudes
Relevant beliefs
Values
Age
AGE:
An important demographic to take into consideration as different age groups have different maturity levels and may respond to information differently.
Young listeners
Prime of age listeners
Older listeners
- Tend to be more idealistic
- Willing to consider new ideas and views
- Set in their ways
- Concerned with maintaining the social order and comfortable existence
- Confident, yet cautious
- Judge by facts
- Willing to consider new ideas in a critical yet constructive way
Gender
Gender
Although theories remain controversial, there are slight differences in communication styles between men and women and what they perceive.
Men
Gender today
Women
More competitive communicative behaviors
Maintain social connections
Nurture mutual growth and self-discovery
Concerned with winning arguments
Gender norms and women's rights are constantly changing. You MUST be careful and use the most current demographic information possible.
Willing to accommodate contrasting positions
Exert control when different situations arise in the topic
Tend to be more liberal, support spending increase in education, worry about the environment and accept gay rights.
Education
The education level of your listeners tends to be a good indicator of their knowledge and how you should address your topic.
Advanced level of education
Basic level of education
Education
- Skip a brief explanation as they may know basic topics
- Tend to be a bit more informed and interested in current affairs
- More tolerant of differing cultures and lifestyles
- More critical and demanding
- May question credibility of your presentation
- Skip jargon
- Provide brief explanation of terms and concepts that you will be using
- Be careful when explaining new concepts, as they tend to be biased.
Sociocultural background
Sociocultural background
Represents broad category that can include everything from geographical residence to racial, ethnic or national identity, to economic status or class. It is important to be updated in order to understand our audience.
People tend to have different cultures, experiences and points of view that can become a challenge when expressing something new. Be respectful.
Accept diversity
Be careful with stereotypes. There are many stereotypes that may cloud our judgement. Face these accordingly.
Be careful with stereotypes.
Try to find similarities between you and your audience even when it seems you may have not much in common.
Look for common grounds in order to engage the audience.
Group Affiliations
The group people belong to often reflects their
Interests
Attitudes
Values
Occupational groups:
How much the audience knows about a topic
Occupational groups
What they find to be a credible authority when it comes to references.
Political groups
Morals and ideological conviction
Consider while developing speeches on controversial issues
Be cautious about attributing too much political affiliation
Political groups
Religious
groups
Religion underlies many of our social and cultural attitudes and values.
Religious groups
CAN'T assume an individual will embrace all of the teachings of that religion
Social groups
knowing the social group of the audience is important for effective audience adaptation.
Social
groups
People tend to make known their social groups
AUDIENCE DYNAMICS
Understanding audience dynamics
Refers to the beliefs, attitudes, values and motives that shape the listeners behavior.
Understanding these dynamics can help you prepare to choose a topic, purpose and message, choose appeals, decide who to cite, and determine which examples to use so that you can get your point accross.
BELIEFS
Beliefs express what we know or think we know about a subject
BELIEFS
Information about the listeners beliefs suggest what to add to the speech or what to refrain to the audience
ATTITUDES
Attitudes are feelings and dispositions that are directed to a given subject
These are better indicators to see if the listener is open minded on the subject
ATTITUDES
To connect with your audience, it is better to establish common ground than differences. Limit your objectives
Values are moral principles we live by that suggest how we should behave or believe.
VALUES
It is better to reason from values that are shared, instead of different ones.
As they are more resistant to change, it is better to not make it your mission to change the listeners values.
M TIVES
MOTIVES
- Motives are psychological needs and desires, impulses that one feels toward a goal, something or someone
- Studies:
- Henry Murray and his colleagues at Harvard did a study in 1930 that said that people have more than 25 needs
- Maslow argued that lower-level and security needs must be satisfied before higher-level for belonging, esteem come to play.
MOTIVES
Safety and security -> need to feel free from threats. this is used. This is used to arouse a sense of fear (problematic when refering to a stereotype group)
Physical well-being -> need for food, water, clean air, sleep, and comfortableness. This is mostly used in adds for weightloss or gymnasiums.
Undestanding -> need to understand the world and answer curiosities. Used to explain how something works; what technology is good for what field.
Rational needs -> need for affection, companionship, acceptance and support from others. Used by dating sites, shows/movies, etc.
Achievement and recognition -> need to be succesfull and want recognition for their achievements. This is used by motivational speakers with compliments to have a more receptive message
Personal growth and satisfaction -> need to feel that one is developing inner potential. May vary from person to person. usually seen in advertising and motivational speaking.
Pleasure and recreation -> need to have fun and pleasure. can be seen in advertising (bars, outside activities, etc.)
Tradition -> need for sense of roots. Form of persuasive arguments to achieve a connection with the audience.
Altruism -> need to derive inner satisfaction from feeling helpful towards others. different cultures prioritize this in different ways.
GATHERING INFORMATION ABOUT AUDIENCE DYNAMICS
GATHERING INFO
You can give a customized survey to find out how your listeners feel about the topic and what they know about it.
Some guidelines:
simple sentences
clear, concrete language
keep questions short
keep personal biases out of questions
keep survey short
provide room for additional comments.
AUDIENCE DIVERSITY
You will at some point address a diverse group of people, to give effective speeches in these cases you need to know about their cultural backgrounds, invoke shared values, choose words carefully and avoid stereotypes.
Rewards and challenges of audience diversity
AUDIENCE CULTURES
Become Familiar with Audience Cultures
Reaching out to those of a certain culture can help you become more familiar with the culture.
#2
#1
A way to do this is attending events representing these groups (minorities, religious groups)
Getting acquainted with the group to get advice on what to say and what to avoid.
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
Use Supporting Materials Skillfully
Different audiences find different supporting materials convincing.
Some might value the voices of elders or religious leaders, some by stories and some by facts.
If uncertain, use a variety of supporting materials: Facts and expert opinions, quotations from authorities the listeners respect and using stories.
Narratives are important. People are drawn to storytelling no matter the culture. Use these stories to bring groups together.
SHARED VALUES
Speak from Shared Values
Focus on the things you share and not on the differences.
Obama in a speech in 2004 that is known as "The Speech that Made Obama President", he uses shared values.
CHOOSE WORDS CAREFULLY
To establish common ground, it is important to use inclusive language such as we and our instead of them and their.
Be aware that not everyone is familiar with your topic, so be sure to clarify and amplify important ideas.
Choose Your Words Carefully
Avoid slang and colloquialisms as others not fluent in English might not be familiar with them.
Don’t copy the communication style of other cultures. If using a different language, use correct pronunciation
Avoid Rhetorical Land Mines
These can explode your efforts to communicate with diverse audiences
RHETORICAL LANDMINES
STEREOTYPES
STEREOTYPES
1
Don’t use any type of stereotypes of any group, even seemingly benign ones.
2
This makes it though the audience is being addressed as a group and not as individuals. Respect individuality.
3
Critical listeners will detect stereotypes and can reject you and your message.
ETHNOCENTRISM
ETHNOCENTRISM
1
Believing your own culture is the superior one can be problematic when it starts to derogate others.
2
Recognize your own ethnocentrism's that can make you underestimate other cultures.
3
Show respect for the humanity of all people, and recognize that this common humanity transcends both race and culture.
SEXISM
SEXISM
Gender stereotyping, making broad generalizations about men or women.
Problematic when gender stereotyping suggests one gender is superior to another, justifying discrimination.
Avoid sexist language such as unnecessary references to gender like “male nurse”.
RACISM
RACISM
Pay attention to racial stereotypes and racist language that can suggest negative assumptions about racial groups. Examine your own biases.
Example of “protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods."
Avoid symbolic racism that is expressed in indirect forms.
Adjusting to the Speaking Situation:
Occasion, physical and psychological settings are all things to be considered when analyzing the speaking situation
Adjusting to the speaking situation
Occasion
-Consider the audience's expectations as this will affect your choice of topic.
-When attendance is mandatory it is important to turn a captive audience into an enthusiastic one
-Do not betray the audience's expectations as this will make the message fail
Physical Setting
Includes:
-places
-time
-audience size
Place
-Be familiar with the setting of the speech
-Locations have a huge impact on the speech. These can restrict access to certain aids
-Preparing for this can reduce speaker anxiety
Place
Time
-Time of day, month, year or time allotted to the speech all have an effect on the speech
-Dynamics help reach audiences that may be less receptive such as early morning crowds
-Shorter time slots demand more streamlined messages and more impactful introductions and conclusions
Time
Audience Size
-Smaller audiences allow more casual presentations due to audience interactions
-Larger audiences demand more formality
- It is beneficial to have designated audience members for eye contact
-Visual aids, voice and energy must be enlargened to reach further back listeners
Audience Size
Psychological Setting
-Can be influenced by recent speeches or events
Psychological Setting
Recent Speeches
-Have a tuning effect on the audience
-Can require last minute adjustments to speech such as introductory tone
-When presenting opposing viewpoints to previous speakers, acknowledging the arguments in a respectful manner is important
Recent Speeches
Recent Events
-Citing recent events ads urgency and timeliness to message
-Failing to acknowledge certain recent events may be detrimental in certain cases