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Before your speech
During your speech
After your speech
Demographic
Psychographic
Audience Needs
 Environmental Analysis
 Questionnaires & Interviews
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Demographic Analysis
 Age
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Aristotle noted more than 2,000 years ago that few
things affect a person's outlook more than his or her
age.
Gender/Sexual Orientation
Culture
Religion
Education
Income
Vocation
An attitude defines what a person likes or
dislikes. When you choose a topic, it is important
to find out your audience's attitudes toward the
subject. If you are doing a speech on rap, does
your audience like rap.
 A belief is what you believe to be true or false.
You may believe that rap is destroying the minds
of young teenagers.
 And a value is "a person's beliefs or standards."
You may value the future and the young minds
that will be running the future.
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What are the audience's beliefs,
and attitudes, toward the topic?
 What are the relevant audience values
and motives in regard to this topic?
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The most popular psychographic
measurement
Classifies individuals into eight groups based
on personality traits and key demographics
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Strengthen the audience’s initial feelings and
motivate them to act on those feelings.
Include and emphasize your action step.
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Provide a lot of information in support of your
specific purpose.
Optional action step (based on feedback)
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Stress the importance of the topic and relate
it to the interests of the audience.
Provide information in your favor.
Emphasize your justification device.
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Provide background information about your
topic.
Then, treat audience as neutral.
Optional action step (based on audience
feedback)
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Emphasize your credibility.
Identify audience opinions and validate their
beliefs.
Connect audience beliefs to your proposal.
Do not reveal your specific purpose at the
outset; build up to it.
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
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Seating arrangement
Number of people likely to attend
Room lighting
These factors effect how audiences will
respond to your speech and talk with one
another. What type of environment
encourages/discourages audience
discussion?
How many will be in the audience?
How will the seating be arranged?
Will there be a podium? a microphone?
 Will there be noise and distractions?
 Will I have access to A.V. equipment?
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Questionnaires
 Interviewing
 Open ended and closed ended questions
Examples:
 What are your feelings about high school
nurses distributing free condoms?
 Do you think the school nurses should be able
to distribute condoms to students? Circle Yes or
No.
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Nonverbal Clues (of disinterest/boredom)
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Eye contact
Facial expressions
Restless movement/fidgeting
Nonverbal responsiveness (nodding,
laughing, etc.)
Verbal responsiveness
How to Respond
 Talk more to the audience
 Tell a story/use an example
 Eliminate boring facts/statistics
 Use humor
 Pause for dramatic effect
 Ask for feedback or ask questions
 Remind your listeners of the
justification/motivation
Nonverbal Responses examples:
 Did the audience applaud? Yes or No
 How did they applaud? Loud or Soft
 What kind of facial expressions did they have? Smiling
or Nodding
Verbal Responses - What did the audience say to you
after the speech?
 "Good job!"
 "That was really interesting?"
 "I have a question about . ."
Survey Responses - Conduct a survey and find out
what people liked or learned about your speech.
This will allow you to gauge your listening
results.
Behavioral Responses - If your purpose was to
persuade your audience to do something, their
behavior after the speech can tell you if you did,
in fact, persuade them. If you were persuading
your audience to vote at the next election, you
could ask around to see how many people did
actually vote.