Chapter 7
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Audience adaptation
 Adapting to audience demographics
 Knowing your audiences demographics affect choices during speech
development
 Topic selection
 Will be determined by audiences interests and needs
 Demographics can help understand these
 Examples
 Demographics will also help use examples that your audience can relate to
 How many of you have ever heard of “Super Chicken”
 Language
 Culture, Sexual orientation, & diversity of audience will all play a part in
the language you use during your presentation
 Avoid Stereotyping
▪ An oversimplified picture of people different from us
▪ If you have a diverse audience be careful not to let these fall in to your
speech
▪ What are some common stereotypes people have of different
demographic groups
 Adapting to the speaking environment
 Our classroom will remain the same, but with outside opportunities
 Plan Ahead
 Where will you position yourself, how will audience be seated,
 Will you need a microphone, whiteboard, equipment, etc
 Look the part
 You should be as neat and professional as your audience
 It is better to be a more formal than audience than less formal
 Adapting to the speaking environment
 Our classroom will remain the same, but with outside opportunities
 Arrive early
 This will help you determine what adjustments, if any, are needed for your
presentation before the audience arrives
 Choose speaking style
 Size of audience often dictates speaking style
 Small groups more conversational (Sometimes seated with them)
 Large groups more formal, vocal variety, amplification
 Meeting audience expectations
 Make sure you address the content to be covered so audience will know
what to expect during speech
 Where would you identify what will be covered?
 Take questions at the end of presentation incase there are unmet
expectations you can clear up
 Anticipating audience will help to customize your speech
for that specific audience
 Benefits of audience analysis and adaptation
 Maintain high levels of interest
 By including content appropriate for that audience
 Achieve speech goal & Meet expectations
 By understanding what the audience wants and needs and focusing on
that during development
 Benefits of audience analysis and adaptation
 Handle adversarial audiences
 Knowing you will have opposition (controversial topics) will help prepare
for negative or angry audience members
 Avoid embarrassing subjects or remarks
 Knowing the make up of your audience will help prevent you from saying
offensive or insulting comments during your presentation
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Read non verbal cues
▪ Eye contact
▪ Indicates engagement & listening
▪ Facial expressions
▪ Varies based on expressive nature of culture
▪ Movement
▪ Indicates lack of interest
 Squirming, shuffling, etc.
 Read non verbal cues
▪ Nonverbal responsiveness
▪ Applauses, nods, etc.
▪ Indicates interest & support
▪ Lack of indicates disinterest
▪ Verbal responsiveness
▪ Shout outs
▪ Whispers to neighbors around them
 Respond to nonverbal cues
▪ Inattentive or bored audiences
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Tell a story
Use relatable example
Reinforce importance of message
Eliminate abstract facts/stats
Use humor (make sure it’s appropriate)
 Respond to nonverbal cues
▪ Inattentive or bored audiences
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Use direct references to audience
Audience interaction (Ask Questions)
Engage audience (Show of hands)
Speed up pace or pause for drama
 Adapting to confused audiences
▪ Be more redundant, repeat key points
▪ Rephrase info or use an example
▪ Use a visual aid
 Adapting to confused audiences
▪ Adjust rate/tempo (if speaking fast)
▪ Ask for feedback (to find what’s unclear)
▪ Ask someone to summarize key points
 Adjusting to disagreeable audiences
▪ Offer more data/evidence
▪ Reinforce your credibility
▪ Less stories, more facts
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Customize message to audience
▪ Refer to
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Audience members by name
City/community where speaking
Significant event on day of speech
Recent or local news events
A group or organization
▪ Find ways to apply facts, stats & examples to audience
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Adapt to diverse listeners
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Individualistic/collectivistic listeners
High or low context
High or low need for certainty
High or low power
Long-Term/Short term