Public Speaking

Analyze Your Audience (^71)
member’s demographic characteristics become more salient (significant or relevant) in
some situations than in others.^13
For instance, no one is simply a “twenty something” or a “Cuban American” or
“gay,” but these characteristics are all elements of the person’s identity. A young Cuban
American may find that his identity as a gay man takes prominence in some contexts,
whereas being twenty something or ethnically Cuban is more salient in others. The best
advice is to consider your listeners’ demographic characteristics in light of the topic and
your specific speaking situation. How might membership in various categories influence
their responses to your topic and your goal, given the speech situation? Let’s briefly look
at some common categories.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity refers to a group’s common heritage and cultural traditions, usually national
or religious in origin; it’s often linked to language and dialects.^14 Ethnicity differs from
race, which is a culturally constructed social category that categorizes people by such
physical traits as skin color or facial features. These concepts are complex, however,
because the criteria for grouping people into ethnic or racial categories is neither well
defined nor universally accepted.^15 In addition, millions of people have mixed back-
grounds.^16 President Obama’s father was African, his mother was an American with Irish
ancestors. Faulty as social categories are, being classified as Latino or Asian or African
American can have real consequences on the life experiences and opportunities available
to an individual.^17
Religion
A single audience can represent a range of religious commitment from nonbelief to
spiritual but not “religious”—from faith that’s peripheral to one’s identity to believers
whose religion is a central factor in daily decision making. Because religion often evokes
deep emotions, negative comments about a particular group’s sacred texts, heroes, or
rituals can create intense reactions—even among people who hold their affiliation
loosely. Be sensitive to ways that religious commitment (or lack thereof) can affect a
listener’s response to you and your topic.
Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Relationship
Status, and Sexual Expression
These categories are not simply the “M for male” and “F for female” or the “single,
married, divorced, partnered, or widowed” boxes that show up in demographic surveys.
The biological category of sex is not the same as gender, which refers to culturally con-
structed concepts about what is feminine, masculine, or androgynous (not specifically
masculine or feminine). Audience members also vary in their sexual orientation and
their sexual expression. They may be in a relationship or not. Some are sexually active;
others are not. Some are heterosexual; others are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered,
or questioning their orientation. For some topics and in some contexts, categories relat-
ing to sexuality become highly salient.
Age
Not surprisingly, age affects listeners’ motivations and concerns. Demographers identify
several general groups: mature Americans, baby boomers, Generation Xers, Generation
Yers or millennials, and the newest “iGeneration” (Internet or individualized genera-
tion) sometimes called the Digital Generation, who use technology in ways previous
generations never dreamed possible.^18 An era’s history, culture, and technology offers
each cohort different perspectives and goals.^19 Most traditional college students are mil-
lennials or iGeneration members; most professors are baby boomers or Gen Xers.^20
Although generational gaps can obviously be large, even minor age differences can play
salient relevant or
significant
ethnicity heritage and
cultural traditions, usually
stemming from national and
religious backgrounds
race category, often associ-
ated with stereotypes, based
on physical characteristics
social category culturally
constructed category such as
race or gender
sex biological categories of
male and female
gender clusters of traits
culturally labeled as
masculine, feminine, or
androgynous
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