gathering information about your Audience 6.2 99
Gathering Information Informally
The simplest way to gather information about your audience members infor-
mally is just to observe them and ask questions before you speak. Informal
observations can be especially important in helping you to assess obvious dem-
ographic characteristics. Demographics are statistical information about char-
acteristics such as age, race, gender, sexual orientation, educational level, and
ideological or religious views of a population such as an audience. For example,
you can make some inferences from their appearance about how many members
of your audience are male or female, as well as about their ethnic or cultural
traits and approximate age.
If, for example, you were going to address a meeting of your local PTA about
a new business you were opening to help students and parents develop science
projects, you could attend a meeting before your speaking date. You might note
the general percentage of men and women in the audience and the ages of the
parents who attended. You could also ask whether most parents who show up
for PTA meetings are parents of elementary, middle-school, or high-school stu-
dents. Knowing these key pieces of information would help you to tailor your
speech so that it will address your listeners’ interests.
You could also talk with people who know something about the audience
you will be addressing. If you are invited to speak to a group you have not spo-
ken to before, ask the person who invited you some general questions about
the audience members: What is their average age? What are their political af-
filiations? What are their religious beliefs? What are their attitudes toward your
topic? Try to get as much information as possible about your audience before
you give your speech.
Gathering Information Formally
Rather than rely only on inferences drawn from casual observation and conver-
sations with others, you may, if time and resources permit, want to conduct a
more formal survey of your listeners. A survey allows you to gather both demo-
graphic information, as shown in Figure 6.2, and information about what audi-
ence members like or dislike, believe to be true or false, or think is good or bad
about the topic or issues you will discuss, as shown in Figure 6.3.
If your topic is the best approach to finding a rental apartment in your area,
for example, use demographic questions to find out how many members of your
audience own a home and how many are currently living in an apartment. You
might also ask how they found their current apartment, how many are now
searching for an apartment, and how many anticipate searching for one. An-
swers to these questions can give you useful information about your audience
and may also provide examples to use in your presentation. Whatever informa-
tion you want to gather, you will need to develop a carefully written survey or
questionnaire. We offer some survey writing tips in the How To box.