Success with Audience Analysis

by Anon

As speakers, we all know the importance of properly preparing our material far enough in advance so we have sufficient time to rehearse and "fine-tune" our speeches. Unfortunately, this is not enough to assure that your speech or presentation is well received. Your preparation must also include gathering information about your audience and their needs. A well prepared speech given to the wrong audience can have the same effect as a poorly prepared speech given to the correct audience. They both can fail terribly.


Your preparation efforts must include some amount of audience analysis. The more you know and understand about your audience and their needs, the better you can prepare your speech to assure that you meet their needs.

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• Prior Preparation
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• Proper Preparation
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• Prevents Poor Performance

Nothing will relax you more than to know you are properly prepared. The stage fright or speech anxiety felt by many speakers is often due to not knowing enough about the speaking environment or audience. The more you know about your speaking environment and your audience, the more relaxed you will be when delivering your speech. Many speakers; however, often overlook the need to include any kind of audience analysis as part of their speech preparation.

Proper audience analysis will assure that you give the right speech to the right audience. Many professional speakers send their clients a multi-page questionnaire in order to gather enough information about the speaking event to properly customize their speeches. Essentially, ask them what they need and give it to them.