Last updated on Jun 11, 2024

What are some of the best tools or methods for audience analysis?

Audience analysis is a crucial step in speech writing, as it helps you tailor your message, tone, and style to the needs, interests, and expectations of your listeners. But how do you conduct an effective audience analysis? What are some of the best tools or methods to gather and use relevant information about your audience? In this article, we will explore four common and useful ways to analyze your audience before, during, and after your speech.

Key takeaways from this article

Capture audience reactions:

Recording videos of speeches lets you directly observe audience engagement and reactions, offering invaluable feedback for refining your message and delivery.
Empathize with your audience:

When crafting a speech, emphasize how your topic relates to the audience's values and experiences. It creates a powerful connection, ensuring your message resonates deeply.

This summary is powered by AI and these experts

1 Surveys and interviews

One of the most direct and reliable ways to collect data about your audience is to ask them questions through surveys and interviews. Surveys are useful for reaching a large and diverse group of people, while interviews are more suitable for getting in-depth and personal insights from a smaller and more specific sample. You can use surveys and interviews to find out about your audience's demographics, attitudes, values, beliefs, knowledge, expectations, and preferences related to your speech topic and purpose.

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2 Observation and participation

Another way to learn about your audience is to observe and participate in their social and cultural contexts. Observation involves watching and listening to how your audience behaves, communicates, and interacts in different situations and settings. Participation involves joining and engaging with your audience in their activities, events, and conversations. You can use observation and participation to discover your audience's norms, customs, interests, challenges, goals, and needs related to your speech topic and purpose.

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Ernesto Abud

Keynote Speaker on Intercultural Intelligence, Global Leadership, and Risk-Tolerant Cultures. TEDx, Author, and Founder of HalfNomads, training leaders to thrive globally.
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Definitely, the primary goal of the speaker is to break down barriers and make the audience laugh. If this happens at the beginning of the speech, the subsequent content will be easier for them to remember.

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3 Feedback and evaluation

A third way to analyze your audience is to solicit and assess their feedback and evaluation of your speech. Feedback is the verbal and nonverbal responses that your audience gives you during and after your speech, such as applause, questions, comments, facial expressions, and body language. Evaluation is the formal and systematic measurement of your audience's satisfaction, learning, and behavior change as a result of your speech, such as ratings, tests, surveys, and interviews. You can use feedback and evaluation to measure your audience's engagement, comprehension, retention, and action related to your speech topic and purpose.

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4 Online tools and resources

A fourth way to analyze your audience is to use online tools and resources that provide useful and relevant data and information about your audience. Online tools and resources include social media platforms, web analytics, search engines, online databases, and online communities. You can use online tools and resources to access your audience's profiles, preferences, behaviors, opinions, questions, and trends related to your speech topic and purpose.

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Michael Gladkoff ðŸ“šâœï¸ðŸŽ™ï¸

Copywriter, Speechwriter, Editor, Speaker and Trainer | Persuasion Professor | Author of two books on persuasive communication: Speech Power and Speaking For Freedom
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A good place to start is the organisationâ€™s website. This resource can help you learn about your audience and find ways to connect with them. Learn about their beliefs, challenges and goals. Even something as simple as a mission statement or a slogan can be a connection point. For example, in Alexander Solzhenitsynâ€™s Harvard Commencement Address (A World Split Apart) in 1975, he connected the universityâ€™s motto to a theme of his speech. "Harvardâ€™s motto is â€˜Veritas.â€™ Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us as soon as our concentration begins to flag, all the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to pursue it. This is the source of much discord."

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5 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that donâ€™t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Jonathan Brill

Business Futurist | AI Keynote Speaker | Executive Chairman @ Center for Radical Change
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Shoot video of talks. Both of the speaker and the audience. There's nothing better than actually tracking audience reactions.

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Amanda Krumins

Executive Director of Communications & Connections, Explore Edmonton
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The biggest thing to remember when writing a speech is: the audience wants to hear about themselves. They don't really care about what you are saying unless you can tell the story about why they (specifically) should care. Speakers should demonstrate empathy and play up common ground and connections. The more you can connect the message you are truing to get across to the values, concerns, ambitons or doubts of the audience, the more your message will connect and make an impact.

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What are some of the best tools or methods for audience analysis?

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1 Surveys and interviews

2 Observation and participation

3 Feedback and evaluation

4 Online tools and resources

5 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

Speech Writing

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