To develop your audience analysis, ask basic questions about your audience, and keep the answers to those questions in mind (or in written notes) while preparing your speech. For example, let’s say you’re planning a classroom speech. You’ll want to make informal observations about your listeners: What’s the ratio of men to women? The age ranges? You’ve probably learned things about your classmates through class activities and discussions, other speech assignments, or any profiles posted to a class Web site. You can also informally poll your class: “How many of you have hiked Copperhead Trail?” Sometimes you can distribute a written or an online questionnaire to identify your listeners’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about your topic.

Analyzing a non-classroom audience is trickier. You can briefly interview the person who asked you to make the presentation, to get his or her sense of the audience’s demographics; their attitudes, beliefs, and values; and their existing knowledge. You can also ask the person the following questions: What’s the purpose of the meeting or event? How many people will attend? Are they required to attend? What other speakers or topics have the group heard recently? What is the group expecting to gain from my presentation? Are there specific needs or challenges you want me to address in my speech? Getting answers to these inquiries will help you narrow your speech topic and determine what content to cover.