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Every audience is unique, with members who have personalities, interests, and opinions all their own, and these factors will influence their responses toward a given topic, speaker, and occasion. Thus, the first task in preparing any speech is to consider the audience. Audience analysis is a systematic process of getting to know audience members’ attributes and motivations through techniques such as interviews and questionnaires (see Chapter 6). For a brief first speech, however, gather what information you can about the audience in the time allotted. Consider some demographic characteristics: ratio of males to females, age ranges, cultural background, and socioeconomic status. As you mull over topics and the different ways you might present them, think about the potential impact of these variables on audience receptivity.