Surveys and interviews are two effective methods of obtaining information about your audience. But you may not always have the chance to communicate with audience members before you speak. If this is the case, you will need to rely on less direct methods to learn about your audience. Ask yourself why your audience will be attending the speech. If your talk will occur during a class, you already know several things: you have a captive audience, your status as a student provides you with obvious common ground, and you share some background with your audience in the academic discipline of the course. If you are a member of the College Republicans and are asked to participate in a debate at the College Democrats club, you would likely find a hostile audience. Those attending would be there voluntarily and would thus be free to leave at any time. Nevertheless, politics would be a major interest to your audience, and the fact that both you and your audience participate in political clubs on campus would give you some common ground.

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Finally, consider seeking out literature about your audience members. If they belong to an organization, they may have pamphlets or brochures that they distribute, or there may be articles (online or published), Web sites, or even books written about them.