Audience Analysis:
A Guide for Speakers
To learn more, see:
sixminutes.dlugan.com/audience-analysis
Primary dimensions of audience analysis:
 Demographic Analysis Who is in your audience? What are their individual and group characteristics?
 Psychological Analysis What does your audience know and believe? What do they think about your topic?
 Contextual Analysis When and where are you presenting? Why is this audience listening to you?
Remember: Don’t be disappointed if few criteria yield useful insights. Even one content tweak to align with your audience may make your message more impactful.
Criteria
Analyze your audience
To align with your audience, how can you enhance your content?
Demographic Analysis
How old are they?
Men? Women? Mixed?
Race, culture, or ethnicity?
Primary language?
Profession?
Religion?
Educational level?
Organizational membership?
Personality type?
Other relevant qualities? e.g. marital status, avid readers, cell-phone users, marathon runners
Homogenous or heterogeneous audience?
Size of audience?
Key similarities or differences with you?
Peers? Superiors? Subordinates?
Audience Analysis:
A Guide for Speakers
To learn more, see:
sixminutes.dlugan.com/audience-analysis
Criteria
Analyze your audience
To align with your audience, how can you enhance your content?
Psychological Analysis
What do they know about your topic? What don’t they know?
What do they want to know? What do they need to know?
What specialized terminology are they familiar with?
What concepts, processes, or tools are they familiar with?
Do some in audience know more about the topic than you?
Are they neutral, or do they agree with or oppose your message?
What are the most important values to the audience? (Values of their organization?)
What problems do they have?
Contextual Analysis
Is their attendance voluntary or mandatory?
What have they been through in recent days or weeks?
What style of presentation does the audience expect?
What are people wearing?
What time of day are you speaking?
What distractions exist in the room (or elsewhere) for you to contend with?