90% of your performance success depends on thorough preparation. Careful preparation is sensible, it charms the audience and makes them open. In addition, it makes you more confident, so you can stand up much more bravely.
However, comprehensive preparation means not only going deep into details in a certain topic, but it is also required to analyze the audience in advance. We have collected some useful advice on how to analyze an audience!
Get to know your audience!
Act like a market researcher. Think about your audience, try to understand them. Who are they really? If you want to make an impact, it’s essential to get to know them well. Obviously, it is not possible to meet the expectations of every member of the audience but think about the general characteristics of the audience and prepare accordingly.
The most important aspects to be considered
Age group: Think about the average age and the possible range of age of your audience. Who will attend your lecture? Only young people in their 20s, or perhaps many people of the older generation, as well? Young audience will have other level of knowledge, tolerance, different upbringing, and even different vocabulary. Think about how you want to address them. Will your presentation be understandable for all participants? It is not sure that each metaphor is familiar to all ages, or if you are presenting to a narrow age range of audience, try to adjust your examples to them.
Gender: Have you ever felt that men and women interpret thoughts or conversations differently? It’s the same with lectures. Think it over whether women or men will be present mostly and create examples and ideas accordingly.
Income: income, and therefore money plays an extremely important role in our lives. Almost all presentations can be related to money in some way, so it is very important to refer to money in such a way that it can have an emotional impact on the audience. Do you know how much your audience earns? Are there poorer and wealthier people among them? Find out beforehand how they earn money and what affects the amount of their money.
Educational background: Information on the educational background can be important when choosing examples and vocabulary. What qualification is typical in your audience? Primary, secondary, vocational school, university or higher education? Did they graduate in arts & humanities or natural sciences? All these facts can determine how deep you need to go into professional details during your presentation. There is nothing more difficult than when the target audience does not have the necessary basic knowledge to understand you, so you have to choose the appropriate wording.
Profession: You should basically know how your listeners earn their living. This may have influence on not only the examples but addressing as well. For example, lawyers, attorneys, doctors tend to be more reserved and distant, whereas the audience in a business or sports presentation is likely to be more direct – and they will probably expect the same from you.
Marital status: For an adult audience, it is worth knowing their marital status. Are they married, single, divorced or widowed? What is the ratio between these groups? Do the majority have children? What is the target audience of your presentation? Do the examples you mention, and the possible jokes aim at parents with small children or young people, whose daily lives revolve around relationships and parties?
Knowledgeability you must have been in a situation when a performance was just a repetition not only for you but for the rest of the audience also. In such cases a speaker needs to anticipate in advance how much knowledge the audience has about the topic. Are they beginners, advanced learners or already professionals? This will determine how abstract your presentation can be, or how much you need to simplify your speech, or go back to basics.
Way of thinking: Understand the emotions and motivations of your audience and it makes connection easier. How? Ask them!
- What are their aims and ambitions?
- What are their fears and hopes in connection with a specific topic?
- What needs are met during the performance?
- What are their values? What do they believe in?
- What political views do they hold?
- What do they think about religion, what religious denomination do they belong to?
- Why are they worried, what problems do they have?
Shared ideas: It is also important to know if there is a common goal or idea that makes your audience listen to you. By focusing on this fact, you can achieve undivided attention. Is it perhaps an entrepreneurship training where the participants want to be entrepreneurs? Or is it a TEDx talk, where the participants want to listen to a thought-provoking presentation? Or do they want to meet like-minded people? These all can have an impact on how you treat your audience.
Local context: find out what’s happening in the city where you are giving a talk. Has the local sports team won or lost in the last few days? Have there been any highlights or events? It is important to be aware of this in advance and break the silence during your presentation. Otherwise, the audience will treat you like an outsider or stranger. With up-to-date news and information, it is always easier to keep attention.
+1 bonus: If you’re speaking in front of a particular profession or association, check the local circumstances. What are the market opportunities, is the sector growing or declining, what are the affecting political trends? Were there any changes in the life of the institution or company recently? By keeping this in mind, you can better adapt to your audience.
