Links for Chapter 5:    Audience-Focused Speaking

Analyzing Your Audience

As you begin to analyze your speaking situation, you may wish to find out specific demographics for your region. For a wide variety of information about the inhabitants of your county, state, or region, visit the American FactFinder section of the U.S. Census Bureau.

You may wish to search your college or university webpages for basic demographic data about students at your school. Is your school culturally diverse? What cultural issues might influence your creation of messages for your audience?

Psychographics such as values and beliefs are a bit more difficult to discern. SRI Consulting Firm uses the VALS survey to help businesses target their products more successfully. Read their discussion of VALS at their Web site. As you will see, the survey offers questions similar to ones you might wish to ask prior to a speech to learn more about your immediate audience. Consider creating your own simple survey to find out more about your audience.

Probably the most famous source of public opinion data is the Gallup Poll. Use the Web site’s Search function to see if there are any recent survey results that are relevant to your speech topic.

For more information . . . To read more about Carolyn McCarthy and her continuing work on gun control, go to her official homepage. At the bottom of the page, is a link to contact information for all of the members of the House of Representatives.

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