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Audience & Purpose

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16 views8 pages

Audience & Purpose

Uploaded by

bandilemiya083
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AUDIENCE AND

PURPOSE
UNIT
Audience and Purpose

Audience refers to the receiver of the message. It is important


to ensure that your message will be understood by your
audience. These are some of the questions you may ask
yourself regarding your audience:

 Who is my audience?
What are the relevant characteristics of my audience? Below are the characteristics of your audience:

Level of knowledge of the topic

Audiences vary. Some may have more knowledge while others have less knowledge of the subject. In the case
where your audience lacks enough knowledge of the topic, you may need to makes examples that they
understand.

Level of Education

Your speech should be in line with the audiences’ level of education.

Status

Status refers to the role each member of the audience holds in the community. For stance, consider if your
audience has power to make some decisions. You may also need to look at your relationship with your audience.
This will determine if you will use formal or informal style of communication.
Social variables

These include:

 age

 gender

 nationality/ culture

 mother tongue

 social/ political/ religious beliefs.

Size

The number of your audience will help decide on the medium to use. Speaking to a small group of about 10 people may be
different to addressing a 200 people. Writing to one person may not be the same as sending an email to many people. For
instance, the latter may require of you to use formal style of writing. It is always best to communicate formally with a large
group pf people.
Relationship with the organization

This refers to whether the audience is part of your organisation or the


outside organization.

Attitudes and perceptions

This is where as the communicator you are expected to put yourself in


the shoes of your audience. In other words, you need to be sensitive to
your audience in terms of their needs.
Below are questions that may further assist you in understanding your audience:

 Who is my audience?

 What does my audience already know about the subject?

 What does my audience need to know about the subject?

 What will appeal to my audience?

 What may annoy or provoke my audience?

 How can I present this information in a manner that my audience will understand?

 What should the audience do with the information?


6.2 Purpose

Make sure you are clear with what you want to achieve or communicate then be
straight to the point.

Below are various purposes you may want to achieve:

 To give information – the seminar on Business Communication will be 20 April


2020

 To request information – about the seminar on 20 April 2020

 To persuade – by creating a positive image of yourself or organisation.


Objective and subjective language

Objective language is when facts are stated. Subjective language is when emotive
language (Language that appeals to people’s feelings) in order to persuade people to
either buy a product or agree with your point. Opinions are often used in such
communication.

A debate

This form of communication requires that as a speaker, you use both facts (statistics,
research and public knowledge) and opinion as the main aim is to let the audience
(even your opponents) see your side of the story.

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