Audience analysis
Within any business people will have to communicate with others who have diverse backgrounds and lifestyles thus, effective communication is essential to delivering information to a diverse range of people. As society changes because of the challenging economic times effective communication skills have become vital to one’s sales techniques, proposals, meetings, and presentations. Knowing one’s audience is crucial when delivering a message, there are several factors that one must take into account. In this paper the author will discuss the different roles and characteristics of the audience, the proper communicating channels, as well some considerations to keep in mind for a diverse audience to help deliver an effective message.
When conducting an in-person meeting for quarterly sales to the stakeholders, which includes managers, salespeople, and customer’s one must take into account the varying audience and develop a strong strategy to match. Preparing for the presentation the presenter should analyze the roles and characteristics of the audience. One must collect data that will help the presentation to deliver the material at each level of understanding in an audience with varying roles. The presentation should include all relevant issues that affect the audience and adjusted to the specific audience. The roles that must be identified are the gatekeeper, primary audience, secondary audience, auxiliary audience, and watchdog audience (Locker & Kienzler, 2008).
The roles are identified so that the presenter knows that management would be the gate keeper and primary audience and would have control over the message and may take action based-on the information that is presented. The salespeople would be the secondary audience, who may ask questions and may be asked to implement ideas once approved. The customers would be the auxiliary audience as well the watchdog, who will become more informed on the core topics within the message. After establishing the roles of the audience one can break the audience down further by their characteristics to ensure the needs of the audience are met. The characteristics and diversity of the audience that the presenter should take into account are age, sex, race and ethnicity, religion, education level, income level, disabilities, as well many others. For example if one is telling a joke to liven up the meeting one should avoid jokes on race, religion, and gender. To ensure those that are in wheelchairs are not relegated to the back or to the front of the room, one could makes sure that there is adequate enough space between sitting to accommodate wheelchair users. Sales reports typically contain numerous numbers and calculation, which may overwhelm or bore the audience. Also the overuse of technical terms should be limited. The use of descriptive language should be incorporated in a presentation to ensure that the audience can understand the attended message. Although sometimes, the demographic of the audience may be irrelevant to the message when presenting to a group, there are basic considerations that should be met.
One of the most important considerations is the channels of communication. Locker and Kienzler (2008) stated “A communication channel is the means by which you convey your message.” Communication channels have different strengths and weaknesses. An in-person meeting gives face-to-face contact and allows the presenter to experience more feedback than other channels. Using a PowerPoint presentation as a communication channel is an effective way to send a message out to a broad range of audience members. A PowerPoint presentation is a way to showcase spreadsheets, calculations, graphs and charts, as well other important notes to help ensure the message is understood by the audience. One will be able to use a PowerPoint presentation channel as a method to focus on the audience.
A PowerPoint presentation gives one an opportunity to walk around and interact with the audience by asking questions and hearing suggestions, building respect, and trust among colleagues and customers. This channel of communication will provide information that will vary for the managers and customers. The managers will be able to view any problems and setbacks that may have incurred with the product either through sales or distribution as well how well the business and the salespeople are progressing toward the sales goal. Customers and the other stakeholders will be able to view the level of production and profit, losses, and expenses occurred.
After analyzing the audience beforehand to garner a good understanding of the group, giving the presentation is the next step. To start the meeting should take place in the late morning and in the middle of the week to facilitate a better evaluation (Ablongman). One should hand out appendixes or glossaries after introductions. The presenter should be concise when describing the subject of the presentation. The presenter should then disclose any qualifications that may be needed or used to garner information in the presentation. When going into detail of the sales one should break them down by the brokers, states, and store locations. Next is to cover the current sales numbers and suggestions on what may improve or is hampering the numbers. Keeping the focal point on the audience one may use the members in the audience in role playing scenarios to liven up the audience. Interacting with the audience will keep communication channels open allowing one to adjust the presentation to suit the tone of the audience. Some meetings can be long and varied; therefore providing a summary of the presentation will help revitalize the minds of the audience and may well lead to additional questions. At the end of the meeting one can ask questions as well hand out surveys to see if the audience could fully understand the intended message. For those who would prefer to speak in a private setting rather than a group setting, handing out business cards with a phone number an e-mail would be advised.
One’s role in the business depends upon effective communication within the workplace. Taking into account of one’s audience needs, roles and diversity will allow one to deliver an effective and well thought out presentation with a successful delivery of the message. An effective strategy in communication will cover the message one’s presentation is trying to convey and showcase different parts of the message adjusted to the target group. According to Suite 101 “Learning to communicate effectively can enhance an individual’s performance, fulfill his or her objectives, and get the results he or she wants.”

References
Locker K. O. & Kienzler, D. S. (2008). Chapter two: adapting your message to your audience. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved August 14, 2010 from, University of Phoenix eBook Collection database
Pearson. (n. d.). Demographic Characteristics of Your Audience. Retrieved August 14, 2010 from, http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_public_speaking_2/24/6223/1593259.cw/index.html
Eliot, G. (May 8, 2009). Tips for Effective Business Communication. Retrieved August 14, http://business-writing.suite101.com/article.cfm/tips_for_effective_business_communication