Summary

In this chapter, we have provided the tools to analyze your audience and adapt your speech goals, both long and short term, to the audience and the situation. Here, we recap the four major areas to consider.

Analyze your audience in terms of cultural variables:

• power distance
• collectivism versus individualism
• femininity versus masculinity
• uncertainty avoidance
• long-term orientation versus short-term orientation

Analyze your audience in terms of demographic characteristics:

• age
• gender
• ethnicity
• geographic origin
• socioeconomic status
• occupation
• religion
• language usage

Analyze your audience in terms of individual diversity, including their:

• knowledge
• beliefs
• attitudes
• values
• motives
• expectations

Adapt your goals to the audience and the total rhetorical situation. Consider the following constraints:

• facts
• legal constraints
• ethical constraints
• nature of the occasion
• traditions
• time
• resources