Audience Analysis Paper

Communication in a business meeting is very important. Communication must be clear, complete, correct, and well organized. There may be a situation in which the speaker is called on to present quarterly sales information at an in-person meeting to a group of stakeholders, including managers, salespeople, and customers. The speaker will need to know the characteristics of the audience they are speaking to, what communication channels are appropriate, what are some considerations to keep in mind given the diversity of the audience, and how to ensure his or her message is effective.

The speaker holding the presentation of the quarterly sales information must understand the characteristics of their audience. In this situation they are meeting with a variety of people. The first step the speaker should take is to identify their audience. A gatekeeper is a person in the audience that has the power to interrupt the speaker’s message. The gatekeeper has the ability to decide whether the speaker even has a change to give their presentation to the primary audience. The primary audience is the part that will determine whether to accept the speaker’s presentation and recommendations. The primary audience must be reached and effectively understand the message for it to be acted upon. The secondary audience may be asked to implement the speaker’s ideas after they have been accepted. The auxiliary audience will not have to interact with the speaker’s ideas but may be encountered by the message. The watchdog audience does not have the ability to discontinue the speaker’s ideas. This audience pays close attention to the transaction between the speaker and the primary audience (Kienzler & Locker, 2008).

While conducting the presentation they should touch upon different sections of the quarterly sales that would pertain to each different audience member. To also make the presentation more suitable for all audience members, the speaker should use a power point presentation that...