Discussion Question: When preparing an oral presentation, why is it important to analyze the audience?

Instructions

1. Answers to discussion questions should be no less than 200 or more than 300 words.

2. In addition to material from the textbook, students should seek additional scholarly sources of information to enhance their discussion question response. A minimum of two (2) outside sources of information must be used. The textbook may not be considered an outside source of information. Please see Section VII of the Syllabus, Obtaining Information, for directions on use of outside sources.

3. All quotations and paraphrases used must be properly cited, including information from the textbook. The student should also include a list of references for the citations used.

4. The format for citations and references must conform to the format specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Six Edition (commonly referred to as the APA).

5. In addition to posting their answer to the discussion question, students are required to reply to at least two (2) other student’s responses. Responses to other student’s posts are expected to be well-thought-out adding their own insights to the topic under discussion. Post responses must be least 50 words in length. Students are not required to cite outside sources in their replies to other student’s posts.

6. Students will be graded based on their response to the question and their two responses to other student’s discussion questions.

7. Format for responding to Discussion Questions:

When responding to a discussion question, always begin by listing the discussion question number and whether you are posting a response or replying to a post. For example:

“Question 1 – Post: The key components of the communication process are…..”

“Question 1 – Reply: I agree with Jane’s post listing the key components of the communications process. However, I would like to also point out…..”

POST FROM BEN:

Discussion Question 5 Post: When preparing an oral presentation, why is it important to analyze the audience?

When preparing an oral presentation it is easy to get distracted by the process; you are unable to see the forest for the trees. In this case, the forest represents the audience. No matter how detailed and entertaining the presentation may be, if you have not taken the audience into account it will be a wasted effort. One question to ask when structuring the presentation is: what is the audience expecting to hear? “Off-topic presentations are usually boring and will not endear you to the audience (Bourne, 2007, p.1)”. Getting sidetracked into stories that may be entertaining will cause the audience to tune you out.

Some information can be beneficial to some audiences, and superfluous to others. “Your audience members will pay attention to some things because they belong to a specific department or class” (Rice University, n.d., p. 1). If the meeting you are speaking at is attended by management with full backgrounds in the subject being presented, a comprehensive background of the topic is pointless, and the audience will be lost. However, if this same topic is to be rolled out to a group of uninformed employees, these details are necessary to make the listeners feel included.

MY RESPONSES NEEDED

POST FROM DEB;

Preparing for an oral presentation one should not just know the audience but to know the situation, knowing why your presentation is being required is also important in the preparation of what you will be speaking about, so, that you can address what the main issues and concerns are of your audience, then, analyzed who is the audience, their culture, their ethnic background, what type of attitude you might encounter, what age group.

Do your research on the situation so that you will be prepared to answer questions on the issues and concerns your audience might have. Working your presentation around those concerns will also capture the interest of your audience for a more attentive listening audience, this also gives a more personal approach to their concerns and a feeling that the presenter is knowledgeable on the situation at hand. This type of preparation will enhance the audience to listen more attentively and the outcome will be a successful and valuable presentation. (Designing Effective Oral Presentations.” Rice OWL:. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013)

Also, what is important for a captive audience is to consider the age group, educational backgrounds and their occupation knowing what type of audience you will be speaking to is extremely important. Telling a short experience also is a good way to get the audiences perspective of a negative or positive atmosphere, so that you know how to address your

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of the presentation. (Bowman. “Presentation Skills.” N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013)