5 Chapter 5: Selecting a Topic and Adapting to the Audience

Lauren Rome, College of the Canyons

Adapted by Jamie C. Votraw, Professor of Communication Studies, Florida SouthWestern State College

Figure 5.1: Audience¹

Introduction

Think about the most exciting speech or presentation that you have ever heard. What made it so enjoyable? Was it the speaker’s charisma? Was the speaker funny? Were there excellent visual aids? Perhaps, a lively audience kept you engaged? Now, imagine that you did not care for the speech topic. Suppose you found the subject boring or confusing. Your experience would be markedly less enjoyable.

As you start thinking about your public speaking assignments, deciding what to speak about may not be your primary concern. In some speaking situations, the speech topic may be predetermined. For instance, if you are Captain of the Florida SouthWestern State College Women’s Volleyball team, and you are about to secure the Conference Championship again, the purpose and topic of your pre-game speech are likely pretty clear. In most cases, though, while the general purpose of your speech (e.g., to inform, to persuade, to inspire) may be predetermined, you will often be responsible for selecting the specific topic.

In this chapter, we will discuss how to select appropriate speech topics based on the speech goal and with consideration for the audience. Although novice speakers often express anxiety about speech delivery, the reality is that selecting the right topic largely impacts speech delivery and can significantly impact the success of a speech.

Selecting Your Topic

What makes a speech topic a good topic? Many people go to live concerts and love live music. Let’s consider what makes the show meaningful for the audience. Is it just musicians taking the stage and playing music, or is there more to it? The best concerts are the ones that consider what the audience really wants to hear. How would you feel if you went to a concert and the band didn’t play your favorite song? Most likely, the band crafted the environment with sets, sound, comfort, temperature, snacks, and drinks to make the concert worth the money. Just like a concert is nothing without the audience, a speech isn’t a speech without an audience.

Although we might think our speech would be easier without an audience, they are a crucial component and should be a primary focus as you plan and prepare each presentation. Effective public speakers consider the audience throughout the speech process from choosing a topic to identifying examples, and of course, during the speech delivery. Therefore, one characteristic of a good speech topic is that it meets the expectations of the audience and the speaking situation. What does the audience expect from the speech? What are their interests? What kind of response will the audience have to your topic?

In classroom speeches, the audience includes your classmates and your professor. But, before you go on assuming you know something about your audience, remember what we learned in chapter one: every person has their lens for viewing the world, which will be used when interpreting any messages you communicate. In that case, an important rule of thumb is to never assume. We must put aside assumptions or preconceptions to create the most effective and appropriate speech for a specific audience. Later in the chapter, we will discuss audience analysis and the methods you can use to gather accurate information about your audience.

Figure 5.2: John Legend²

Another marker of a good speech topic is that you, the speaker, can identify with the subject matter. Your speech topic does not need to be wholly original or groundbreaking. Instead, it would be best to focus on a speech topic that is important to you. What interests you? What do you care about? What are your passions? Selecting a topic that matters to you will make the research and speech composition process more manageable and enhance your delivery. If you care about the topic, you will be more likely to speak passionately and with conviction. When speaking enthusiastically, speakers add dynamic to their vocal quality, engage the audience, and exude confidence.

Refining Your Topic 

Once you have a good topic with a narrow focus, you should start thinking about how your chosen topic will help you accomplish your speech goal. To ensure your speech topic aligns with the expectations of the speaking event, consider the general purpose of the speech. A general purpose is the broad objective of the speech. Most speeches fall into one of the following categories: 1. to inform, 2. to persuade, or 3. to entertain. There are other general purposes, such as to introduce, to inspire, and to honor. We typically see these in special occasion speeches (discussed in Chapter 13).

To Inform 

To effectively craft your speech, you must determine the general purpose. In an informative speech, the general purpose is “to inform.” Note that a general purpose statement is a sentence fragment that indicates the broad speech objective. When the general purpose is to inform, the speaker acts as a teacher or educator. In an informative speech, the speaker’s goal is to share information with the audience objectively and unbiasedly. This means that the speaker should not be advocating or persuading. Instead, it is the speaker’s job to convey information accurately and clearly to help the audience understand and retain it. Although an informative speech may include competing perspectives, especially if the topic is controversial, an ethical informative speaker only teaches the audience about the varying viewpoints and refrains from taking a position or revealing personal opinions. Rather, an informative speaker shares information and lets the audience decide what to think or do.

To Persuade 

In a persuasive speech, the general purpose is “to persuade.” In this type of speech, the speaker acts as an advocate. The goal of a persuasive speech is to convince the audience to agree with the speaker’s point of view or take some action (e.g., sign a petition, stop smoking, etc.). Unlike informative speaking, a speaker is expected to take a position. Persuasive speaking is often more complex than informative speaking, as speakers must utilize persuasive speaking strategies to gain agreement from the audience. To win over an audience, persuasive speeches, in particular, demand credible evidence and sound logic that support the speaker’s claims. In Chapter 10, we will dive deeper into the various methods of persuasion a speaker can employ to persuade their audience.

To Entertain

When the general purpose is “to entertain,” the speaker is focused on amusing the audience. There is a variety of supporting materials that a speaker can incorporate to engage the audience. Entertaining speeches may consist of stories, anecdotes, quotes, and descriptions. To learn more about the types of supporting materials, turn to Chapter 7.

In each specific purpose statement example, the speaker identifies the general purpose (e.g., to inform or to persuade), the audience (e.g., incoming freshman, prospective FSW applicants, college administration), and the specific goal of the speech. Notice that each specific purpose statement is crafted as a statement, not a question, and is written clearly and concisely.

Writing a Thesis Statement (central idea) 

Once you craft your specific purpose statement, you are ready to write a thesis statement. Building upon the general purpose and specific purpose statement, your thesis statement elaborates by adding the main points you plan to cover in your speech. Most speeches have 2-3 main points. In your thesis statement, you will clearly and concisely list your main points. Continuing with the examples above, a thesis statement might look like this:

Analyzing Your Audience

Since we cannot assume we know everything about our audience, we must analyze them. Audience Analysis is gathering information about your audience to help create and deliver your speech. Information collected can help you better understand your audience’s needs, values, beliefs, and demographics.

By engaging in audience analysis, you’re taking an audience-centered approach. To be audience-centered is to shift your focus from yourself (what do I want to say about this topic?) to your audience (what do they want or need to hear about this topic?). If you don’t consider your audience, you might deliver a speech that isn’t relevant, useful, or ethical. To make the shift to an audience-centered approach, here are some questions to consider:

• Why are they here? Are they here because they have to be (e.g., a mandatory meeting or a class session) or because they want to attend? Is your presentation the “main event,” or is something else bringing this audience together? Knowing the answer to this question can be extremely important in planning your speech to engage the audience directly.

• What do they know already? It would benefit you to understand what your audience knows or if they have any experience with your topic. Based on their knowledge, you can tailor the language and information of your speech to suit them. For example, giving a speech on global warming will sound very different if you are speaking to middle schoolers versus college-age students. A speech on the power of a dating app will be received differently by a room full of married people versus single people.

• Where are they coming from? Does every person in your audience share the same experiences? Absolutely not, because of their unique lenses to view the world. My siblings and I were raised by the same parents, under the same roof, but we are different (in age, gender, friends, hobbies, etc.) and had different experiences. So, although we have similarities, we all have different frames of reference (think back to chapter 1). Your goal is to write to a general audience so that you connect with all of the unique experiences.

Types of Audience Analysis

To answer the questions posed above, there are three different types of information you might want to collect. Depending on the speaking situation and the preparation time available, some of the following strategies will be better suited than others.

Demographic Analysis

You’ve probably heard the term “demographics” used before. A demographic analysis refers to the gathering of data from your audience relating to the population and groups within it. The U.S. Census Bureau is one of the best examples of a group known for collecting demographic data. Every ten years, census takers gather information about the population of the United States. They typically want to know the composition of each household – the number of dependents (children or adults), average annual income, ethnic backgrounds, the gender and ages of those in the household, and other similar information. This data is then compiled to provide the government and other agencies with an overall view of the individuals, families, and other collective groups that compose the population of the United States. This information might be used to determine whether to fund a community necessity or to project the country’s needs in future years. As you might imagine, gathering and compiling this tremendous amount of data is mind-boggling. Luckily, the data you’ll gather to prepare for a presentation is on a much smaller scale. Here are some examples of information you might collect about your audience:

• Age
• Gender identities
• Ethnic backgrounds
• Group memberships
• Educational levels
• Political affiliations
• Religious affiliations
• Socioeconomic statuses

How might information collected in these areas assist you in understanding your audience? After all, you won’t use this information to determine county funding or to analyze the needs of a city. You will, however, be able to use the information you collect to better understand your audience – who they are, and what they care about. For instance, your analysis might uncover a religious or political preference that might make it difficult for them to believe you or take your recommended course of action. Knowing these details about your audience will help you choose your language wisely and craft your speech.

Psychological Analysis

While demographic characteristics focus on the “facts” about the people in your audience, psychological analysis can help explain the inner qualities. Knowing their attitudes, beliefs, and values will help you better understand the psychology of the audience.

Attitudes

Being aware of your audience’s attitudes about certain topics can help you craft the best possible speech. An attitude embodies the likes and/or dislikes of an individual. We have attitudes about everything. For example, you might like Nike more than Adidas, or you think MAC has the best mascara. People have strong attitudes for or against one thing or another, which impacts their perceptions and interpretation of information.

Beliefs

Members of the audience may believe that certain things exist or certain ideas are true. Beliefs are convictions or ways of thinking about the world around us that are reflected in statements that we believe are true or false. Your conviction about something is typically based on your cultural upbringing. You believe what you believe because of what you learned and were taught. Beliefs evolve as your frame of reference develops through experience. Beliefs are another important consideration for audience analysis and speech development.

For example, most public speaking professors know that students are hesitant to take a speech class and often disagree that it should be a graduation requirement. Therefore, public speaking professors craft their messages for the first day of class in very particular ways to generate audience buy-in. In this example, public speaking professors have analyzed their audience to craft the message in a way that will be meaningful for them. How will you craft your speeches to align with your audience’s beliefs?

Values

Values are the underlying principles or standards of ideal behavior that we use to justify our beliefs and attitudes. Values are the core principles driving our behavior and are the hardest to change. If you dig into someone’s attitudes and beliefs enough, you will find core values. We look at the world through our own lens of what we judge to be good or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral, and ethical or unethical. Analyzing audience values will help you to connect your content to the audience.

All three of these psychological factors are important. Although they seem similar, they work in slightly different ways. Here is an example to showcase the nuance of attitudes, beliefs, and values. For example, consider these different notions:

• You like college (this is an attitude).
• You believe that college is a way out of poverty (there is a belief).
• You think everyone has the right to an education, regardless of attitude or cultural background (this is a value).

Situational Analysis

The final type of audience analysis is situational because it focuses on the specific speaking situation. Here are some basic questions you can answer to help you conduct situational analysis:

• How many people will be in the audience?
• What is my purpose for speaking to this audience?
• What will my audience get out of my presentation?
• What is their interest level in my subject?
• What else might this audience have on their mind?
• What is the configuration of the room we are in?
• Is your audience comfortable?
• Is there anything that can interfere with how my audience hears me?

Figure 5.3: Justin Trudeau speaks at the University of Waterloo³

Conducting Audience Analyses

We’ve just examined several variables of audience analysis, but how do you find the information you need? You conduct an audience analysis. Here are three options: data collection, inference, and direct observation.

Data Collection

You can collect data about your audience’s demographic, psychological, or situational makeup through quantifiable and deductive means. Surveys, questionnaires, and interviews would give you abundant qualitative and quantitative information you can use to develop your presentation. While data collection isn’t always required before a presentation, some situations would benefit from having specific information. Will your speech benefit from having specific data on the audience? If so, which method will you use?

Inference

This is a trickier method of collecting information about your audience. Inference means making tentative, reasoned conclusions about your audience. It requires that you use your critical thinking skills to make an educated guess about the audience. Beware that making educated guesses could backfire, if not grounded in evidence. For example, if we know that 46% of the U.S. population owns an iPhone, we can confidently infer that some students in our class own an iPhone. The only way to make a conclusive statement about how many students own an iPhone in our class, however, would be to comprehensively collect the data through a survey, questionnaire, or interview of every single audience member.

Direct Observation

One way to learn about people is to observe them. As we mentioned earlier, if you are speaking to a room full of classmates, you likely have already observed some demographic information about your audience ahead of time. The same can be true for other settings or environments where you find yourself.

What methods can you use to analyze your audience, especially in a classroom? Observation is as it sounds – you watch and listen to the individuals in your audience over the course of several days or weeks. If you think about it, you already do this without being completely conscious of it. As you chat during a break, you may find out that many of the students in your class are closely following an upcoming election. They have already formed opinions about the candidates and have their reasons for choosing one over the other. Or, perhaps several students in your small group share that they are single parents struggling to balance school, work, and children. While these tidbits of information are normally acknowledged and stored away in the recesses of your brain, you are, in fact, finding information that could help you prepare for an upcoming speech to these students. This is direct observation; all you had to do was actively listen to the chit-chat and conversations going on around you.

Audience Agreement

Whether you are doing an informative or persuasive speech, you can be sure that audience members may agree, disagree, be neutral, or be apathetic. Here is what these situations might look like:

Audiences that Agree

Students often pick topics based on their notion of a friendly audience. If I knew that 95% of my audience believed that we should only drive hybrid cars, it would be much easier to construct a speech knowing there wouldn’t be much opposition. So why even do a speech when you have an audience that already favors your position? Let’s look at a couple of examples. Some people in our society go to a place of religious worship, whether a church, temple, or mosque. If you already have a belief system, why do you need to go? Similarly, recovered alcoholics go to Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, meetings. If you haven’t had a drink in ten years, why go to meetings? Maybe it is for personal growth, gaining knowledge, or attitude reinforcement. In each case, when you know that an audience already agrees with you, you can use the opportunity to reinforce their views.

Audiences that Disagree

When you know that an audience does not agree with your point of view, it is essential to capture their interest early. Disagreement doesn’t mean that you should not present your speech, or that you picked a bad topic. It just means that you need credible research, sound reasoning, and consideration for the type of language the audience will be receptive to hearing. It might be helpful to put your strongest argument first when you know your audience disagrees with you. It is also important that you don’t avoid topics that might be controversial because your audience disagrees. Controversial topics may prove to be the most interesting speaking opportunities and give you the chance to make a greater impact. In fact, the audience may be more receptive to a speaker who is open to acknowledging when there is validity in an opposing position while still arguing for a different point of view.

Audiences that are Neutral

Having a neutral audience is ideal. Suppose an audience has not yet made up their mind or taken a position on the topic. In that case, you can give the audience a balanced view of the topic in an informative speech, while in a persuasive speech, it is your chance to convince them. Whether you are doing an informative speech on TikTok, or a persuasive speech on the harmful effects of social media, a neutral audience most likely has not spent time critically thinking about their position. Your speech may be so compelling that some members of the audience may upload a video, or others may be motivated to delete the app.

Audiences that are Apathetic

The most difficult, or frustrating audience to speak to is the audience that doesn’t care; this is an apathetic audience. Your task is to make them care! For example, why would any group of 18 to 22-year-olds want to listen to a speech on the Social Security system? In most cases, they wouldn’t until you convince them that without reform, the Social Security program will run out of money before they are of age to collect. All of the money that you contribute from your paychecks goes to fund this system. Do you care yet? Maybe not, because you aren’t retiring for another 50 years! However, your parents or family members will retire earlier. If the system runs out of money, is it possible that you would find yourself in a position to care for your family members? You can make them care about your topic by showing them how important it is and how it can impact them. It is important to connect your topic to the audience explicitly. Sometimes public speakers ask personal questions to help show the connection between the topic and the audience. This is a useful attention-grabbing strategy and can be very effective. With apathetic audiences, however, you should also explicitly explain how the topic relates to them.

Presenting in an online environment

Chapter 11 discusses ways to deliver to a virtual environment. Like a physical speech knowing how to present information online is a necessary skill for the modern world. There are nine guidelines for a successful presentation suggested by Mary Abbajay in Forbes (2020), they are: get the lighting right, choose the right background, know the technology, play to the camera, get close (but not too close), stand up, do a sound check, plug into your modem, be yourself and have fun!

Conclusion

This chapter discussed how to effectively select a speech topic, identify speech purposes, craft specific purpose and thesis statements, as well as the importance of conducting an audience analysis when preparing and presenting your speech. Like a pop star crafting their live show at the Hollywood Bowl, you must keep your audience at the forefront of your mind during each step. Although you might not sing a solo during your speech or play the guitar, you can use demographic, psychological, and situational analyses to make adjustments where needed. The more you think about the audience throughout the entire process, the more likely they will listen, learn, and linger backstage for your autograph.

Reflection Questions

• Have you ever engaged in audience analysis in your personal life without realizing it? For example, in a conversation with a friend or parent or on social media? What strategies did you use to make sure you were understood?

• How have your attitudes, beliefs, and values informed some of your thoughts about people you meet?

• Which methods of audience analysis will you use in this class? How will you know which one works best?

• In what ways do the different types of audiences impact how you approach your entire presentation?

Key Terms

Attitudes

Audience Analysis

Audience-Centered

Beliefs

Demographic Analysis

General Purpose

Inference

Psychological Analysis

Situational Analysis

Specific Purpose

Thesis Statement

Value