will be focused on personal liberty, others on campus safety, and still others on
the dangers of gun violence. The speech may support, challenge, or modify any
of these frameworks, but each listener’s framework will shape how he or she interprets
and understands the speech. Audience members work actively to assess
what the speaker says against what they already know or believe, and they constantly
make judgments about the message and convey them back to the speaker
through facial responses and other nonverbal clues.
The Speaker’s View
From the speaker’s point of view, knowing about the audience is crucial in preparing
and delivering a speech. A speech about campus social life, for example,
would be different for an audience of prospective students than for an audience of
alumni, or even for an audience of current students. Even if the basic points of the
speech were the same, the nature of the audience would affect how they are developed
and explained and what tone or attitude the speaker projects. In preparing
the speech, the speaker would analyze the audience and try to match listeners’
expectations appropriately. Moreover, as listeners respond during the speech (by
frowning, nodding approval, looking puzzled, etc.), the speaker would constantly
modify how key points are organized and phrased and would try to acknowledge
or respond to the audience’s concerns.