plan for your audience and purpose

7/31/2019 Plan for Your Audience and Purpose

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Chapter 5


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Suppose your younger brother or sister did

something that made you unhappy. How

would you talk to your brother or sister about

the problem?

Now suppose the person who offended you

was a coworker. How would your audience

affect what you said?


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The writer is transparent, a member of the

stage crew, or audiences.

Audience and reader are nearly

interchangeable terms.Audience Reader Listener Observer

What they already know, and what they need or

want to know.


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Knowledge level

Role

Interest

Cultural backgroundPersonality


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What people know and how well they know it

varies widely from one person to the next.Knowledge level can be high, low, moderate

It can be technical or nontechnicalExperience, age, and expertise can affect how

much someone knows.


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Understand your readers role and

accommodate it.An accountant is concerned about the companys

finances. If you write a memo to the accounting

office about a planned purchase, you should

accommodate the accountants role by including

information about cost.

Technician who reads the same memo may be

more interested in the equipment beingpurchased, having little concern about the cost.


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When you can grab your readers interest,

they read with greater enthusiasm.Where you find common interest, take advantage

of it.

Where there is none, create it.

Accept those readers lack of interest and

focus on giving them the information they

need.Affected by age, experience, cultural background,

and role.


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Culture, the ideas, beliefs, customs, and

values of a group of people, affects what an

audience considers to be proper behavior.

Beliefs regarding human relations are affected byan individuals cultural background.

Fail to consider the cultural background, you risk

offending your reader and creating barriers in the

communication process.


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Can be affected by culture, heredity, age,

experience, and role. It shape individual work habits.


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Before you begin to write:Analyze your audience to determine their special

needs.

Use questions in accommodating your audienceneeds.


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KnowledgeQuestions: What does my reader already know about the topic? What does my reader need to know? What does my reader want to know?

Make adjustments Add particular knowledge your audience does not

have.

Leave out or quickly summarize knowledge youraudience already has.

Decide how much technical language include. Use informal definitions or a glossary, if necessary. Present complex information visually


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Questions:How strong is my readers interest in my topic?

Are my readers priorities different from mine ot

the same as mine?

Make these adjustmentAppeal to known interest; try to create interest

where there is none.


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Questions Is my readers role to make decisions, make

suggestions, or implement actions?

What is my readers job? Is it administrative?

Technical? Clerical? Other?

Is my communication going to management, to a

peer, or to a subordinate?

Adjustments Include knowledge that the role requires. Write

different parts for different roles.


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Questions:What is my readers cultural background?

What are my readers beliefs?

Are my readers beliefs different from mine or thesame as mine?

AdjustmentsUnderstand how culture affects someones beliefs

and decisions.Learn about the cultural background of your

audience.


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QuestionsWhat kind of personality does my reader have?

Adjustments

Adjust tone and medium to personality.


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Its not what you say but

how you say it that

counts.


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Convey concern by looking for the

best in your audience. And assume

that your audience is interested in

being fair, even when they are atfault.


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Strive for:Firmness

Fairness

GoodwillRespect

plan for your audience and purpose

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