The groups people belong to reflect their interests, attitudes, and values. Knowing the occupations, political preferences, religious affiliations, and social group memberships of an audience can provide useful information. This knowledge can help you design a speech that better fits the interests and needs of your listeners. It can make your message more relevant and can help promote identification between listeners and your ideas.
Occupational groups. Knowing your listeners’ occupational affiliations, or in the case of your classmates their work aspirations, can provide insight into how much they know about a topic, what type of vocabulary you should use, and which aspects of the topic should be most interesting to them. For example, speeches on tax-saving techniques given to professional writers and to certified public accountants should not have the same focus or use the same language. With the writers you might stress record keeping and business deductions and avoid using technical jargon. With the CPAs you might concentrate on factors that invite audits by the IRS, and you would not have to be so concerned about translating technical terms into lay language. Knowledge of listeners’ occupations also suggests the kinds of examples you may wish to provide and the authorities the listeners will find most credible. If many of your classmates are business majors, for instance, they may place more credence in information drawn from the Wall Street Journal than in information from USA Today. Use this knowledge to guide your selection of topics and choice of examples.
Groups Members of organized political groups tend to be interested in problems of public life. Knowing how interested in politics your listeners are and their political party preferences can be useful in planning and preparing your speech.34 People with strong political ties usually make their feelings known. Some of your classmates may be members. of the Young Democrats or Young Republicans. Your college may conduct mock elections or take straw votes on issues of political interest, reporting the results in the campus newspaper. Be on the alert for such information.