Communication, both spoken and written, is always addressed to an audience, a set of listeners or readers you are intending to convey information to or have some effect upon. Public speaking differs from written communication in that your audience is, in general, in front of you, gathered for some occasion. That occasion always has norms and expectations that a speaker must recognize. Finally, aware of audience and occasion, a public speaker has some purpose, something he or she is trying to accomplish or set in motion. Good public speaking always accounts for these three components.

We communicate differently to different audiences. To take a simple example, you tell your grandmother about your new boyfriend in a different way than you tell your best friend. Your boyfriend doesn't change between the two moments, nor do your feelings for him, but your words and manner of speaking do. Similarly, you speak about trees differently with your high school biology teacher than you do with your younger brother; and you often need to make arguments about public policy differently to Republicans than to Democrats.

Whenever you are in a writing or speaking situation, you need to ask yourself two main questions with regard to audience: who are they? and what qualities about them should I be aware of?

>> Who are they? It is sometimes useful to distinguish general from specific audience. Your general audience is everyone who will hear your speech or read your paper. Your specific audience, on the other hand, is that subset of the general audience who you particularly want to reach, or to reach in a different way than the rest of group. in an audience with varying degrees of knowledge on a subject, for instance, a speaker might want to pitch her comments primarily to non-experts (while at the same time not saying anything that a specialist would find objectionable). In the classroom, you may be speaking to the entire group but making a special effort to address the professor's expectations.

>> What qualities about them should I be aware of? Audiences vary in values, knowledge, style of communication, and intellectual capacity among other qualities. Depending on your topic and purpose, it may be relevant that they are young or old, rich or poor, female or male, highly religious or less believing, Ivy League graduates or high school dropouts, ethnic minorities or 'majorities., In addition, audiences carry different expectations to a speaking occasion: some want to be there, others do not; some want to be entertained, others are looking to be informed; some are open to being persuaded while others are unlikely to change their minds anytime soon; some expect a highly polished presentation with sophisticated visual aids while others are looking for less formal comments. All of these expectations help shape a speaking situation.
 

There is also a reason that the speech is happening, the occasion for which the audience has gathered. Are you speaking at a wedding or a funeral? an academic lecture series or a public meeting of concerned citizens? a mandatory assignment for freshman communication students? Each of these occasions has different norms for speaking, calling for speakers to operate in different modes--from formal to informal, from light to heavy, humorous to serious, conversational to highly practiced.

When you seek to inform, you want your audience to walk away from your speech knowing more than they knew beforehand. You may want to explain an idea or process to them, to give them new information, or to show them how to do something.

When you aim to persuade an audience, on the other hand, you want them to adopt a new position or belief, to change their minds, or to be moved to action. Persuasion calls a speaker to advocate one position among others that are possible and to be willing to defend it against challenges.

In addition to a general purpose and speaker typically has a range of more specific goals for her speech. She may want to get a few laughs, to build upon a classmate's speech, to reach a selected group of listeners, to show herself to be competent to potential employers, or to create controversy to name just a few. A successful speech requires a clear sense of general and specific purpose, for these guide how you select and present your ideas and words.