In every instance, the audience itself will have an impact on your presentation. Consider the way you communicate with your friends, your children (or nieces/nephews), and your parents. Whether you mean to or not, you probably select different approaches when communicating with each group. While you may approach your parents with deference to their age and experience, you’d probably expect a young child to have less knowledge of the world and to respect your own wisdom. Thus, when presenting an argument to these groups, you’re likely to differentiate your argument based on audience characteristics.

The same rules should apply to all presentations. Although you could chose to present the exact same message to all audiences, your presentation will be more meaningful to your listeners if you tailor your message to the attributes of the particular group with whom you’re communicating. Remember ­ the success of your presentation lies in your ability to reach your audience. Even the most flawless speaker can fail to inspire listeners if the message isn’t perceived as significant to their lives or their experience. Think back to sitting in your high school classroom wondering “when will I ever use this again?” Do not expect that simply because you work for the same company as your audience members your presentation will seem relevant and consequential to your listeners.

To help target your presentation to your audience, consider the following characteristics:

1) Size

Will you present to a large group? A small group? A single person? Large group presentations often call for more formality and more structure, while highly structured presentations to small group may seem rigid and out of place. If presenting to a large group, you’ll need to do more to make all audience members feel involved in your presentation. With a small group, it may be easier to encourage participation.

2) Demographics

Demographic factors to consider include age, occupation, ethnic or cultural background, socio-economic status, educational background and gender. Presenting to a group of older politicians will require more deference to age and experience than presenting to a group of recent graduates. When speaking to a group of doctors, you can assume a certain level of medical knowledge. When speaking about college admissions to a lower socio-economic status audience you might want to include information about financial aid, grants, and scholarships. In contrast, audiences with members of a higher socio-economic status who don’t qualify for aid will perceive such information as useless.

3) Knowledge Level:

What does your audience already know about your topic? Are you presenting to a group of water engineers on the topic of water safety? Or are you presenting to the city council on the topic of water safety? With some audiences, you may need to provide more background/historical
information about your topic before you can effectively persuade them of the correctness of your position.

4) Motivation

Why is your audience listening to your presentation? Are you a consultant giving feedback to a group who has paid a lot of money for your opinion? Or did you call a meeting to voice your own opinion? If the audience is not inherently motivated to listen to you, then you’ll need to give them reason to listen within the presentation itself.