Justin was talking at the national 4-H Conference, and it seemed like there were more people in the auditorium than he had ever seen in his life. Of his high school’s graduating class of 13 people, he was one of the few who took 4-H seriously. He loved talking about his family’s farm, his love of agriculture, and his ambition to be an agronomist (i.e., soil and plant scientist). The presentation he was giving today was on the importance of protecting the watershed from chemical and fertilizer runoff from farms–an issue he became passionate about when he noticed the stream behind his house had turned from crystal clear to dirty and brown when Agro-Business built their new chicken farm upstream. He took a deep breath and, trying to relax, began to speak.

“In 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture, the government body that oversees the farming in the U.S., reported that there were approximately 185 million chickens and 112 billion chicken eggs sold. The chicken industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, one that ensures that people around the world are fed.” As Justin began his presentation, he began to relax a little. He had practiced this presentation dozens of times before coming onto the stage and knew it by heart.

“The demand for chickens and eggs is perhaps one of the reasons why chicken farms are so large. It requires a huge investment in feed, cages, and building and maintaining the coops. However, the high demand has another unfortunate side-effect–it encourages unsafe work conditions, cutting corners, and pollution.” As Justin looked out from the stage, he made sure to make eye contact with members of the audience. He wanted them to feel his interest in the topic and share it with him. However, when his eyes landed on one of the people, he noticed he was frowning. With each point and statistic that Justin relayed, the man frowned harder, huffed, rolled his eyes, and gave every indicator that he was unhappy with what Justin was saying.

“The runoff from chicken coops is one of the greatest threats to other farms, wildlife, and the environment. It creates toxic algae blooms that poisons the lakes that the streams and rivers run into, killing the fish or making them inedible. Without meaningful legislation in our state regulating chicken farm runoff, there is a real possibility that the rivers, streams, and lakes that you love to swim, fish, and kayak in will be filled with chicken waste. That’s why it’s important to support local poultry farmers and push your representatives to safeguard our water. Thank you.” When Justin left the stage, the audience began clapping except for the man who sat with his arms crossed.

As Justin got a water bottle from the refreshment stand, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and it was the man from the audience. Justin could see now that his shirt had an Agro-Business label on it. “Uh-oh,” Justin thought, “I’m in for it now.”

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I listened to your presentation, and I disagreed with everything you said.” The man said in a rush.

“Well,” Justin replied, “Do you want to talk about it somewhere or did you just want to tell me that.”

The man blinked once, obviously unprepared for Justin’s polite response. “I just wanted to tell you that. You’re wrong and you shouldn’t say those things.”

“Okay, well, thanks for your feedback.” Justin said and walked away. He was glad he gave his presentation, happy he hadn’t let the man’s actions during his presentation distract him, and proud he had handled the confrontation maturely. “Next time, I should remember that there might be Agro-Business employees in the audience though. I wonder how I could change my presentation to address them too?” Justin thought as he made his way through the crowd.

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Public speaking has the incredible potential to influence, guide, and change human behavior. Whether you plan to perform, inform, or persuade, to be an effective speaker, you will need to do your research on your audience. One way to do this is to think of your audience’s identity (see Chapter 2) and how their various demographic information can give you clues as to how to craft your message. However, just knowing your audience’s demographics will not be enough to create an effective or compelling message. Instead, you will need to know more about your audience and what their motivations are before you can give a presentation that connects to them.

In order to be a good public speaker, you will need to be a good listener. Good listening skills ensure that you can effectively interact with an audience and speak to them extemporaneously about the issues they raise. Additionally, being a good listener means you are an effective audience member–able to glean information from the presentation that others might miss. Much like how people think communicating is easy (see Chapter One), many people believe that they are good listeners. However, as Stephen Covey (2004) explains:

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They’re either speaking or preparing to speak. They’re filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people’s lives. (p. 239)

In other words, although we might be physically present and see or hear the others’ communicative signals, it does not necessarily mean that we are listening deeply to their messages. This realization is even more true when we consider that we obtain a great deal of our information from non-verbal and paralinguistic (e.g., tone, inflection, or pitch) clues–not simply from spoken words (or, signed language). If we only hear or see communication, we can miss out on important information conveyed through body language and other non-discursive forms of communication.

As a public speaker or as a listener, then, it is vital that you develop your audience analysis and listening skills. These skills will serve you both within the context of public speaking and in your everyday life. For example, being hired into a new job, starting or maintaining a romantic relationship, or excelling in a class–all necessitate effective audience analysis and listening skills. In this chapter, we start by detailing the psychological and cultural components of audience analysis. Then, we explain how listening occurs and how to ensure that you practice skills that increase the effectiveness of your listening skills.

When Zahra agreed to give a presentation at the dedication ceremony for her village’s new school for girls, she knew it would be a risky affair. When the Taliban had ruled the country from 1996-2001, all women were banned from education and employment. Between 2001 and 2020, opportunities for women and girls were expanded. However, when the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021, the government had banned high school for all female students and began curtailing their privacy and autonomy. Despite this, many female students, including Zahra’s daughter, were hopeful that they could make a difference after getting an education. The village’s new school was an important step for her and other girls on their road to realize their dreams.

“Here is a copy of your presentation,” Tajj said, handing a few pieces of paper to her. “Make sure to change the parts that I have underlined. “Make sure to read this word for word. We don’t want to offend anyone.”

Zahra quickly scanned over the edits. “Wait,” she said, holding up one hand while gripping the sheets. “This looks like you’ve cut nearly everything important out of this presentation.”

Tajj sighed, “It wasn’t me. The council of elders looked over the presentation and they think these edits will make it consistent with the teachings of Islam. There is nothing I can do.”

Tajj turned to leave, but Zahra put a hand on his shoulder, turning him back around. “How can you say that? Look at this!” she waved the papers in the air. “This means nothing now. How will my daughter learn how important this is, how important she is, if this is the presentation I have to give?”

Tajj grew red in the face, his voice rising, “You should be grateful you can speak at all. Many in the audience will be offended just by your presence. Don’t risk everything by throwing a tantrum.”

Zahra’s mouth dropped at his words. Tajj looked remorseful, but then abruptly turned on his heel and left her standing alone. Zahra knew the words she wanted to say would offend others–they might even get her into serious trouble. “How am I going to get my message across without angering the elders?” she thought. “I need to be brave for my daughter, for the other girls. What am I going to do?”

When giving any public presentation, you need to modify your message to the audience. Adapting your presentation includes carefully choosing the content of the presentation (e.g., the organization, topic, and word choices) as well as practicing your paralinguistics and body language (e.g., pitch, tone, hand gestures, and stance). Presentations will be ineffective (at best) if you neglect to analyze your audience properly and fail to adjust your presentation appropriately. Every decision you make in your presentation should be grounded in audience analysis.

For example, 54% of the adult population (16-74 years old) of the United States–roughly 130 million–lack literacy proficiency (Rothwell, 2020). The conclusion we draw from this statistic is that in most public speaking opportunities in your day-to-day life, your audience will not have the information literacy, vocabulary, or reasoning skills that you have developed as a college-educated student. This does not mean that most people are stupid or ignorant, but it does mean that the difference between being effective or ineffective as a public speaker is recognizing the lacunae (or, in everyday terms, the gaps) in peoples’ knowledge and crafting your presentation accordingly.

Audience analysis makes you a better communicator, whether in public speaking or interpersonally. You should ask yourself questions such as, “How much information will be appropriate for my audience?” “What terminology or materials should I use to make my topic easier to understand?” and “What do I expect my audience’s reaction to be and how will I handle it?” In order to address these questions, you should think about the psychological profile of your audience and imagine yourself in their shoes. As Azjen and Fishbein (1980) detail in their Theory of Reasoned Action, people are motivated to change their behaviors, or engage in new ones, when a speaker can account for all the components that go into decision making.

Below are five concepts that you can address when you engage in audience analysis:

Attitudes: the audience’s subjective feelings, positively or negatively valanced, about a specific person, place, idea, phenomenon, or thing. Although attitudes can be general (e.g., “I generally don’t like eating at restaurants”), they provide less insight into how to perform, inform, or persuade in ways that might be effective (e.g., “What are your attitudes toward eating at this particular restaurant?”). Your audience’s first impressions about your trustworthiness, status, and attractiveness are made in as little as 33 milliseconds–about the length of an eyeblink (Palomares & Young, 2017)! Therefore, you need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to ensure a positive attitude from your audience. This includes the clothes you’re wearing, words you use, comfort of the venue, and a host of other concerns. An audience that has a positive attitude toward you or your topic is on its way to listening deeply and attentively to your message. One with a hostile attitude might just show you the door!

Norms: the audience’s belief about whether significant others think that they should engage in the behavior or believe the idea in question. By significant others, we mean those people who an audience member is concerned with obtaining their approval, fitting in with, or continuing having a relationship with. It is incredibly rare for a person to do or believe things that are out of step with their norm group. These groups can be found in your friends, family, religious institutions, political affiliations, or careers–any group that you are part of that you wish to remain a part of. As such, you will probably speak and act differently in a circumstance where you know you are talking to others who share your norms as opposed to those who don’t (and you wish to convert) or are hostile.

Beliefs: the audience’s acceptance or rejection of ideas, information, or insights based on their perceived truth or falseness. Belief in an afterlife, that the Earth is round, or that the Eiffel Tower is 1083 feet tall are all propositions that conjecture whether or not something is or is not true. Some beliefs are ones that can be tested, such as the Earth’s shape or the height of buildings and can become facts. Others, such as, “When does life begin?” or “Where do we go when we die?” cannot become facts because they cannot be tested in an objective way. Despite not being able to test knowledge in every instance, people believe a wide variety of ideas or insights because it fits with their extended worldview, connects with their norm groups, or because it is psychologically satisfying. Recognizing your audience’s beliefs will help you avoid saying or doing these things that might be culturally insensitive or out of step with the group’s understanding of the issue.

Values: the audience’s understanding of morality, ethics, and their understanding of what is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, just or unjust, and desirable and undesirable. For example, the idea that we should treat others as we want to be treated is a value that is found in almost every major religion and culture. Peoples’ values are often deeply held and difficult to change; however, they can be powerful motivators if you can connect your presentation to them. Alternatively, giving a presentation that challenges the values of your audience must be taken with care. Challenging (or worse, attacking) your audience’s values can make your presentation ineffective.

Efficacy: the audience’s conviction that they have the abilities, resources, and knowledge to act on information. It is important to remember that even if an audience’s attitudes, norms, beliefs, and values are congruent with your own, they may not feel that they can do anything about the issue you have raised. For example, passing federal legislation is an incredibly time consuming and resource intensive process–one which the average citizen has little to no power to control. As such, giving a presentation proposing new federal legislation may not be as effective as giving your audience options for action in their communities or at the state level. It is up to you to make sure you know if your audience feels efficacy toward your presentation and to provide them with the knowledge and resources necessary to act on your message.

Taken together, these five components of your audience’s psychological profile make up their intentions to act on the information you have given them (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980). Although the intention to act does not guarantee that your audience will act or agree with you, it does provide us with a good set of tools to motivate your audience toward goals. Of course, you won’t be able to give your audience members an extensive set of psychological tests before every presentation, but by researching your audience, the context, and the purpose of your presentation, you can increase the effectiveness of your presentation.

In addition to the psychological elements of your audience, you will need to attend to their cultural elements as well. As we discussed in Chapter Two, the culture that your audience is a part of will influence their identity. You can address the identity of your audience by utilizing the different perspectives of identity. In obtaining their demographic information, you can make conjectures about their tastes, habits, or preferences. Or you might be a part of, or research, the rituals of your audience to make sure our presentation attends to their cultural norms and doesn’t violate deeply held beliefs.

Finally, in recognizing how your presentation can create or reinforce impressions about others’ cultures, you can be mindful of our representations of others and resist violence. As we attend to these understandings of identity, we can connect them to the broader patterns of culture that animate identity formation.

In this case, we use Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture, to articulate broad generalizations of cultures that are useful starting points for audience analysis:

High power cultures tend to have more clearly defined lines of hierarchy and authority. Audience members are more likely to listen and internalize messages that they feel come from sources of authority, such as high-ranking government officials, medical experts, or religious leaders. Low power cultures are less likely to respect authority simply because of position or rank. Audience members are more likely to listen to friends, family, or known associates (even, or sometimes especially, when they don’t have expertise in a particular subject area).

Individualistic cultures put higher emphasis on the individual and downplay or ignore responsibilities to family, friends, or community. Audience members will respond better to presentations that emphasize benefits for themselves or that play to their sense of egoism and entitlement (e.g., flattery). Collectivist cultures place more importance on friends, families, communities, or the society as a whole. Audience members are more likely to listen to appeals that make it seem that their refusal to do so will inconvenience or harm others and lead to their own ostracism.

Competitive cultures promote norms of assertiveness, ambition, and personal wealth/status attainment. Audience members from these cultures tend to respond best to appeals of strength, winning, and machismo and use metaphors of sports, battle, and struggle. Nurturing cultures stress the importance of relationships, quality of life, and care for the environment and others. Audience members from these cultures are more likely to listen to presentations that show care, humility, and equality and use personal appeals to family, friends, and the responsibility to care for others.

High-uncertainty avoidance cultures strive to avoid ambiguity, miscommunication, or uncertainty through direct communication. Audience members appreciate clear organization, detailed information, and explicit dialogue. Low-uncertainty avoidance cultures tolerate or even prefer ambiguity. Audience members are more likely to respond to stories and personal experiences, especially when those devices invite audience interpretation (rather than having a singular “point” to the story, which is more common in high-uncertainty avoidance cultures).

Long-term orientation cultures tend to value long-term planning, structure, and status as well as practicing future-orientedness. Audience members will most likely want to know how all the pieces of a plan fit together, the long-term implications of an action, and the benefits for successive generations. Short-term orientation cultures will respond best to appeals that privilege short-term gains, quick results, and instant gratification. Audience members will be more interested in how to maximize their reward for the least amount of investment and will not know or care about how present actions may cause future problems.

Of course, no culture is completely on one side or the other on the spectrum. Furthermore, there are regional and even personal differences within a given culture. For example, rice farmers in southern China (who rely on joint irrigation of crops) tend to be more collectivistic than their northern, wheat farming counterparts (whose crops need less irrigated water [Talhelm et al., 2014]). Assuming that someone will act, think, or value things in exactly the same way based on their cultural background will most likely lead you to make choices in your presentation that are ineffective or even offensive. However, by identifying and planning for their cultural backgrounds, you can increase the likelihood that you will give an effective presentation.

Overall, knowing the psychological and cultural factors of your audience gives you insights in a host of presentation choices. For example, your choice of what clothes to wear, terms to use, stories to tell, or sources of information to cite should all be shaped by the findings of your audience analysis. Although some of these issues may seem readily apparent or even prescribed by your instructor (e.g., what clothes to wear on presentation day), it is important that you begin practicing your audience analysis skills right now. Do an inventory of your classmates, major, or college–think deeply about their desires, beliefs, and values, and let those insights shape your presentation. Doing so will ensure that you’re prepared for any contingency and able to give an effective presentation.

“What? Say that again? Denise said, bent over her laptop. She was working on her essay for her English class and was deep in thought about what she was going to write next. Their report summarizing A Brave New World, was due in two days and she had two more essays due soon too. She had been typing furiously since meeting with Chris, barely listening to him as he discussed the parts of the book, he liked the most.

“Say that again?” Chris mimicked, with a smile on his face. “C’mon, that’s the third time I’ve told you about the symbolism between soma in the book and the wellness industry of today.”

Denise blew her bangs out of her eyes in exasperation. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, only half listening to Chris. “I’m just concentrating right now.”

“Oh, I get it but…” Chris said, circling the table and reading over her shoulder. “We’re not going to get a good grade if you keep spelling the main character’s name John Max, and not John Marx, like it should be.”

Denise’s eyes quickly scanned the page. Chris was right, she had misspelled the character’s name throughout the essay. With a sigh, she put her head down on the desk.

Chris sat next to her. “Hey, it’s no big deal. Easy fix, no worries. But let’s talk about the plot again to make sure we have the same understanding of the book.”

“Okay,” Denise said. “This time, she firmly shut the lid of her laptop and met Chris’ eyes. “You go first.”

 

Listening is not simply a physiological phenomenon; rather, it is a complex process involving both your physical and mental abilities to execute effectively. A Bodie et al. (2008) assert, listening is a process whereby a person: “(1) selects information, including the effects of schemata and attention regulation; (2) organizes and interprets information based on prior knowledge, motivation, and cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies; and (3) integrates and responds” (p. 106).

As you can see from this definition, listening requires intentional effort and cannot be reduced to simply listening or seeing another’s communicative signals. Listening is a dynamic process, meaning it doesn’t occur in a simple linear fashion (e.g., someone speaks, you listen, you respond, they listen). Rather, as you are speaking, you are also actively analyzing your audience’s body language, nonverbals, and other subtle clues that they are communicating to you. This back and forth play between you and your audience is what makes the difference between a presentation that you give at or to an audience and one that you make with an audience.

Listening helps us build relationships with our friends, families, romantic partners, colleagues, and other professionals. Good listening, as a cognitive and not just physiological activity, should invite you to take the perspective of others and critically evaluate others’ messages. In order to be an effective speaker, you need to understand the process of listening and how people process information. John Barth (2017) wrote:

In life…there are no essentially major or minor characters… Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story…. From the groom’s viewpoint he’s the major character; the others play supporting parts, even the bride. From your viewpoint, though, the wedding is a minor episode in the very interesting history of your life, and the bride and groom both are minor figures.

In other words, all humans are predisposed to think of themselves first, and to (at best) think of others in relation to our aims, goals, and obstacles. However, by developing our listening skills we can resist our inclination to put ourselves first and, instead, develop a sense of perspective taking and understanding that will be vital to the success of ourselves, our relationships, and our communities. As such, it is vital to understand the process of learning, so we can be more mindful of our efforts to improve it.

Drawing on Bodie et al. (2008), we explain three stages of listening:

Presage Stage: The presage phase consists of the personal and contextual factors that influence your ability to listen. These issues will influence the ability of the listener to listen, retain, and act on information before communication has even begun. The personal factors include specific knowledge (i.e., what does the listener know about the issue being discussed?), world knowledge (i.e., what does the listener’s knowledge about the issue connect to their larger background knowledge), ability (i.e., physical capabilities of listening), memory span (i.e., how much can the listener retain?, motivation (i.e., does the listener want to listen?_, and listening capacity (i.e., what is the listener’s ability to store short- and long-term knowledge in their memory?). In addition to the personal factors, the listening context will influence listening behaviors. The context consists of the objectives (i.e., what does the listener hope to do with the new knowledge?), purpose (why is the speaker communicating and the listener listening?), climate (i.e., is the listener comfortable?), interactivity (i.e., is the listener interacting with the speaker or expected to simply receive information?), status (i.e., what is the relative status difference between the speaker and listener?), power (i.e., what is the relative power difference between the speaker and listener?), conversation rules (i.e., what is expected of the speaker and listener?), and speaker characteristics (i.e., is the speaker physically, emotionally, or cognitively attractive or dynamic?). As you can see, there are a LOT of factors that go into listening–before the speaker has even had the chance to talk. As such, it is important that you strive to attend to these issues as a public speaker before you ever get on stage to speak.

Process Stage: In the process phase, the listener engages the mental and behavioral processes necessary to meet the level of attention they wish to give to the message based on factors of the presage stage. For example, a listener who knows little about the subject and doesn’t want to know more about it, is uncomfortable in a situation, and relatively the same status and power as the speaker may opt out of listening whereas if those things are all true but the listener is of lower power/status then they might try hard to listen for fear of reprisal. Taken together, the personal and contextual factors will influence the listener’s choice to do one of the following things: ignore the speaker, pretend to listen to the speaker, selectively hear parts of the speaker’s message, or attentively listen to the speaker’s message. As the listener exerts more cognitive effort into listening, they are more likely to act on the information that is relayed–whether by disagreeing or agreeing to what is said.

Product Stage: The product phase of listening is characterized by the benefits the listener obtains through their listening behaviors. First, and most obviously, the more cognitive effort that is put into listening, the more likely it is that the listener will obtain new knowledge or understanding from the speaker. Although certainly, the listener could learn misinformation or disinformation, this would still constitute them knowing new knowledge. Second, the listener can build or dissolve relationships through their listening behaviors. Highly attentive listening, when reciprocated between two or more people, is often a foundation of a satisfying relationship. Conversely, poor listening will often lead to frustration, loss of intimacy, and anger. Finally, listening is associated with affective bonds, including empathy for others and motivation to act on information. The more one listens to a speaker, and puts cognitive effort into understanding their message, the more likely a listener will identify with the speaker and be inclined to uphold their same worldview.

Listening is a complex process, one that consists of a variety of contextual, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors. However, listening is also a cultural issue, one that reflects and reproduces the power between groups. For example, Gonzalez (2022) writes about how in moving from her urban, Black/Puerto Rican neighborhood to an Ivy League college, she was struck by how White students and authority figures would always try to shush or minimize the music, laughter, and perceived loudness of her and her friends. Her experiences are corroborated by a great deal of evidence that suggests that White middle/upper class people prefer, and often seek to impose on others, a level of noise that is comfortable to them. Often, these demands are couched as appeals to appropriateness, politeness, or decorum, when they actually function to privilege one group’s sense of comfort over others.

Other researchers have shown that people can differentiate among socioeconomic classes and language use (e.g., the formality of chosen words) and are less likely to hire those who they perceive as having a low-class accent (Kraus et al., 2019). Furthermore, low tonal vibrations are often viewed as more dominant and commanding their higher tones, which discriminates against people with higher-pitched voices (especially women) (see Schild et al., 2022). To address these issues, you will need to develop your understanding of how to be an effective listener and speaker in a variety of situations. To do so, we recommend that you:

Practice Intercultural Competence: As Lane (2019) reported, approximately 11% of U.S. citizens have never left their home state, and 40% have never been out of the country. That is to say, many U.S. citizens have had little to no experience interacting with people from other cultures outside of the context of those people being in the U.S. As you might imagine, a person from Japan or France may act differently in their own country interacting with a U.S. citizen as opposed to being in the U.S. As a result, many U.S. citizens get very little experience practicing their intercultural competence or developing a sense of intercultural sensitivity. To do so, you should try to understand what cultures of people may be in your audience, and research the rituals, proverbs, rules, and norms that characterize their communication. Most importantly, recognize and appreciate that people who speak multiple languages, or who speak with an accent, are trying to juggle a variety of linguistic, physiological, and cognitive demands when communicating instead of denigrating or ignoring them. Often, the inability or unwillingness to deeply listen to others’ accented communication is an indicator of one’s limited linguistic skills (i.e., they speak only one language) and racial/ethnic prejudice.

Develop Your Communication Style: When you are in a situation with audience members who are not English first speakers, you will need to be mindful of your paralinguistics. That is, make sure that you are speaking at a slower conversational pace, articulate your words, avoid using idioms or jargon, and (when needed) don’t be afraid to repeat or rephrase what you are saying. Native speakers often believe it draws attention to, and embarrassed, non-native speakers of a language to correct, repeat, or rephrase, which can be true if a native speaker does these things with the intent to shame or in a situation where they do not have a relationship with the non-native speaker. However, if clear communication is imperative then it is more important to ensure that communication is effective.

Use Intentional Nonverbal Cues: U.S. English native speakers often accompany their communication with a variety of nonverbal messages, but those gestures can quickly get you into trouble. For example, many people around the world hold up their pointing and middle fingers facing outward in a “V” for peace, but if they are facing inward then they have the same rude effect as the raised middle finger in countries such as United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (Anderson, 2019). Conversely, other cultures may use different gestures to convey affirmation, negation, or surprise than U.S. speakers. For example, in Greece and Bulgaria, nodding one’s head means “no” whereas shaking their head from side-to-side means “yes” (Sherman Media, 2020).

Interact with the Speaker/Listener: Probably the most important point to practice is the ability to observe and change your interaction patterns based on the dynamics of your communication in the moment it is occurring. This requires you to be able to know what you wish to say, monitor your audience, and change/adapt your message on the fly–a incredibly cognitively taxing process. Watch your audience for looks of confusion or consternation at your messages. This might include eye and facial expressions or whispering among your audience as they try to glean the intent of your communication. If these actions are occurring frequently, you may need to pause and ask for clarifying questions or take a short break. Do not fall into the trap of believing that “because I said it, the audience understands it.” Rather, it is imperative that you display situational awareness of the issue and work to address it quickly and effectively.

Listening is a skill that is extremely difficult to master. There are a great deal of distractions, noise, and environmental factors that can make high-quality listening almost impossible. Furthermore, listening requires ethics of care, responsibility, and empathy, which are not traits that are universally shared or practiced. However, being a good listener is one of the most important skills that you can develop. From interpersonal relationships to the boardroom, the ability to be cognitively and emotionally present while others speak will help you find success.

In this chapter, we have reviewed how audience analysis and listening skills will enhance your life. Audience analysis requires you to be attentive to both psychological and cultural aspects of your audience and to develop a repertoire of skills that can enhance the effectiveness of your communication. Likewise, an expertise in listening will ensure that you are able to be a good conversational partner, and work toward a sustained relationship with others. Take note of your audience and those you speak with–are they making gestures of affirmation (e.g., head nodding), smiling, making eye contact, etc.? Or, do they look confused, angry, or frustrated? Adjust accordingly and work to develop a style of communication that is informed and flexible.