COM 295T Wk 4 – Practice: Evaluating the Needs of an Audience

Evaluating the Needs of an Audience

Understanding the needs of your audience is one of your first tasks as you develop your presentations. As you do your homework about the audience, answer the following questions to the degree possible:

How will audience members benefit from the product, service, or ideas I am proposing? This is the single most important question you can use to guide you as you design your presentation. In particular, focus on benefits that fulfill an unmet need.

What communication styles will your audience respond to based on their motivational values? Identify the motivational value systems (MVSs) of your audience and how you might appeal to the following MVSs: blue MVS, red MVS, green MVS, and hubs.

What is the learning style of your audience? Most people fall into one of three major learning styles: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Assume that you work in a human resources department. Recently, a small earthquake struck near the headquarters of your company. Although there were no injuries and little damage, your company president thinks that all employees should be more prepared for a major earthquake. In her words, “You never know when we’ll get the big one.” She has asked you to promote some earthquake preparedness workshops. The company president is holding an employee town hall meeting for approximately 100 employees this week. She has given you ten minutes to describe and promote the upcoming earthquake preparedness workshops. The workshops will run for two hours and involve expert training. Attending the workshops is entirely voluntary. You have scheduled five workshops to allow as many employees as possible to fit a workshop into their schedules.

Now, you need to think about how best to use your ten minutes to promote the workshops.