Audience Analysis

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.

Professionals with red MVSs will appreciate your ability to stay on point and discuss immediate goals. Emotionally and analytically, they are attracted to action$-$oriented and results$-$oriented language and logic. Professionals with blue MVSs will appreciate your ability to discuss business relationships$$such as benefits to work teams and colleagues and loyalty to customers and clients. Emotionally, blues will connect to you with your use of $$we$$ language and other relationship$-$centered terms. Professionals with green MVSs will appreciate your ability to provide all of the facts and avoid rushing to judgment about conclusions. Greens generally pride themselves on a dispassionate $($nonemotional$)$ approach to decision making and may be turned off by what they consider blatant and irrelevant appeals to emotion. Professionals with hub MVSs are most common. Hubs are by nature pragmatic and flexible. They prefer a presentation that holds clear business logic with an emphasis on benefits to people$$clients$,$ customers, colleagues, and others. They prefer option$-$oriented language.

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

Visual learners, who make up about $40$ percent of the population, learn best from illustrations and simple diagrams that show relationships and key ideas. They also enjoy gestures and metaphors. Ironically, text$-$based PowerPoint slides are not particularly appealing. On the other hand, PowerPoint slides rich in images and figures do help visual learners respond to your message. Auditory learners, who also comprise roughly $40$ percent of the population, like loud, clear voices and believe emotion is best conveyed through voice. Kinesthetic learners, who make up about $20$ percent of the population, need to participate to focus their attention on your message and learn best when they are actively involved.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

You are a marketing specialist at a media company. Over the past few years, you have been researching how TV viewers use mobile phones and other devices while watching TV$.$ You have found that viewers increasingly expect to engage via mobile devices with TV shows and their audiences while watching TV$.$

Recently, you finished a survey among $2,342$ adults $(18$ years and older$).$ You compiled the following statistics from the survey:

During the last month, which of the following actions have you taken with your cell phone while watching TV$?$ Entire Sample

Browsed the Internet during commercials $47\%$

Viewed comments online from other viewers $38\%$

Posted comments online about the show $33\%$

Browsed the Internet during shows $29\%$

Checked the accuracy of info on TV $26\%$

Texted other viewers $24\%$

Visited a website mentioned on TV $20\%$

Tweeted about the show $14\%$

Voted for a reality show contestant $5\%$

Entered a contest mentioned on TV $1\%$

About one month ago, you and your colleagues gave a presentation to executives at your company regarding the results of this survey. The executive team members were generally impressed with the information, but they also seemed skeptical that your company needed to make any major changes. They wanted you to dig deeper into the data and come up with some recommendations.

You are now planning the next presentation, and you know that the same five senior vice presidents from the last meeting will attend the next presentation: Katie O$$Harrah$,$ marketing; Jake Ecksberg, programming; Sam Clawson, interactive; Marco Feinstein, communications; and Peter Orwell, business development. You made the following observations about these executives at your last presentation:

Katie thinks that the use of mobile devices while watching TV programs is $$largely a fad.$$ She thinks the best bet for a sustainable business model involves minimal mobile apps and tools to interact with TV shows. During the last meeting, however, you did notice that Katie seemed more open to learning than most of the group. She had lots of questions about the data, and she kept insisting that you allow her to see more of it$.$ At one point, one of the other executives, Sam, in