Audience Analysis Exercise
Chapters 2 and 5 in your textbook (Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century, 2nd ed.) discuss how understanding both your audience and your purpose are vital to successful communication. Depending on the situation, you may be writing to subject-matter experts (SMEs), managers, chief executive officers (CEOs), skilled workers, or day laborers, to name just a few examples. Each of these audiences will respond to different document content and writing styles, so you must analyze your audiences before writing.
Scenario
You and your group members are employees of a small consulting company. At this company, your group's job is to do research on your clients' needs and write recommendation reports in which you suggest services, products, or actions. However, before you write up a recommendation report, you need to figure out how to best communicate with your clients.
Deliverable (1)
For this assignment, your group will analyze the assigned client's personal characteristics and professional requirements. Your group will then write a 300-500 word memo, addressed to me, in which you describe and justify the approach you would take toward providing information to your client.
Some issues you will need to address include (but are not limited to) the audience's
- job title
- age
- education level
- profession
- need for specific information
- amount of time available to read your recommendation
- media preferences
- primary language
- level of technical expertise
- budget
Some information on your client already exists, but you’ll need to look at the image and create a more detailed profile.
Do not tell me a specific product, action, or service that you would recommend to your audience. Your job in this exercise is to analyze your audience.
For Example
If I were communicating with this audience...
I would use strong, decisive language and avoid "soft" emotional appeals. I would usually avoid highly technical language because although the audience is educated and generally knowledgeable, he is not a scientist. I would only use highly technical language to discuss a topic related to fighting because the audience is an expert in combat techniques. The audience would likely prefer a multimedia presentation instead of a written document. In either case, the communication would be short because the audience is action-oriented and would dislike taking time to wade through a long, wordy recommendation. And, of course, I would write or narrate the recommendation in Klingon, the reader's native language, even though he is fluent in English.
In your analysis, you will need to go into more detail with your audience and focus your discussion around the specific product/action/service that your audience requires, but this basic example should get you started.
Submission Requirements
Prepare a memo-formatted document, and address it to me. Place all your group members' names in the "From:" line.
Save the memo using the following file naming convention:
GroupMembers'LastNames - SectionNumber - Audience Analysis
for example...
Lee, Lifeson, Peart - 325 - Audience Analysis
Email me (arnett2010@gmail.com) the memo as an attachment. Use the following subject line convention, including the spaces:
TCOM 2010-SectionNumber - Audience Analysis Exercise
Your Clients
Group Alpha
They are: mechatronic engineers with a small startup mechatronics company.
They want: a recommendation to either purchase a new or refurbished Widgetmaster 9000 (or a comparable machine) to conduct squeebulence tests.
They have: a workbench and an old Widget-O-Matic 3500.
Group Beta
He is: chief IT officer for the Widget-O-Matic Corporation.
He wants: to know if he should use the University of Helsinki's Linux kernel 2.4.36.6 or 2.6.26.3 the next time he upgrades his servers.
He has: 9043 servers running 35,924 workstations, and the ability to hold entire conversations in Javascript or Klingon.
Group Gamma
She is: a successful entrepreneur who has made a fortune selling widgets on World of Warcraft.
She wants: to crush her competition and become the sole vendor of widgets on World of Warcraft.
She has: a staff of seven, a walk-in fridge stocked with cases of Mountain Dew Code Red, and a standing delivery order at Pizza Hut.
Group Delta
He is: an electrical engineer working for Widget Labs.
He wants: to know if he should order an oscillating benthic thermocoupler or a zodiacal ethylmercury solar cell apparatus.
He has: tenure and a government grant.
Group Epsilon
She is: an architect specializing in designing widget factories.
She wants: an AutoCAD program.
She has: feather quills, an ink pot, and lots of parchment.
Group Zeta
He is: construction manager for Widget Construction, Inc.
He wants: to improve the speed of his rivet-tossers' rivet-tossing in order get this building completed on time and under budget.
He has: years of construction jobsite experience and no patience for know-it-all college boys.
Group Eta
He is: CEO of Universal Widgets Worldwide
He wants: to improve his employees' efficiency in producing TPS reports.
He has: a 23rd floor corner office, an MBA, and a shareholder meeting in three hours.
Group Theta
He is: operating manager at the Concrete Widget Corporation's main concrete plant.
He wants: to improve his plant's concrete-mixing processes in order to improve the quality of widgets his company produces.
He has: a GED and the ability to loosen lug nuts with his bare hands.