primary audience

(noun)

The reader or readers for whom a piece of writing is intended.

Related Terms

  • secondary audience
  • genre
  • genres

Examples of primary audience in the following topics:

  • Introduction to Writing in Business

    • Each genre of business writing carries its own conventions of organization, voice, and audience.
    • The audiences and purposes will vary with each type of writing (and even within genres themselves).
    • Depending on whether you want to simply inform, convey good news, make a direct request, convey bad news, or persuade your audience of something, you might choose from any of the following organizational structures:
    • You probably already know how to properly address the primary audience (the person or persons who are the intended recipients).
    • For example, you might submit a proposal to your direct supervisor (your primary audience), who in turn may pass it on to his or her supervisor, a task force or committee, or some other secondary audience.
  • Summarizing Ideas

    • What is the primary message I want my speech to communicate?
    • What do I want my audience to take away from my speech?
    • It is important to always keep your primary message in mind when preparing for a speech.
    • After you readdress your primary message, it is then crucial to summarize your main points.
    • Clearly list your main points and connect them back to the primary message of your speech.
  • Group Membership

    • Audience members who belong to the same group are likely to share values, beliefs, and attitudes with other members of the group.
    • The members of your audience may be from different groups or they may all be part of the same group.
    • Audience members who are part of a primary group that is more long lasting will share experiences with the other group members who shape their beliefs, attitudes, and world views.
    • The formation of primary groups happens within secondary groups.
    • Primary groups can be present in secondary settings.
  • Physical Context

    • Consider physical contexts—traditional face-to-face with co-located audience versus delivery via videoconference to remote audience(s).
    • You can prepare for three different contexts--face to face with co-located audience , a speaker with live audience to remote audiences and a speaker with no live audience to different remote locations by video conferencing technology .
    • What is the anticipated size of the audience and the arrangement of seating?
    • You may find yourself speaking in one primary location with the audio or video of your speech being streamed live to other secondary locations.
    • You will be aware of your primary location but you will not know what is happening in the other locations.
  • Primaries and Caucuses

    • The Iowa caucuses are the first nominating election to occur in the presidential primary season and, therefore, they often have a significant impact on later primaries.
    • Primaries are held on different dates in different states and give national candidates an opportunity to campaign to smaller audiences than during the general election.
    • In a closed primary, only voters who are registered with the party holding the primary are allowed to vote.
    • In an open primary system, voters can vote in either primary regardless of affiliation.
    • Summarize the primary system and how a primary differs from a caucus
  • Highlighting the Main Points

    • If you want your audience to follow your main points, you should highlight them using visual and textual cues.
    • This is an important lesson for public speakers: no matter what you do, audience members will zone out occasionally.
    • Visual cues are cues the audience can see, including aids such as slides, handouts, and charts, and also the speaker's body language.
    • To combine visual and kinesthetic learning, speakers can poll the audience and ask them to raise their hands and look around the room to see the results.
    • Here are some examples of signal words and phrases that will alert your audience to pay attention: important, noteworthy, crucial, vital, major, principal, primary, central, valuable, defining, distinctive, relevant, above all, in the end
  • Using Different Kinds of Appeals

    • The two primary kinds of appeals are evidential and emotional appeals.
    • In persuasive speaking, the speaker must first explain the evidence in a way that is comprehensible to the audience, yet complete.
    • An emotional appeal is intended to cause the audience to feel a certain way so that they will be convinced by the speaker.
    • Ultimately, the effectiveness of an emotional appeal is determined only by the audience.
    • If the audience does not feel the intended emotions, by definition, the appeal has failed.
  • Culture, Ethnicity, and Race

    • As society becomes more diverse, the speaker will find it useful to learn more about the cultures, races and ethnic groups in each audience.
    • Before considering the role of culture, race and ethnicity in audience analysis it is useful to distinguish among the terms.
    • In order to adapt the message to the audience it is important to become aware of your own ethnocentrism and to avoid prejudice and racism.
    • When you judge another culture solely by the values and standards of your own culture you miss significant aspects of the other culture of the members of your audience.
    • race is the primary determinant of human capacities (prejudice or bias)
  • Variations in Accuracy

    • If you are presenting yourself as a subject matter expert or authority, it's imperative that you have your facts straight before delivering them to a waiting audience.
    • In the age of fact-checking, it's especially important to make sure that you have done your homework and fully researched your topic and supporting evidence because chances are, your audience already has.
    • You should also understand that scholarly research comes in primary and secondary sources.
    • A primary source is an original document containing content and data created or collected by the author.
    • Primary sources can include interviews you conduct to gain information and data, collections of letters, lab reports, autobiographical, and literary works.
  • Quality of Written and Oral Expression

    • Whether to inform, provoke, or persuade, communication's primary purpose is to assign and convey meaning in order to create shared understanding.
    • In both written and oral communication, the use of language is the primary determinant of quality of expression.
    • Communication that is easier for the audience to understand and follow is more likely to achieve its aim than is expression that is confused, poorly organized, or vague.
    • For instance, without training or experience using web conferencing it may be difficult to connect with the audience in ways that effectively convey meaning and understanding.
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