Know Your Audience
This skill happens before you speak. Knowing your audience helps you decide what to include, what to explain, and what examples will actually make sense to the people in front of you.
What do they already know?
Do not spend half the speech explaining something the audience already understands.
Do not assume specialist knowledge if they are beginners.
What do they care about?
Ask what problem, goal, fear, curiosity, or decision connects them to the topic.
That connection should shape your examples and emphasis.
What might they resist?
Think about likely questions or disagreements before you speak.
You do not need to remove disagreement—you need to show that you understand it.
Adapt before you deliver
Choose language, examples, detail, and tone for this audience.
The same topic should not sound identical for students, parents, customers, and technical experts.
Example
Topic: AI. For software engineers, you might discuss model limits and reliability. For parents, you might start with the AI tools children already encounter at school and online.
Common mistake
Preparing the speech around what you want to say without asking what this audience needs to hear.
Try this
Write your audience at the top of your outline. Under it, answer three questions: What do they know? What do they care about? What might they push back on?
Keep in mind
Audience awareness changes the speech before the first word is spoken.
Practice this skill
Give a real speech and use SpeakCoachLab coaching to focus on this skill in context.