- Education: If your audience is well-educated, you can use fairly sophisticated vocabulary. If they’re not, you need to keep things simple.
- Familiarity with Topic: What do people know about the topic already and what do you need to explain?
- Familiarity with Jargon: Avoid any specialized vocabulary unless you think that everyone in the audience will understand it. If you have to use a technical term, explain it.
- Interest in the Topic: What do people care about? What’s important to them?
- Possible Misconceptions: Which incorrect ideas might you need to correct?
- Attitude: Are people hostile, supportive, curious, worried? The attitude of your audience will affect the tone of your speech.
One of the most important elements of written or spoken language is the register in which it is delivered. Experts say that there are three registers of language, titled R1, R2, and R3. R1 is the level of language used most commonly by politicians, lawyers, and found in the upper-market range of newspapers. R2 is the most commonly used by people in everyday conversation with acquaintances and people they have just met (outside a framework of formality).
R3 is the register that may be used between close friends and is heavily based in slang. Considering how educated your audience is, and how formal you wish the speech to be, will govern the choice of register.
The audience’s familiarity with an interest in the topic will also be of importance. You may be seeking to educate your audience on the topic in hand, or to communicate your own ideas to an audience who is already familiar with the topic. Deciding between these will help shape your speech – if they are familiar with the topic then it does not hurt to include some jargon, as this may even make your speech that little bit more dynamic – if you don’t need to keep explaining things, you can communicate ideas more effectively.
The mood and opinion of your audience is also important. It will influence the tone and content of your speech, as a nervous or worried audience will require an element of comfort or reassurance, while a celebratory audience will want to share a positive, electric atmosphere and possibly hear some congratulations.
One person speaking to a large crowd is in a unique position – they have the attention of many people and the power to get ideas across that will change mindsets and behavior on a large scale. It is therefore important to consider how you phrase things, and that you correct any persistent misconceptions of which you are aware.