Audience Notes- June 2013

Before getting started, I've got a concept I need to explain.   There are different types of things in the world and different types of experiences.


Singular                                                 Plural

I                                                                It
tastes,likes and dislikes                           An object and its properties 



We                                                            Its
Values                                                       Relationships between objects


Good writing requires an author to stay focused on all of these things, but the primary two are the audiences tastes and values.  To some extent these can be safely assumed.   There are certain universals about human beings, and there are certain "safe assumptions."

assumption one:  It is very difficult to change anyone's mind about subjective things.  
assumption two: It is very difficult to make a clear point about subjective things.
assumption three: Most emotional responses are based on individual tastes, group values, or human universals.

Consider writing a paper on family values.   What would you say to an atheist about the importance of family values?
Values only apply within the group that shares those values.  Common traits are one thing.  Common interests are another thing.  Self interest is the thing.

Writing for an audience is an art of educated guesses.   There is very rarely the chance to do market research.   There is rarely the chance for audience based revision.   The common experience is shaping the next assignment based on the information about audience gained from the last assignment.

Some examples and concrete details have an effect on anyone: sex, food, fear, surprise, pattern recognition (something familiar).  John Medina calls them evolutionarily competent stimuli or something like that.


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I overheard someone who doesn't know anything about sports watching a baseball game with another guy I didn't know.   The friend who didn't know sports saw a Cincinnati Reds player make an error and he said "that guy needs to go back to training school."
Immediately the man he was talking to knew that he didn't know baseball.

If you talk in the right way, the audience will conclude that "the writer is one of us."   If you talk about foreign concepts in terms of unfamiliar experiences, the audience will conclude the opposite.

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Caesar wrote a book detailing his own conquests in foreign lands.

What was his purpose?   (We don't know.)
What is a VERY safe guess?  (He wrote to make himself look good.)

So how do you make a story of conquest impressive?
1.  The people you conquer must be in need of "civilization" (conquering).   This can be in terms of technology, culture, religion, etc...
2. The people you conquer must be great warriors (impressive to conquer)

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Athletic Coaches
Purpose and Audience

When a coach talks about a team before the game, does he say "this team is terrible" if a team is terrible?   Nope.   His purpose is to motivate his audience to try hard during the game and to prepare hard before the game.

When a coach has lost an important game due to the mistakes of a single player, does that coach throw that player under the bus?  Does that coach clearly and publicly criticize the player?   Nope.   The coach is critical is practice, but understanding in front of the media.

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Imagine a comedian appears and offers you a thousand dollars to make an individual laugh.   Wouldn't you want to know who that individual was?

Imagine a thousand to cook a delicious dinner...

Imagine a thousand to write a song that an individual will love...

Imagine a thousand to write a commercial that an individual will respond to....


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Dealing with audience, there are only two methods.
1. Market research
2. Educated guesses

If it is a situation that permits revisions, there is a third method:  responding to audience reactions.

This leads to a problem.   Crafting something according to an educated guess about the audience makes it very unlikely to create a total flop, bomb, mistake, ineffective piece of work.    It also makes it difficult to achieve something truly great, unique, and consequential.

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Audience analysis is a double-edged sword.   Making educated guesses drastically improves the rate of success.   Making educated guesses makes genius impossible.   The past is our only evidence.   If we rely only on evidence, humanity is in trouble in an evolving world.  
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Walter ong says the audience is always a fiction.

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Images for inclusion in the audience powerpoint
animated audience gifs

The Doug Benson joke challenge pictures


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Tool                                                     Potential Use
Description                                          Spin positive. Spin negative, use emotions, give information

Compare/Contrast                               Spin positive, spin negative, downplay or intensify

Examples                                             Create a vivid memory.  Make a point clear.  mythbusting