1.4 Importance of Audience

Another key part of the definition of technical and professional communication is the receiver of the information—the audience. Technical communication is the delivery of technical information to readers (or listeners or viewers) in a manner that is adapted to their needs, level of understanding, and background. In fact, this audience element is so important that it is one of the cornerstones of this course: you are challenged to write about technical subjects but in a way that a beginner—a non-specialist—could understand. This ability to “translate” technical information to non-specialists is a key skill to any technical communicator. Technology companies are constantly struggling to find effective ways to help customers or potential customers understand the advantages or the operation of their new products.

In addition, communicating with employees within an organization also requires superior professional communication skills. Employees prefer detailed information in a timely manner when there are companywide changes such as layoffs and wage cuts (Sguera et al., 2021). When companies do not communicate, employees tend to become cynical and unhappy with their workplace. An individual with excellent communication skills is an asset to every organization. No matter what career you plan to pursue, learning to express yourself professionally in speech and in writing will help you get there.

Profiling or analyzing your audience takes skill and consideration. An effective communicator will need to consider the length of the message and the channel in which the message is communicated based on the audience’s needs. When you sit down to write, prepare a presentation or communicate with clients or coworkers, ask yourself the following questions:

• How big is my main audience? Is it one person, two, a few, several, a dozen, dozens, hundreds, or an indeterminately large number (the public)?
• Who might be my secondary or tertiary audiences (e.g., people you can see CC’d or people you can’t because they could be forwarded your email without you knowing)?
• What is my professional or personal relationship to them relative to their position/seniority in their organization’s hierarchy?
• How much do they already know about the topic of my message?
• What is their demographic—i.e., their age, gender, cultural background, educational level, and beliefs?
• How can I best write and deliver (i.e., channel) my message so it is received by my audience as I intend for it to be received?

This section is adapted from the following sources:

“What is Technical and Professional Communication” in Howdy or Hello? Technical and Professional Communication Copyright © 2022 by Matt McKinney, Kalani Pattison, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders, and Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

“Analyzing Your Audience” in Communication at Work Copyright © 2019 by Jordan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.