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Module B > Audience considerations 

Audience considerations

When designing a solution to fit your audience’s needs and produce the intended results, you need to tailor the program to characteristics of your audience. 

What are the people like in your target audience? (Hint: “The public” is usually too broad.)

• What characteristics might influence your target audience’s willingness or ability to use your program? Will any of the following affect your planning: age of your audience, gender, education level, interests, learning style, schedule, economics, mobility or access to transportation or language?
• How should you consider the target audience’s attitudes or experiences, habits, values, belief systems or customs in your planning?

What characteristics might create a barrier to the experience you want them to have or the changes you hope to see in this group? Let’s look at some examples to see how a consideration affects planning:

"Many senior citizens prefer not to drive at night." : Schedule classes at the library during the daytime hours. (See “Audience Considerations” in the planning document of the Riverton Memoirs case.)

"Target audience members depend on busses for transportation." : Provide a shuttle from the usual bus route or from schools to the museum or back. 

"Parents in the area often work a variety of shifts." : Plan on several options for both registration and program attendance.

"Science teachers have relatively large class sizes." : Ensure that lesson plans allow for group work and inexpensive materials. 

"Audience members are from several different ethnic groups; some are recent immigrants." : Provide materials in several languages. 

Let’s look at an example of the audience considerations at work in designing a program.

Library example: Audience considerations about need and audience

Explore the audience considerations underlying a program of the River County Public Library to help residents improve their writing and feel part of a community of writers.

Examine assumptions behind project planning.

"Audience" : Library patrons ask for a writing class for adults, both those who work and those who are retired.

"Program Planner" : Feedback questionnaires show that people want a regular meeting time and a facilitator for discussion.

"Research" : Older adults like programs with autobiographical writing because it aids in reviewing their life, passing on family incidents and preserving their memories. Paraphrase from Marsha Rossiter, “Narrative and Stories in Adult Teaching and Learning,” 2002, ERIC Digest #241, Clearinghourse of Adult, Career and Vocational Education.
 

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