How will your audience react to your message?

1. Is your message / concern important to your audience?
   The easiest way to show importance to your audience would be to offer them benefits from your proposed ideas. Be sure to show how your concern relates to your audience and how they will benefit from accepting your ideas.
2. Is your audience opposed to your message / concern?
   Try to understand why your audience may hold beliefs that oppose your own; understanding their beliefs will allow you to develop a message that will persuade your audience. Developing common ground between you and your audience will show them that you share their concerns and understand those concerns. Offer your proposed idea with as little interference as possible; the less intrusive you can be in your request, the more likely your audience will accept your proposal.
3. Will your audience be able to easily grant your request?
   The more difficult, time-consuming, or expensive your proposal is to your audience, the more difficult time you will have persuading them. Be sure to present your proposal in the simplest, most direct manner possible; bulleted or numbered lists offer your audience the ability to see how many components exist to your proposal.

What positive aspects can you emphasize in your message?

1. What are the benefits of your message to your audience?
   Show your audience what benefits to them can arise from implementing a proposal from your message. Offer your solutions or ideas as ways your audience can improve their good or service, thus improving business.
2. What goals / benefits do you share with your audience?
   When discussing mutual benefits, you have the opportunity to relate to your audience directly in a sense that show you are working with your audience to mutual satisfaction / benefit. Presenting these benefits in a manner that shows you can relate to and understand your audience's concerns will more likely persuade your audience.

How much information does your audience need?

1. What does your audience know about your subject material?
   Be sure to define terms and concepts that may not be understood by your specific audience. Some audiences may understand many concepts from your subject and may be insulted by over-explanation; other audiences may feel lost in a document that does not fully explain / define the concepts it discusses because of their lack of understanding of those concepts.
2. Has your audience gained its knowledge of the topic through reading or personal experience?
   There is a difference between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Information gained from experience tends to be more likely grasped than information that is simply read. Theoretical understanding of a subject can offer a good framework of understanding of a topic, but often times the practical experiences will cement that knowledge.
3. What specific concepts from your subject must your audience know to understand your writing?
   When referencing previously-defined concepts or terms in your writing, be sure to refer to those ideas consistently and clearly so your audience knows exactly what term or concept you are discussing, as to not force readers to review material each time a term appears in your document.

What types of writing does your audience prefer reading?

1. What style of writing does your audience prefer?
   Be sure to use an appropriate voice and level of diction for your audience. Children do not understand seven-syllable technical terms; adults do not like patronizing writing.
2. Are there terms or concepts that may disturb / offend your readers?
   Your audience may have a predisposition toward the subject material you are trying to present. Be sure to present your information with benefits to the reader as to show the value of your knowledge. (e.g. Many college students do not like English classes, so I must present my information in a manner that seems valuable to those students.)
3. Does your audience prefer direct or indirect writing?
   Different cultures prefer different organizations in writing. Some groups prefer direct writing, where you state your main point and follow that up with support and examples; other groups prefer indirect writing, where you use examples to develop a sort of pattern or genre, then use these examples to arrive at a main point. Be sure to use the appropriate pattern in your writing.
4. Are there elements of formatting that your audience expects in your writing?
   Instructions often have accompanying visuals to demonstrate the written concepts in a document; footnotes / captions provide readers with additional information about a given discussion or visual; many forms of writing use headings and spacing to define and separate chunks of information. Use these techniques to accommodate your readers.

How will your audience use your document?

1. In what setting will your audience use your document?
   Think about the differences between reading a document on paper and on the Internet: flipping through numerous pages or scrolling down a long screen; linear print reading or intertwined Web links; black and white or color. Also, visual elements such as lists, headings, and spacing can help readers scan documents in distracting environments.
2. What type of resource will your document become?
   For this class, we use a handbook that allows us to look up immediately pertinent information rather than having to read through a lengthy narrative to find the same information. This suits an audience interested in finding information quickly and easily, an audience who appreciates directness in writing.

Concepts adapted from Locker, 66-70.