Audience Levels in Professional Communication

Audience Levels in Professional Communication

• Public (usually hold high school diploma)

• Managers (usually hold undergraduate degree)

• Experts (usually hold advanced degree)

Writing Styles Appropriate to Professional Communication Audiences: High, Middle, and Low

• [High Style—Inappropriate for Prof. Comm. Audiences]—found in poetry, some sermons, dignified speeches and addresses, highbrow prose.

• High Middle Style—Appropriate for Experts—found in journals for most disciplines.

• Middle Middle Style—Appropriate for Managers—found in annual reports.

• Low Middle Style—Appropriate for the Public—found in newspaper articles, brochures, cookbooks.

• [Low Style—Inappropriate for Prof. Comm. Audiences]—found in graffiti, Mickey Spillane novels, bar-room discussions.

Elements of Style that May Change with Audience Level

• Diction (Word Choice)

• Sentence Length

• Sentence Complexity

• Paragraph Length

• Punctuation

• Amount of Definition

• Documentation

• Graphic Aids

Average Sentence Length for Professional Communication Audiences

• Public

10-15 words/sentence

• Managers

15-20 words/sentence

•Experts

20+ words/sentence

Sentence Types Appropriate for Various Professional Communication Audiences

Simple Sentence—all audiences

Subject—Verb—Object

Compound Sentence—all audiences

Two or more Simple Sentences

Complex Sentence—mainly managers and experts

Main Clause joined to Subordinate Clause

Compound-Complex Sentence—mainly experts

Two or More Simple Sentences with Subordinate Clause.

Average Paragraph Length for Professional Communication Audiences

• Public

1-3 sentences/paragraph

• Managers

4-5 sentences/paragraph

•Experts

6+ sentences/paragraph

Punctuation in Relation to Professional Communication Audiences

Public Audience and Above:

Comma, Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point (but not for experts), Apostrophe, Hyphen, Quotation Marks, Parentheses

Managerial Audience and Above:

Colon, Dash, Brackets

Expert Audience:

Semicolon, Ellipsis, Braces, [but no Exclamation Point]

Amount of Definition in Relation to Professional Communication Audiences

Public Audience—Not much definition because most technical terms are replaced by simple ones; when technical terms are used, they are always defined.

Managerial Audience--Technical terms frequently used and defined.

Expert Audience—Few or no definitions since experts are expected to know the meaning of technical terminology.

Graphics in Relation to Professional Communication Audiences

Appropriate for Public Audience

Photographs, Pie Charts, Pictographs, Simple Graphs; limited use of graphics.

Appropriate for Managerial Audiences

Flow Charts, Moderately Complex Graphs; moderate use of graphics.

Appropriate for Expert Audiences

Tables, Complex Graphs; extensive use of graphics.

Versions of the Same Message for Various Audiences

High Style: By the Lord Almighty, there is an arachnid in my repast.

High Middle Style (for Experts): A specimen of Latrodectus mactans is inhabiting my container of cereal nutriment.

Middle Middle Style (for Managers): A black widow spider is floating in my bowl of Cheerios.

Low Middle Style (for Public): A spider is in my cereal.

Low Style: Holy shit! There’s a bug in my chow.