The Straw Person Audience

This week I was speaking to a group of would be podcasters who were a little taken aback when I asked them who their audience was.  The look in their eyes suggested that they thought I had misunderstood where they were in the process…as if the audience is something that comes after you have a show.  To be effective, you the opposite must be true.  Student podcasters must consider their audience before creating their first show.  Here’s why:

Audiences Build Authenticity

95-99% of what our students produce in school is academic exercise. (I’m basing this non scientific number on the dozens and dozens of speaking and training sessions I’ve conducted where I’ve informally surveyed my participants about their own academic experiences in K-12.) There is an audience of one or two people experiencing student work.  If no one looks at your work, it is hard to see the relevance.  Significance and audience are intertwined.  I get the impression sometimes that students have been conditioned to think of their teacher as the only plausible audience for their classroom work.  This is a trend that thoughtful podcasting classroom can break.

Audience Focuses Content and Voice

Often student writing is focused at no audience and has a sort of disconnected and vaguely objective tone.  Finding their own voice is much easier when they are writing (and then actually speaking!) to a real audience.  In systems planning, designers often imagine a “straw person” (an imaginary audience member or user) who moves through the system they are designing.  This straw person makes refocuses the functionality and usability of the product or system.   We can imagine the choices they might make and the reactions they might have.  Try doing this as you sit down to write.  Imagine a typical reader or listener:

• How old are they?
• What brought them to your site or podcast?
• What is most important to them?
• What needs are you trying to meet?
• What experience do they have?
• What do they value the most?

Take a little time and ask your students to describe (or better yet draw a picture of) a typical listener for your show.  Annotate your description with as many specific details about your listeners as possible.  Students may find they have some differing opinions about who the audience is and where their interests lie, but that is okay.  Audiences are not homogeneous.

Once you have a picture of who they are, write directly to them.  Speak to them.  Address their needs.  Anticipate their point of view without pigeonholing them.  Read your scripts out loud as if the straw person was in the room with you.  Develop a conversational voice that brings makes your audience feel as if you are a trusted friend who is there to help.

Your Audience Can Extend the Conversation

Your audience can do more than merely listen, they can contribute to the content of your show.  Be sure to open up a line of communication to your listeners.  Even just an email address to a class account managed by the teacher can give your listeners a way to share their reactions and ideas future shows. (hint hint: mine is dschmit@intelligenic.com ) This kind of two way communication runs counter to the common perception of podcasting as a one way medium.  Other options for feedback loops include:

• Blog comments (moderated by the teacher!)
• Feedback forms (Google Forms)
• Listener phone lines (Google Voice, J2.com)