Audience Levels in Professional Communication

1. Audience Levels in Professional Communication

2. Audience Levels in Professional Communication • Public (usually hold high school diploma) • Managers (usually hold undergraduate degree) • Experts (usually hold advanced degree)

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Average Sentence Length for Professional Communication Audiences • Public • 10-15 words/sentence • Managers • 15-20 words/sentence • Experts • 20+ words/sentence

6. 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.

7. Average Paragraph Length for Professional Communication Audiences • Public • 1-3 sentences/paragraph • Managers • 4-5 sentences/paragraph • Experts • 6+ sentences/paragraph

8. 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]

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.