ABSTRACT
This book paints a different picture of audiences than the one many of us hold in our imaginations, and by doing so redefines our roles as communicators. In the first part of the book, we see that audiences are not empty cups waiting to be filled with whatever information we would like to pour into them but are instead highly-selective and highlycritical decision makers. Experienced audiences already know what type of information they need from us even before they sit down to read our documents or listen to our presentations. No matter how logical, reasonable, correct, and factual our communica - tions may be, if we fail to anticipate the information needs of our audiences, we will fail to persuade them. Thus, our job in selecting persuasive content for our documents, presentations, and meetings is less subjective than we first imagined. It is tightly constrained by the audience’s information requirements.
