AUDIENCE ANALYSIS EXERCISE: CANNABIS IN CANADA

Now lets look at a completely different communication scenario. In October of 2018, after many years of debate and setbacks, the Canadian federal government legalized cannabis for recreational use (medicinal use had been decriminalized in 2011). Canada thus became the second country in the world to officially legalize cannabis cultivation and consumption (interestingly, Uruguay was the first and I know what youre thinking: What about The Netherlands?? Nope.). Naturally, the government is concerned about the implications of widespread cannabis availability, and it wants to make sure everyone understands the new rules. Its especially concerned about underaged users.

The Scenario: BC police officers (working with the BC Ministry of Education) will be coming to speak at high school assemblies in the lead-up to cannabis legalization, before the new laws go into effect (so imagine this is a couple years back).

1. First, consider the context/venue. In this case the context/venue for the communication is a school assembly. How do school assemblies tend to go, then? Are they formal things or informal? How long do they last? Who gets to speak? What do they tend to be about? Etc Describe it. (If youre an international student, imagine an equivalent situation: school officials want to talk to all the students about something. Usually they get everyone into a gymnasium for this.)

2. First, consider the audience. Who will be receiving this information? How would you describe the audience? What kind of attitude do they tend to have about such assemblies? Is it a fun thing? A boring thing? What might their thoughts/feelings be about cannabis legalization?

3. Who is the speaker/rhetor in this situation? Describe the speaker. How will the audience see/think about this speaker?

4. What is this speakers purpose at this assembly? What will s/he want to accomplish?

5. What will the audience (of assembled high school students) want to know? What information will they be most interested in?

6. So if you were this police officer, how would you approach your speech about cannabis laws to a bunch of high school students?

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