One of the most important skills in successful communication is to know your audience. This may sound like common sense, but it is surprising how often vital information can be passed over or disregarded because its intended audience either didn’t understand the message or didn’t see it. Whether you are writing a policy document, a website, an e-mail or speaking on the phone, you will need to make sure that the information you are giving will make sense and be of use to the person receiving it. It is important to identify your audience before starting to think about precisely what you will say and how will be best to say it.

Ask yourself:

• What is the information being produced for? Is it a procedural note, a policy document, an invitation or an offer?
• Is the information you want to give out relevant to only one specific audience or to more than one? You may need to edit the same information into two different versions to accommodate two different audiences; what a KCC employee may understand could make no sense at all to a member of the public.
• If you were reading this information for the first time and had no prior knowledge of the subject matter, would you understand all the special terms, jargon and acronyms?
• How does your intended audience expect to access such information? Does it require an update to a website, a printed leaflet, an article in the schools e-bulletin, an e-mail?
• Is your information linked to any other useful information that already exists?

Who are our CFE audiences?

Is your audience internal or external? Professional or general public?

• The general public
• Parents & carers
• Special interest groups
• Police, health and voluntary sector personnel
• KCC education , health & social care professionals and other CFHE staff Independent education professionals
• Schools, Headteachers and their staff
• Cluster teams
• School governors
• KCC Members
• KCC staff in other directorates

Check out the A-Z and the Channels page for help with specific queries, or talk to us if you would like more help.