Okay so Ari Stotle said that there were like three audiences out there and that whenever you were speaking you were probably speaking to one of these three audience. Unless you were talking to yourself, but that wouldn't really be an audience so that's besides the point. Of course, the world has grown much bigger since the early days of Earth when Aristitle wrote these wise words of wisdom, but in general most audiences today are a lot like one of those three original audiences of yesteryear.
What are those three audiences you ask? I'm glad you asked because I'm going to tell you.
First is what is called a Judicial audience. This is an audience that judges and stuff.
The second is called a Deliberative audience. This is an audience that deliberates.
The third is an audience called the Epidicktic. This is an audience that epidicks.
What's most important to remember about these three audiences is that they all look at time differently. For example ergo, the Judicial audience looks back in time, like 1955 or something like that, and they are concerned with things that have already happened. Mainly they just want to declare whether or not something was "just" there.
The Deliberative Audience on the other hand wants to read the future. Whereas those sad Judicial people are all stuck in the past, the Deliberatives want to know the what to do to get to the future.
AN ASIDE MONOLOGUE: Note how Republicans are all judicial and stuck in the past whereas ergo the Democrats are all deliberative and always dreaming of the future. This is where the old saying, "Republicans are stuck in the past." comes from. FYI.
Now the last audience is the really interesting cool one. The Epidicktic audience isn't concerened necessarily with the future. And they arne't really concerned with the past either. Nor are they concerned with the far future or the far far past. Instead, they're all about RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. So, all the gen-x kids are basically epicktic people because all they care about is right here, right now. Also, they're really ceremonial, like rituals and stuff. Again, I can hear the gen-x-ers knocking on the door... "Hey, open up! It's time for the ritual! And that time is RIGHT NOW!" (If I had a nickle for every time I heard somebody say THAT!!! LOLROTFL!")
Whatever the case, just be sure to know that when you are speaking to an audience, that there is an audience there -- and they might think different things. Are they concerned with the 1950s? Or with the 2050s? The answer my friends is blowing in the wind.