The Audience Decides argues that the political parties, aided and abetted by mass media, have abdicated one of their most important responsibilities: that of providing and vetting the best leadership options available. The search for followers, ratings, and attention has led to the structure of presidential debates, especially during the primary season, being driven by goals of entertaining the public at the expense of enlightening the citizenry. To understand the role of the audience as active participant in political debates, and how their function has been subverted, this book focuses on behavior by the candidates and in-person audiences during the 2016 and 2020 general election debates. It does so by using observational methods to consider nonverbal behaviors by candidates to establish on-stage dominance and the observable audience reactions by the in-person audience and their effect on those following the debates. It is anticipated that The Audience Decides will allow for evaluation and reconsideration of how debates, or whatever replaces them, might not only entertain, but also enlighten the most important part of representative democracy – the voting public. Ultimately, it is hoped that debates will help the audience decide who their leader will be based upon substance, not style.

How Audiences Decide: A Cognitive Approach to Business Communication is a comprehensive introduction to persuasive communication in the context of business. It summarizes relevant theories and findings from the fields of cognitive science, social cognition, leadership, team cognition, psycholinguistics, and behavioral economics. By illuminating the thought processes of many different audiences, from consumers to Wall Street analysts to CEOs, it helps communicators better understand why audiences make the decisions they make and how to influence them. The book covers a broad range of communication techniques—including those concerning persuasive speaking and writing, interviews and group meetings, content and style, typography and nonverbal behaviors, charts and images, rational arguments and emotional appeals—and examines the empirical evidence supporting each of them.

For sixty years, Queen Elizabeth II has met with each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a private weekly audience. The discussions are utterly secret, even to the royal and ministerial spouses. Peter Morgan imagines these meetings over the decades of the Queen’s remarkable reign, through Prime Ministers from Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher to the 2015 incumbent David Cameron. THE AUDIENCE is a glimpse into the woman behind the crown, and the moments that have shaped the modern monarchy.