The benefits of knowing them early are that:
Allow you to prepare an audience-centred message. They are more likely to listen to you when you speak from their points of views.
Create a connection between you and your audiences.
Find a common ground to start a conversation.
Use appropriate oral, written, or visual communication that your audiences can understand easily.
This is for you if
You want to give a speak/talk to a group of people.
You want to run user interviews to uncover more information for your research topics.
You plan to attend meetup events to meet new people.