Know your audience
Whenever you are making a presentation, speech or give a media interview then it is important that you should know your audience.
Your audience
Your audience is made up of individuals. Each one has different interests, needs and may hold different levels within the company or community. The size of your audience will determine the way in which you approach your presentation or speech. You need to know something about them and you need to ‘pitch’ the presentation or speech to suit their level of knowledge and the amount of information they need to make a decision or take an action.
Knowing your audience
- What do you know about your audience?
- Have you met any of them before?
- What are their interests?
- Who are the key decision makers?
- Do they have any preconceived ideas about you and your company?
- What level of knowledge do they possess?
- What is the size of the audience?
- What sort of mood are they likely to be in when you arrive?
- Are there some people in the audience who are already against us (perhaps favouring a rival company)?
- What length of presentation or speech are they expecting?
- What are they looking for in the presentation or speech?
- What results do you want from them?
- Will they expect to ask questions?
Let us assume that you have just walked into the room. You are faced by ten bored looking people. One person has fallen asleep. You know that they have just received a presentation from a rival company. What do you do?
Should you be so lucky then you should know something about the previous company and their style of presentation. Instantly you have an advantage. Your first job is to make them sit up and pay attention. That means you have to say or do something startling.
Once you have done that you can start to draw your audience into the presentation or speech. As you begin look carefully at their body language. Study their reactions to your words. Have they got that – ‘we have heard this all before’ look on their faces or have you got their interest? Is your presentation or speech going to be just another reeling out of the facts or are you going to give them something different?
During one presentation I had to sit through 15 minutes of being told what the company had done for previous clients. We were not interested. We wanted to know what they could do for us!
As the presentation continued the look on our Directors face said it all. In the end the speaker was asked to ‘cut the introduction and get on with the business’ (or words to that effect).
Below is a chart showing the way in which you can expect an audience to react.
At first their attention level will be high. Then as you go into the presentation or speech you can expect their attention level to drop. Your aim is to keep their attention level as high as possible.
Bored audiences
- Shuffling feet or constant shuffling in their chairs
- Whispering to each other
- Lack of eye contact – or eyes closed (fast asleep?)
- People leaving
- Slumped in chairs
- Yawning (even worse if it is suppressed)
- Doodling or fiddling with pens, papers, glasses
If the body slumps, people start fidgeting in their seats or staring out of the window then you know you have lost them. However if they are taking notes, leaning forward or maintaining eye contact then you know that you have got them interested.
Avoid saying finally until you mean it. ‘Finally’ is one of those words that bring attention levels back up. If it turns out to be a false statement then their attention level will drop to new lows. Nor will they listen attentively to the end of your presentation – the crunch point will be lost to them as they wonder how much longer the presentation will last.
The average audience can easily be distracted by personal habits especially if the speech is boring. The more distractions the less likely they will be to hear what you have to say and once distracted it is hard to pull them back.
Distractions
- Moving about too much or getting to close to the audience
- Expansive hand gestures
- Jangling or too much jewellery
- Fiddling with coins in your pockets
- Tapping on the lectern, turning your back on the audience, rustling papers
- Reading from a script and then failing to look up
- Waiters/waitresses cleaning up coffee cups or setting up for a break
- Constant reference to the words on visuals (they end up reading the words and not listening to you)
- Er’s, um’s or nerve words such as ‘actually’ or ‘basically’
- Nervous coughs or clearing of the throat
- Slow delivery or speaking too fast
- Voice rising up at the end of a sentence or fading away
There is a big difference between knowing the theory and making it happen. For help in implementing your communications practices email us now.
