2. Know your Audience
Your purpose in making a presentation is to inform, persuade, or entertain your listeners.
In order to achieve your purpose, you must satisfy them with something in
which they are interested. Thus, it is important to know what your audience is interested
in, what their expectations are and even what mood they are in.
You can find out about the audience through research before you speak, through
interaction at the beginning of your talk, and by making adjustments during the
speech.
Before you Speak
Before you speak--and even before you prepare your speech--you should know
what sort of audience you will have. What is the nature of the group? What do they
expect to hear from you? Do they have any special interests or prejudices about
which you should be aware?
Who is in the Audience?
In speaking to a group of managers at work, you have a good idea of who will be in
the audience. There may be some individuals to be wary of or a decision-maker to
whom you should focus the speech.
Gain Rapport
If you find out about some key people in the audience, you can use them in your
opening comments to gain rapport with the audience. Everyone likes a humorous
comment about the boss--at your expense, not at his or hers.
At the Beginning of the Talk
Comments you make at the beginning of the speech or presentation can give you
clues about your audience and their expectations.
Although, you can't be expected to have several versions of a speech or presentation,
you can use some opening remarks and responses from the audience to give
you an idea of the direction of their interest and perhaps their mood. If the audience
seems in a light mood, perhaps you could sprinkle in a few jokes to keep their interest.
If they seemed to be very serious about your topic, you should get right to the
meat of the matter.
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5
Don't be a Self-centered Speaker
Nothing is worse than going to a speech, wanting to hear some information, and
having the speaker drone on and on about something of no interest to you or most
of the audience. The speaker must get an idea in the beginning of his talk concerning
what the audience wants--not what he or she wants to say.
During the Presentation
While you are giving a talk, you can often tell if the audience is enthralled with your
material or if they are getting bored or restless. The problem usually occurs when
the speaker is so caught up in what he or she is saying that the audience might as
well not be there.
Don't get them Bored
In any situation where it seems that the audience is getting restless or bored, the
best thing to do is to summarize things and to end your talk. It is better to have a
shorter speech than to go too long and bore people. This is true in any speech.
Benefits of Knowing the Audience
When you know what the audience wants and likes, when you know what mood
the audience is in, and when you know something about the audience, they become
more interested in what you have to say.
A successful speaker achieves the goals of expression, listener satisfaction and
desired rewards