who are you?

The main point of my post last week was to ask you to remember just how lucky you are when given the chance to present to others.  Someone thinks you deserve a valuable opportunity to share what you know and, whether it’s an elevator pitch or in a three-hour seminar, the audience is yours to captivate and inspire. You’ve got their time, so why wouldn’t you use it to everyone’s best advantage?

When I’m working on presentations for clients (or even my own), I always start by doing an analysis of the audience. Remember, when they come to hear you speak, members of your audience are giving you a precious commodity – their time – so it’s only fair you think about them, first and foremost.  I group my questions into three main areas: what’s the opportunity; what does the audience know already; and what do you think they want to hear?

1) What do you know about the opportunity?

• Can you identify a broad demographic for your crowd? Think about gender, age, education.
• How big will your audience be?
• Are you going to be talking to people who work in the same industry as you? If not, what industry or sector do they come from?
• Is this an event that brings together people with strong shared interests in a particular topic, or a diverse group of people with perhaps less interest and understanding in the same things?
• Are there other speakers at the event?  If so, do you know what they’re going to talk about?
• How is the event being marketed? Does that give you any ideas for how you should pitch your presentation? [If it does, make a note, and move on! I’ll get back to this later!]

2) What do you think the audience already does or doesn’t know?

Your answers to the questions above, about the opportunity, will obviously influence the questions you ask yourself about your audience, but to give you an idea for what to think about:

• How much do you think your audience knows, or understands, about your topic? If you’re not sure, is there someone else you can ask (maybe a conference organizer), to get a better idea?
• Is your audience interested in the topic, or do they have to be there to listen to you?
• Can you assume a consistent level of understanding about what you’re talking about? For example, will you be presenting in a technical breakout session to an audience with a similar level of technical understanding? Or, are you giving a keynote presentation where you might be talking to a mixed audience, made up of techies, sales and marketing types, and others?

3) What do you think your audience wants to hear?

• Why do you think your audience will want to listen to what you have to say?  Is their interest more general or is it specific to something you are doing or that you’re an expert in?
• What two or three things do you think they are most interested in hearing about, and why?
• Are there any specific needs or interests you should address?

This isn’t an exhaustive list of questions, and I’m sure you’ll come up with others.  I’ve also included the A.U.D.I.E.N.C.E acronym, which a lot of people use to guide their analysis.  Find something that works for you.

None of this is rocket science, but you’ll be thinking like a genius if you just spend a few minutes considering who you’re going to be talking to, before deciding what to say and how to say it.