In the art and science of Public Speaking, the starting point of preparation should focus on the audience. It is not about the speaker. It is all about the audience. Therefore, begin as if you were a market researcher and you are determined to understand your customers fully. Who are they exactly? Who will be in the audience? This is the master key to an effective pep talk and to excellent preparation. In The 7 Strategies of Master Presenters, Dr Brad McRae and David Brooks point out some of the things you should strive to know about the audience.
- Level of Thinking
Firstly, analyse how the audience thinks by asking the following questions: What are their goals and aspirations? What are their hopes and fears as they relate to your subject? What needs do they have that you can fulfil with your comments and ideas? What are their values and beliefs? What is their political orientation? What sort of religious feelings or commitments do they have? What are their worries, concerns or problems? Understanding the emotional context people bring to your pep talk can be very helpful in connecting with them. Asking meeting planners these quality questions in advance or studying their websites and published materials will help you get the answers you need.
- Common Desires
It is of supreme importance to understand what dreams, goals, or ideas that knit the audience. If you are speaking to an audience of sales professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners, and network marketers, they all want to achieve financial success. Therefore, everything you choose to talk about should relate to how they can use certain ideas to augment their levels of income and profitability. This is what will make people in that meeting to lean forward. They will listen closely to every word as you say it in substance. They will even give you a standing ovation.
- Age Bracket
How old are your audience members? What are their age ranges? As a speaker, it behoves you to have such details at the ready as you surge to the stage. Why? Because every age bracket has a different understanding and culture.
- Gender Issues
What is the gender mix in your audience? Sometimes, the audi. Or the audience can be 5 % men and 95% women. This gender breakdown will influence how you design your remarks and make your points.
- Level of Income
What are the incomes of the people in your audi? How much do they earn on average? What is their income range, from the lowest to the highest? In particular, how do they earn their incomes? Knowing this can help you to refer to money and income-related topics in a way that is more acceptable to most of them.
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- Level of Education
What is the educational background of the people who are part of the audience? Are they pre-teens in upper primary or teens in high school? Are they young adults in college and university? Do they have liberal-arts degrees or engineering degrees? Over and above, knowing the level of education of your listeners helps you when it comes to the choice of examples, illustrations and vocabulary.
- Types of Occupation
What do they do to eke out a living? How do they fend for themselves? How long have they been working in their particular fields? What are the trends and emerging issues in their fields? Is this a boom time or a bust time for the work that they do?
- Family Status
What is their family status? Are they single, married, widowed or divorced? Are they mostly single or mostly married? Do most of them have children?
- Familiarity with the Subject
What is the audience’s familiarity with the subject you are about to talk about? What do they know about what you are about to talk about? Are they beginners or knowledgeable? This will help you decide how complex or simple you make your presentation.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out training programmes in Public Speaking.
vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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