Public Speaking

It’s not about you

It can be a relief to know that presentations and speeches aren’t all about you.

Your audience isn’t typically forensically examining everything you say. It takes work to get people to listen to you. You do that by making it about them.

It’s all about your audience.

That means you need to be tuned into them. Try asking yourself these questions:

1. Why have I been asked to talk to this group?

Make sure you deliver what you’ve been asked to do. Audiences aren’t best pleased if you fritter away their time.

2. What’s their starting point?

Find out about your audience. For example:

What do they already know? Do you need to over some basics or would that waste time?
Are they familiar with the jargon you’d usually use?
Are there any subjects you need to avoid or you absolutely must include?
Does everyone have access to the language you’re using? They might not be native speakers, so need you to slow down and not use idioms. They might need a sign language interpreter.

There are loads of things you could potentially find out about them. Narrow them down to the important ones.

3. Now, go back and do step 2 again.

This time, really put yourself into their shoes; don’t just use what you think you know about them.

If someone has asked you to present, take a list of questions to them to answer about your audience. You don’t want to fall foul of the Curse of Knowledge, where you make assumptions that turn out to be important… and wrong.

4. Who is the decision-maker?

If you’re asking people to make a decision, build your information around what they need to know. Make it easy for them to say yes. Careful, though, the decision-maker might not be who you think it is. Ask.