One of the skills a marketer knows if he wants a high response from his campaign is to understand the make-up of his audience. He will dig deep to understand their core desires, needs, and wants.
In essence, what “makes them tick!”
Well, the same type of expertise is needed to win over your audience when you give a speech or presentation. For the speaker to succeed he NEEDS to know who they are and why that audience is there.
The good part is that the client and the location can give significant information about the audience and related demographics.
This is especially needed before a business presentation. With so much riding on the success of your speech— it’s important to know the composition of the audience, who really determines your ultimate success!
1. Where are they from:
An audience from the Midwest will respond differently to a topic than an audience from New York City. If the audience is gathered from across the country, it will be important to accommodate the range of viewpoints. If the audience is international in composition it will be important to reduce jargon and use expressions and terms that will translate easier in their minds.
2. What do they do?
In many cases the audience has demographic features with similar occupations or interests. The speech written for engineers would be factual and analytical; the speech written for teachers would be informative and more creative in design.
3. Why are they there?
The audience that is in attendance for entertainment has different requirements than that of an audience attending for education or information.
4.How large is the group?
Is it a large audience where projection and volume will be an essential part of delivery? Is it a smaller group that will need a more intimate style and more casual delivery?
5. Does the audience know you?
As a speaker’s reputation grows, so grows the expectation of the audience. If this is the first time an audience has seen the speaker, the expectation is different than if they have an expectation based on a branded concept or established reputation.
6. Will they know the topic?
Does the audience have the necessary background or requisite information to understand the presentation? Will the speaker need to include a review of foundation or basic information to establish a comfortable environment for the audience?
7. Are they required to be here?
Is the audience paying to be here? More importantly, is this a requirement for their work or did they stand inline to pay to see someone whose reputation has generated interest for them?
8. Will the audience support or resist your topic?
You want the path of least resistance. If the speech is persuasive or motivational it is essential to know to what extent the speech will need to move them.
If the speech is to motivate a change in behavior in a conservative audience the speech will need to be constructed in a different fashion than if the audience is leaning toward the topic initially.
Just like a pilot does an instrument check before taking his air craft off into the wild blue yonder, so must a speaker do the same thing to get the results he wants. And that’s a rousing presentation that motivates, inspires, and helps solve the pain of their targeted audience!
Are you serious about being a public speaker? Do you want to know how to infuse humor in every presentation? Do you want to know how to correctly use your voice to command attention in every venue? Do you want to learn how to craft a compelling story? Well, then you should high tail it over to publicspeaklikeapro.com and check out my three public speaking packages.
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