The five best ways to reach your audience

Most of my talks this spring, and a whole bunch already planned for the late summer, have all really been about only one thing. "Persuasion" is maybe the best word for it but "influence" and "motivation" play their parts also.

I have, in all, up to 2 hours of material (videos, examples, pictures etc) designed to hammer home some important points and explain why they are so important and exactly how you can apply these to a regular everyday presentation. Way, way too much to put here of course! But it all really boils down to five points.

1. Make contact with the audience, eye contact, open gestures
2. Make it about your audience, talk about what interests THEM
3. Be an authority, DEMONSTRATE that you know what you're doing, don't just say that you do
4. Stick out, be memorable, do something unexpected
5. Don't talk about information, tell stories

There's loads more stuff that's important and a wealth of things to think about when it comes to applying them. But maybe this shortlist will inspire some specific ideas that you can apply to your own presentations right now. Give it some thought. I'm sure there's something that you can do directly.


Here's a photo of a spot on my cycle ride home, one of my favourite bits. Have a great weekend everyone!

Dear John - a tale of separation

Dear John,
(that was your name wasn't it? I'm afraid I'm already forgetting)

I'm sitting here drinking coffee and chewing on a piece of cinnamon bun. Don't really have the energy to talk to anybody, even though there are many interesting people around me. I've just been listening to your presentation, the first 45 min up to the coffee break, and I'm sorry to say that I'm considering leaving you now.

I had such great hopes from the beginning. The subject is fascinating and I've read enough to know that there's much more to learn and enjoy. I looked forward to settling back in my seat and hearing the real thing, a true expert. Enlightenment was on the menu. Clarity and facts were food for my soul, but this fare has sent me into a post-presentation stupor. I'm over-full, over-fed, stuffed to the gills but still haven't tasted what I came for.

Something passed by there on slide number 38, seemed to be just what I wanted to know, but now I only have a ghostly image on the back of my mind which is fading fast. I'm really not too good at reading fast and listening at the same time. I guess it's back to the textbooks now.

I hope you won't miss me or mind that I go. You didn't catch my eye for 45 min, so I'm guessing you won't be so disappointed. I wish you all the best for the rest of your talk, you sure do know a whole lot about this subject so you won't have any trouble filling the next 45 min. You seem to love what you do and to be quite content talking about your passion.

Have a great conference, I'm off to listen to that guy in the other lecture hall now.

All the best,
Your audience.

Three levels of expertise

When I coach speakers I think in terms of three levels. Level I is all about the tools and basic skills. Planning presentations, using pictures and words, how you stand, how you use your voice, achieving good eye contact, rhetorical methods etc.
On the next level, Level II, it's all about connecting with the audience. If you're relatively relaxed and have good eye contact you can use it to forge a true connection. You can use stories and examples, metaphors and humour to shape people's experience of the presentation. This is where you move on to advanced presentation technique.
At the top level, Level III it's time to cut loose and be genuinely personal. The goal is to be able to present really well without any pre-warning or preparation and to be able to hold people's attention for a couple of hours, or even a day or two, without flagging. To prepare material that is both informative and motivating and which truly reaches people in order to influence them in the best possible way. And, most importantly, the end goal is to influence them to do something - to buy your product, to support you, to help with something, to be motivated.

You don't have to to work with someone else to achieve these three levels. Set up your own plan. List the things you need to polish in order to clear Level I (practice one thing at a time in each presentation you give). Start to work on making a true connection with your audience at Level II by improving your eye contact, using open gestures and moving around a bit more. If you do a lot of presentations and it's important to really get across then think about how you are perceived. Get some really good feedback from honest individuals. Look at what the real experts do. How do they use pictures videos or music? How do they start their presentations? How do they vary the content to keep people interested?

If you're a manager or a leader, a company head or a salesperson you'd better be aiming at Level III because you can bet the competition is.

 I'll just leave you with that inspiring thought...  ;)

Don't talk to strangers

Did your parents ever tell you this? Very good advice.

If you are very nervous about a presentation it can sometimes help to have some friends in the audience. So maybe you could try making some just before you stand up to speak. Shake hands with some people, stop and talk to them for awhile, drink coffee with some, see if you can find out beforehand who will be in the audience etc etc. if you know someone in the audience you could even ask them to smile at you from time to time. It will sure make you feel better!

Some professional speakers stand by the door and shake hands with every single audience participant who enters. Excellent idea, but you need a fairly resilient right hand.

But the most important point of course is to be sure that you know your audience and have researched as much as possible of the occasion and the location.