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!