What is your worth? What do you mean to your family, a close friend, or significant other? Maybe you’ve never been asked that question, but it is one that should be given serious thought. What contributions do you provide in society that could possibly make the world a better place? Anytime you speak, your audience is going to be thinking: What is your worth? What is the point of your message? Should I sit here for the next 15 to 45 minutes and give you my undivided attention? How will this benefit me in the long-term? The truth is, whenever a speaker thinks that the stage time is all about them, they set themselves up for failure.. big time. This happens more often than not. Any time you are speaking, your audience is thinking “what’s in it for them?” And that’s rightfully so. As public speakers, we have this huge responsibility to inspire others and help solve their problems. In return, the audience may never say thank you or even care about you as a person. People don’t care about you the same way that they may care about themselves. Think: If you had to save your life or a stranger’s life, what decision do you think you’ll make? Or is that even a decision you have to think about?

With this in mind, remember that whenever you speak you need to provide value. Whatever words you put together needs to leave your audience wanting more. They need to push your audience to want to be better, or do better. Your words need to inspire. This begins from the moment you start to craft your speech by putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. If you can get information on the demographics of your audience and their personal goals, then this will get you off to a great start. This may seem impossible, but if you are an in demand speaker, this information shouldn’t be too hard to access. If you are just starting out, use context clues. What type of event are you speaking at? What will you be talking about? This will also give you a better understanding of how your audience thinks and what type of answers or solutions they need. Remember, you could be speaking to an audience that’s all in the same age range, or people all over the spectrum. The more detailed audience analysis you have, the better you can craft a talk that suites each listener.

As you are presenting, you can pose questions that help audiences keep in mind how they want to change or what it is that they want to learn? Example questions like: “Think about how these steps can help you progress in your journey.” or “How would you feel if you took a few minutes out of the day for yourself”. Simply posing a question and having them think for a few seconds can go a long way. Asking questions is also an easy way to make your audience feel involved… as if they are contributing to your talk. Even if they only give head nods, it’s better than having them sit there and not contribute in anyway at all. Another subtle, but strong tip you can employ involves eye contact. Eye Contact is another way you can make your audience feel like your message is specifically for them. You can look at people individually or scan sections of the room. This technique is intimate and gives the impression of “Hey, yes.. I’m talking directly to you”.

Bottom line: Keep your audience and their well-being at the forefront throughout the entire process of developing and executing your talk. Understand that you need to know how your audience thinks. Honestly, as a speakers, we are nothing without the support of our audience. They need to feel like your words apply to them and what they may be going through. You must be relatable. If they don’t feel they can relate, then nothing else matters and at that point everybody is wasting time.

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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