When it comes to speaking professionally, your audience is everything. If they don’t understand you or aren’t receptive to what you’re saying, then that isn’t a good thing. When you’re speaking in the moment, your audience will give you signals of how you’re doing throughout your talk. But unless you’re constantly involving them in your talk by asking questions or encouraging them to give some type of non-verbal response, there is very little communication between both parties.  You have to figure out how you will connect with them. The more you’re able to get into their minds and cater to their feelings, the longer you will be around and the more you will prosper in the speaking arena. Every time you speak, you want it to seem like you’re making a personal connection with each audience member. It doesn’t matter if the room is small or filled with 1,000 attendees, each person should feel some type of special connection to you. Or at the very least, that’s what you should aim for. The purpose of you speaking is to serve your audience. It’s no other way to put it. Therefore, you have to understand them. You have to put yourself in their shoes. You have to constantly ask yourself: “What is my audience thinking about?” Therefore, you should be constantly studying them.

During your school days, how did you go about studying for a test? In high school, it may have consisted of study guides. In college and grad school, maybe you payed (or should have payed) close attention in class and took notes. You may have even formed study groups with other students and compared notes. The same strategy applies when it comes to studying your audience. They’re paying attention to you as you’re talking, but you should be equally paying attention to them as well. Yes, it’s another thing you must juggle in the moment. An audience member’s body language is a big hint to if they are interested or not. There may be points in your talk where people are more attentive, for example.. when you’re telling a personal story filled with triumph. Those are the things you really need to pay attention to. If you have a team working for you, then it gets even better. Because now, you have an extra set of eyes that can also study your audience as well. If you’re constantly comparing what you see and what your team sees after every talk, you’ll find that your talks will constantly improve because you’re getting a feel for what your audience truly needs.

Even before you make it to the stage, you should be conducting an audience analysis. One thing I failed to bring up when I mentioned this in a previous tip is that if you ever have the opportunity to do a gig and the event organizer can’t provide you with information on your audience, you probably shouldn’t do that gig. At the very least, they should be able to provide you with major demographics such as age, gender, education and culture. These factors shape what you say and how you say it. When you ignore them, you display ignorance, a type of ignorance that not only will impact your audience negatively, but also stunt your growth.  Understanding the world from your audience’s perspective is key if you want to create a talk that stands the test of time. It’s also key if you want to customize your talk, because you won’t always be talking to the same people every time you speak.

If you don’t get the laugh you expected when you tell a funny story, make note of it. It may be because you were dull when telling it. Or it may be that the story is only funny to you. If half of the audience seems to be disengaged while you’re talking, make note of it. It could be that your energy is dull. You see, if you pay attention to how your audience reacts, they will tell you everything you need to know. It will confirm what you’re doing that’s great and also shine light on the things that you need to improve on. Only a stubborn person would choose to ignore the areas where they can improve and beyond speaking, that goes for life in general. The more tenured you become, the more you should see yourself growing. You should also see your audience growing. But with that growth comes the constant expectation of catering to your audience. When you get with an event organizer, they are going to expect you to do your own homework. Yes, they can provide you with information on the audience you’ll be presenting to, but will you put in the extra work to make sure your message will be specifically for them in that moment? That’s what you’ll ultimately be hired for and that’s what constantly separates the good speakers from the great speakers.

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

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

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