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Have you ever seen a boring presentation? Yes? Really? Me too. Unfortunately too many of those… But why is the presentation boring?
A very common mistake we make when creating a presentation is thinking of the content and design from our own perspective instead of the perspective of the people we are talking to.
By adapting both the content and the design to the target audience, you can significantly increase the impact of your presentation. Sometimes, you even don’t have to change the initial content; you only need to choose the right means to deliver it.
There are 3 main questions you can ask before presenting.
1. How big is my audience?
Define the size of the audience. This step is important to you as you can choose whether to use a personal or more official tone for your presentation. You can adapt the level of interactivity and technology used according to the audience size and be well-prepared for feedback.
EXAMPLE! If you are presenting to a very small audience, you can use a whiteboard or a flipchart instead of a slide show, you can move around in the room and make the presentation a truly interactive process. This would not always be possible if you were presenting in front of hundreds of conference attendees.
TIP! Do not underestimate your audience! No matter big or small, it has a huge power, especially in our digital age, when most of the presentations go viral as you talk. A public presentation is most often retweeted throughout your speech and every word you say or visual you share can reach thousands of people as you talk even if your audience is only 10 or 20.
SOCIAL TIP! Share your Twitter handle with your audience and create a specific hashtag for your presentation. Provide the audience with the hashtag before the presentation. This will allow you to monitor the online conversation.
2. Who are they?
Define whom you are talking to. Is it an internal or external presentation? Are you talking to your colleagues, employees, shareholders, partners, clients…?
Knowing your audience helps you to talk in a way they understand, grab their attention and connect to them in a very personal way.
EXAMPLE: You are introducing potential client (a large food production company) to a new CRM software you want to sell. Whom exactly are you talking to? Are those IT managers who are going to implement the software or the board members? Maybe a combination of both? In this case the audience will directly effect the language and level of details you include in your presentation. IT managers will be more interested in technical parameters and software integration into the corporate IT system. Board members might even have no idea what you are talking about if you start describing the technical details. They would on the contrary be interested in how this software can improve the overall performance of the organization.
TIP! If you are invited to speak or present, ask the organizer who the target audience is. Try to find out as many details as possible. If you are speaking at a conference or a corporate event, you might get a quite precise idea of who is your audience.
SOCIAL TIP! If necessary, use social media to research whom you are dealing with. Many of your audience might be active users of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Xing or any other social network.
3. What do they want to hear?
What is the audience expecting from you? What is important to them? Why are they listening to you?
Showing your audience a certain level of understanding of what they do and what they feel helps you to connect with the people who are listening to you on a higher level.
EXAMPLE! Find out what most often concerns people you are presenting to. Let’s imagine that you are a management consultant presenting an HR training program to the management of a huge corporation. You’ve found out that company is struggling with several issues, but management’s main concern is the high costs of the employee turnover. When introducing the benefits of the training program put special emphasis on the results related to increased employee retention rate. This will help to increase your credibility and authority.
TIP! Show the audience that you understand what keeps them up at night and why. Use the language they would use. Appeal to the needs, emotions and habits of the audience.
SOCIAL TIP! Feel free to investigate online. Your audience might be talking about what concerns them and you can easily use the information available to customize your presentation to fit the interests and qualifications of the audience.
With a little research and some Wide Thinking for a Change…, you can improve your presentation, connect to the target audience and make the desired impact.
