Excellent Public Speaking: Rules for Working with an Audience
Public speaking is an opportunity to profitably present oneself, present ideas and share expertise with the audience. How to work with the audience in order to involve it as much as possible?
Marketers equate speaking in front of an audience with an advertising campaign - the top of the sales funnel - where "leads" are collected and then used in the interests of the business.
Work with the target audience can take place in different formats: online - for example, going live to "warm up" subscribers before launching the product, or offline - defending a thesis, training, project presentation.
Five rules for working with an audience
Regardless of the chosen format, there are universal rules for working with the audience: techniques, following which you will achieve your goals - confirm the level of expertise and / or turn listeners into customers.
Rule 1. Agree on purpose and topic
The topic of the speech should be related to the goal, understandable and interesting to those who come to listen to you. Therefore, analyze the composition of the target audience, find one or more common features and formulate a topic that will combine the interests of the public and the purpose of your speech.
Rule 2. Tell about your usefulness
Remember that listeners may not know anything about you, have a low level of trust, be a “cold” audience. To break the ice, tell us about yourself and explain why you took the responsibility to cover this topic. Arguments in favor of your "usefulness" can be: the level of expertise, professional experience and position, the success of the project in the market. If necessary, reinforce knowledge with numbers or positive feedback from people your audience already knows about.
Rule 3. Create a "selling" structure
A common mistake novice speakers make is the desire to share as much information with the audience as possible and, as a result, prepare a speech that will not fit into either the timing of the event or the heads of the audience. Attempts to embrace the immensity will leave those present with mixed feelings.
Leave in the presentation theses that “sell” the idea well and are understandable to the audience. Include the rest in handouts or invite the audience to the next meeting, where you will reveal an interesting sub-point in more detail.
Prepare the structure of your speech so that you have time to answer questions at the end or during the story. Interactive dialogue is a form of working with the audience that breaks down the “wall” between the speaker and listeners, increases the level of trust and involvement.
Rule 4: Organize a focus group
Abraham Lincoln once said that if he had eight hours to chop down a tree, he would spend six hours sharpening an axe. In order for the speech to become interesting and meaningful, and the content of the speech to be heard and correctly interpreted by the audience, take the time to rehearse.
There is an opinion that it is impossible to write a good speech solo. You should discuss the material with relatives, friends, colleagues, experts. Even better - with representatives of the target audience, for which you will broadcast. Organize a focus group and rehearse for the upcoming speech: let these people ask questions, and you will find answers, clarify the topic and make the necessary changes to the trajectory of the story.
Rule 5: Create additional information material
You may not be limited to just conveying information to the audience, even if the purpose of your speech is to defend a thesis or present a project within the company. Among your listeners there are interesting people and specialists from related fields - get to know each other better, share your impressions of the speech.
Create additional information materials on the topic in a limited amount: useful checklists, lists of verified suppliers, promotional codes for the purchase of special equipment. Offer them to those who are interested in the product, want to start cooperation, exchange contacts or attend the next speech.
Pitfalls of working with an audience
Speaking in public is a process that is difficult to get used to. Even experienced speakers go through stages such as updating and agreeing on a topic, careful preparation of material, rehearsals, research, searching for answers to questions, preparing a presentation, excitement. These are the features of working with the audience that must be taken as part of the process.
Here are a few tips to help you avoid the pitfalls of public speaking:
Accept the excitement. Remember that excitement is different from fear. It is normal to be in awe of significant events. Professional business coaches are sure that the lack of excitement before speaking in public is not a good sign and a reason to think.
Focus on "yours". People in the hall can behave differently and react to the speaker or his material: there will always be indifferent listeners with a bored expression on their faces or, on the contrary, overly “active” viewers who draw attention to themselves. Focus on the audience involved: maintain eye contact with those who are nodding in response to your talking points, taking notes, and responding to jokes.
Take yourself with you. It is impossible to be ready for everything: technical problems may occur or it turns out that there is no proper level of organization of the event. Remember that you are the most reliable "carrier" and keeper of unique knowledge, which means that all you need for a successful performance is yourself. Become the "center of gravity" of the audience: concentrate on the purpose of the speech and talk about what you really understand.
This is all from me. Thank you :)
