Thinking About The Audience….Again

Expanding on my recent post about keeping your presentation simple, today I want to remind you of the importance of preparing your presentation with your audience uppermost in your mind.

Why is that so important?

Think of your audience as the “customers” of the information in your presentation. How do you feel as a customer when your needs are not addressed? Do you want more from that supplier or do you discount what is on offer because you are not being considered in the way you would like?

You are the subject matter expert BUT they (your audience) are the subject matter critics. They will be more open to your presentation is you have geared it towards them.

I am not saying here to adjust your presentation content to make them feel good. Sometimes the information we have to give out is unpleasant. It still needs to be communicated – how you do this so the audience feels a part of it is the challenge of preparing a great presentation.

Start by asking these questions:

• Who – Who will be in the audience? Who are they representing? Who will hear about the information you impart?
• What – What is the actual topic of the presentation? What do you want the audience to do as a result of the presentation?
• Where – Where will you be presenting?
• Why – Why are they there? Why are you there? Why are you speaking them?

Just by considering these questions you will start to think about the most effective way of ordering and presenting your information. Naturally some of these questions may not be relevant to your presentation on this occasion, however it’s a good routine to consider them when you are preparing any presentation to help you get the framework as good as it can be.

This is especially true when you feel you have a lot of technical information to impart. The most efficient way may not be to run through verbally all the data but it may also not be appropriate to have an audio visual presentation of it either.

That’s why you need to think about your audience when you are preparing your presentation.