Know your Audience!

Public Speaking!

Two words that stress out some as much as it excites some others! Learning the skills that help one to speak effectively before an audience is one of the most sought after courses in today’s world.

From students to teachers to executives and politicians, every single person has to face an audience at some point in time and needs to know how to manage the talk at that time! So this run for learning these techniques is neither unforeseen nor inappropriate. Not many however realize that a major part of succeeding in public speaking also lies in what to do before the talk, in the planning and preparation stage of the talk. It is in this stage that knowing one’s audience comes into the picture.

What should one know about one’s audience? Apart from their demographics, culture, diversity and expectations, there is one another factor knowing which plays a pivotal role in helping one deliver a successful speech/talk. This is the knowledge level or expertise of the audience in the topic that the speaker is going to talk. Without this knowledge there is always a danger that the speaker will either talk on too basic fundamentals that everyone already knows or else may end up talking about too complicated details which not many understand. Let us look at this from a simple matrix of audience knowledge level and talk content.

Knowledge level of audience vs. talk content

• Low knowledge level and high talk content: When the knowledge level of the audience is low, if the speaker starts to discuss detailed concepts of the topic with them, most of it would go overboard. It would be like discussing the contents of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged or Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace with students of classes 3^rd and 4^th when the topics are far too complicated for them and they would find it extremely difficult to comprehend the same. When this happens, the audience naturally tends to feel anxious as a result of which they start feeling restless and fidgety, cannot connect with the speaker and cannot learn. Thus the talk becomes unsuccessful.

              

• High knowledge level and low talk content: When the knowledge level of the audience is very high, if the speaker starts to speak from the basic concepts of the topic with them, most of it would be ignored. It would be like trying to teach doctoral candidates of Literature the basics of ABC when their competence levels are far beyond the same. When this happens, the audience naturally tends to get bored as a result of which they start feeling restless and fidgety right from the start, cannot connect with the speaker and cannot learn. Thus the talk becomes unsuccessful.

• Low knowledge level and low talk content: This is one of the 2 scenarios wherein both the audience and the speaker are at the same level and can connect as well as discuss so that the audience can learn. This is like teaching the basics of reading to the Kindergarten students where the speaker needs to come down to the level of the audience and talk on the topic so as to connect with the audience, stir interest, generate interaction, and help them learn.

  
• High knowledge level and high talk content: This is the other of the 2 scenarios wherein both the audience and the speaker are at the same level and can connect as well as discuss so that the audience can learn. This is like creating interactive and participative group discussions on various advanced topics in the concepts of literature or history within a group that is already conversant in the same. By simply facilitating the discussion and throwing in the knowledge where required, the speaker can take the audience up to the next level by connecting with them, stirring interest, generating interaction, so that everyone can learn and grow together.

A speaker needs to his/her homework and check where the audience is in their knowledge levels even before starting to think about what to speak... This helps him/her to make their talks more interactive, participative, relevant, fulfilling, and successful.

Think from the audience’s perspective...  

You have the power!

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Revathi Turaga is an International Trainer & Inspirational Speaker

Revathi can be reached at http://www.revathionline.com

Published in ‘The Hans India’ on 18th July 2011