10 Reasons to Communicate with Postcards: See Our Postcard Printing Article How to Get the Audience Response You WantBy: Robert F. Abbott Article Summary: To get an appropriate audience response, learn something about your audience before addressing it, deliver only as much content as the audience can comprehend easily, and make eye contact throughout your speech. I just listened to a pre-recorded teleclass in which the presenter emphasized that public speakers should focus on the audience, not themselves. Good idea. But, when asked by a class participant, she couldn't explain how to be "audience-focused". Surely, a truly "audience-focused" presenter would have anticipated that question from her audience and had some answers. Well, let's consider some things speakers might do, keeping in mind that these techniques also can be used by writers and others. And while we'll consider just three of them, you can probably come up with others. First, target your audience; know something about it before you speak. For example, suppose you're a serious Scrabble player and you have two speaking invitations: one to a Scrabble players' club and one to a local service club's lunch meeting. When you address the Scrabble players club, you'll likely take a technical approach, let's say a speech titled "How to get more points from your vowels". On the other hand, you would take a very general approach when speaking to the service club, perhaps something like "Improve your vocabulary while you have fun!" Second, tailor the amount of content to your audience's ability to learn, not to your ability to talk. Focus on just a couple of key points, three at most, and work on them until you're sure the audience will grasp the key messages. For example, suppose you're speaking about safe driving to an audience of high school students. Will you try to cover the entire list of safe driving practices in the learner's manual? Probably not. Instead, you pick out a few practices of special importance to young drivers, such as the hazards of speeding, the importance of seat belts, and the need to focus on the road rather your passengers. You may think three points too few to fill the time available. But, remember, you'll address each point from several perspectives, relate a number of anecdotes for each one, or provide some other illustrations for each. The third recommendation for a good audience response is to look at the the people in it. Make eye contact with people throughout the room. Good, sustained eye contact that lasts a couple of seconds, long enough to make each person feel that you're directing this speech to her or him personally. Sure, you'll find this hard at first. But, with practice it gets easier. What's more, after you've made a number of speeches, you'll learn to read the audience as you look around the room. You'll know how well you're doing on the points we covered above. What's more, experienced speakers can tell from the audience's body language whether or not they chose their subject well, and whether the audience gets the point. If they picked the wrong subject or if they're covering the material too quickly, for example, they adjust the content or delivery. It's audience analysis on the fly, and it will work wonders for you once you master it. In summary, there are several techniques that can help you get the audience response you want, including: knowing your audience, providing limited content, and making sustained eye contact throughout your speech. Next, go to the public speaking tips page, or visit our home page Communication Skills . Contact informationPlease write to: How to Get the Audience Response You Want, Copyright Robert F. Abbott 2009 |