Public Speaking: Know Your Audience!

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundreds battles"
Sun-Tzu

The quote from the General Sun Tzu, famous for his Art of War strategies tells us that if we know enough about the enemy and ourselves, we will win our battles. And interestingly, "knowing the enemy" comes before "knowing ourselves"; perhaps because after identifying the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, it's easier to create a winning strategy for ourselves.

Connect with the Audience
The same applies to public speaking – it is only when we have sufficient knowledge about our audience that we are able to connect and get our message across to them. One way of connecting is to speak their language.

If your audience has no financial knowledge, and you have to talk about financial planning, using complicated lingo will throw them off. Instead, use simple, layman's terms to get your point across.

Another way to connect is through the use of relevant examples. Most people find it easier to understand your message if you use anecdotes or stories they can relate to, to illustrate or explain your points. This not only keeps the speech interesting, it also holds the attention of your audience.

Know Your Audience
But before you can think of connecting with your audience, you must first know your audience. In fact, you must know as much about your audience before you even start preparing your speech! Here are some key aspects you should know:

1 – Their age group
An audience of 20 year olds will generally have different preferences when it comes to food, music, clothes and styles as compared to those in their 50s. Quoting a line from a Beatles song will have a much greater effect on 50 year olds than it will on those in their 20s.

2 – Male/Female ratio
It's no secret that men and women generally communicate (and listen) differently. Men are more logical whereas women are more emotional. Selling car to women may require you to emphasize on color and elegance rather than engine-capacity and fuel efficiency for men.

3 – Profession/Education
If you're communicating with a group of CEOs, you may want to keep your presentation short and precise, so as not to waste too much of their time. However, when speaking to housewives or school children, you may speak about a few general topics before diving into your main message so you don't come across as too serious.

4 – Ethnic/Origin backgrounds
People from different ethnic backgrounds speak, think and even eat differently. If you research and discover certain traits that will bring about an instant connection, not only will they listen to your message, they'll also remember you!

5 – Motivation: Why are they here?
Lastly, to be effective, you must know why they are part of the audience. Re they here to learn, have been forced to listen, or are just there to be entertained or pass the time? With this knowledge, you can prepare accordingly.

Getting Your Message Across
What distinguish a great speaker from a mediocre one is not how well they communicate with certain group of people; it is how well they are able to connect with different audiences.

And one of the most impressive and successful ways of doing so is to first know your audience, and secondly customize your communication to suit them.

Gulshan Harjani
The writer is a business consultant, trainer and personal coach who run Communicating @ the Workplace – A question and answer column in The Jakarta Post. If you have any questions you want answered, you may e-mail him at gulshan@success-workz.com

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