This has got to be the most important question you need to answer when preparing for a presentation: Who is your audience?
What are their needs?
What do they hope to gain by listening to you speak?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you are sure to fail. Your speech must meet or exceed the needs and expectations of your audience in order to be successful.
Here are list of things you should know about your audience before preparing your talk:
- What neighborhood within the greater Phoenix area are they from?
The needs and wants of folks from Scottsdale are going to be different from those who come from Mesa.
- What is the age range of your audience?
The expectations of Gen Y, Gen X and Boomers are different.
- What brings them together as a group?
What you might say to a group of gardening hobbyists will be different from a group of faith-based business owners.
- What is the educational level of your audience?
Are you addressing a highly educated audience that will expect a higher-leve vocabulary? Or is your audience more blue collar?
- What level of knowledge about your topic does this audience have?
Will you be expanding upon a basic knowledge or providing the basics to newbies?
- What expectations of your speech will the audience bring?
What will the audience expect to walk away with? You’ll want to make sure you deliver on that expectation.
Once you know the answers to these questions, the next steps are much more simple:
- You’ll have an idea of what you will need to cover within your topic, and which points to can skip.
- You’ll have an ideas of how to organize your speech in a logical sequence.
- You’ll have an idea of what your speech needs to be entertaining to this audience.
- You’ll even know what kinds of support materials are appropriate.
Do your best to answer these questions and your success is much more likely.