When you speak to a group
of people, you should know as much about the audience and their interests
as possible. This is so you can tailor your speech to their needs and
to better assure a positive reaction from them.
Since you are seeking to
be a champion speaker, questions you may have are:
Why should you find out
about the audience?
How can you find out
about the audience
What rewards can be gotten
from knowing the audience?
This lesson will to answer
those questions. There is a mini-quiz at the
end of the lesson.
Why you
need to know your audience
Your purpose in speaking
to a group is to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience. Your motivation
is to get satisfaction from expressing your ideas and getting recognition
or applause from the audience.
In order to achieve your
purpose, as well as to get the expression and applause you desire, you
must satisfy the audience with something in which they are interested.
Thus, it is important to know what your audience is interested in, what
their expectations are, and even what mood they are in.
How to find
out about the audience
You can find out about the
audience through research before you speak, through interaction at the
beginning of your talk, and by making adjustments during the speech.
Before you
speak
Before you speak--and even
before you prepare your speech--you should know what sort of audience
you will have. What is the nature of the group? What do they expect
to hear from you? Do they have any special interests or prejudices of
which you should be aware?
In speaking to a group of
managers at work, you have a good idea of who will be in the audience.
There may be some individuals to be wary of or to whom you should focus
the speech. For example, I knew an Air Force Major who would always
direct his speech to the highest ranking officer in the audience. He
knew who was important to his career in giving his presentations.
If you find out about some
key people in the audience, you can use them in your opening comments
to gain rapport with the audience. Everyone likes a humorous comment
about the boss--at your expense, not at his or hers.
At the beginning
of the talk
Old-time comedian Milton
Berle would start off his comedy routines before large audiences by
telling 5 different type of one-liner jokes. From the reaction he got
from the jokes, he would know if the majority of the audience was in
the mood for silly humor, political humor, or blue jokes. Berle had
an encyclopedic mind for jokes and comedy routines, so he would then
present the routine that was effective for the particular audience that
night.
Prepare for some modifications
Although, your can't be expected
to have several versions of a speech or presentation, you can use some
opening remarks and responses from the audience to give you an idea
of the direction of their interest and perhaps their mood. If the audience
seems in a light mood, perhaps you could sprinkle in a few jokes to
keep their interest. If they seemed to be very serious about your topic,
you could get right to the meat of the matter.
Don't be a self-centered
speaker
Nothing is worse than going
to a speech, wanting to hear some information, and having the speaker
drone on and on about something of no interest to you and most of the
audience. The speaker must get an idea in the beginning of his talk
concerning what the audience wants--not what he or she wants to say.
During the
talk
While you are giving a talk,
you can often tell if the audience is enthralled with your material
or if they are getting bored or restless. The problem usually occurs
when the speaker is so caught up in what he or she is saying that the
audience might as well not be there.
In a humorous talk, the speaker
can usually tell if things aren't going good if there is silence and
the audience is not laughing at the jokes. Some humorous speakers will
blame the audience and say, "What's wrong with you people? This
is funny material." Maybe it is funny to him, but apparently it
isn't to this audience.
In any situation where it
seems that the audience is getting restless or bored, the best thing
to do is to summarize things and to end your talk. It is better to have
a shorter speech than to go too long and bore people. This is true in
any speech.
Benefits
of know the audience
When you know what the audience
wants and likes, when you know what mood the audience is in, and when
you know something about the audience, they become more interested in
what you have to say.
Often the speaker does not
even have to be a good speaker, and sometimes the subject does not have
to be very good, but if the audience feels there is good communication,
we will listen and enjoy the speech. They will also give good recognition
and applause for the effort.
Knowing the audience can
result in the benefits you want form giving the talk.
In conclusion
A successful speaker achieves
the goals of expression, listener satisfaction and desired rewards.
You should be aware of your goals as you pursue success in speaking.
1.
Why should you worry about satisfying the audience?
2.
How can you find out about the audience before you speak?
3.
What happens if the audience seems bored?
If you got all three correct,
you are on your way to becoming a champion in public speaking. If you
had problems, you had better look over the material again.