Sacred Cow #9: The Audience Cares
We've all heard it before. "They want to hear what you have to say." So often, little effort is put into preparing a presentation because it's just assumed that because the audience is there, they'll be hanging on every last word you have to say. In many instances, that's a dangerous assumption to make. If you're speaking at a seminar or conference where the attendees paid to be there, then it's probably a safe assumption that the audience does care about what you have to say. However, if it's a meeting at your place of employment, be it a committee meeting or a status meeting, chances are, it's safe to assume the attendees would rather be somewhere else.
Unfortunately, this often isn't considered. Whether it's organizational narcisism or general lack of empathy for the audience, presentations are often developed as simple rote regurgitation of facts. There's no attempt to engage with the audience or make it meaningful for them. The message, inadvertent or not, is that the speaker does not value them or their time.
If the audience is there against their own free will, then that's already one strike against you. If you fail to gain their attention, that's strike two. Send a message that you don't care and it's strike three.
Show empathy. Understand why they're there. You may be a member of the committee. Thus, it's probably quite obvious to you why they're there. However, consciously remind yourself of this when you're preparing your presentation. Having a genuine understanding of where your audience is coming from and how they value their time in this meeting is crucial for establishing true empathy for them.
Give your message real meaning. Why does what you have to say even matter? Why should your audience even bother listening to what you have to say for the next fifteen minutes? Give them a reason to not sit there and mindlessly doodle while they wait for you to shut your trap.
Offer real value. If, at the end of your fifteen minutes, they don't have something of value to take away with them, then you have just wasted their time. The value can be in the form of a call to action for them or the group to follow through with. It can be in the form of a message they can apply to their lives, projects, etc.
If your audience isn't there because they chose to be there, then don't make the assumption that just because you care about what you will be talking about, they will too.
Top Image credit: Jeremy et al, used under a Creative Commons license.
Addition Through Subtraction
Craig Strachan has an excellent post on his site titled, "You will never fit everything in." In it, he stresses the importance of limiting the content to what's appropriate for the audience and the time allotted. You can have the greatest slides in the world, but if you have so much content that you have to either race through it all or have to skip through over some, you're hurting your message.
It all comes down to preparation. The effectiveness of those 15, 20, 30, etc. minutes you're up in front of your audience all rides on your prep work.
Understand how much time you have. If you don't know how much time you'll be given, ask. If you still don't know, and frankly, even if you do, plan accordingly. Have a plan A, plan B, and plan C. Even if you're budgetted 30 minutes, there's always the chance someone else could cut into your time due to their lack of planning. If you all of a sudden have 15 fewer minutes to give your talk, if you planned for this possibility, then you should be able adjust your content. If you're using slides, before you get up, set to "skip" those that you need to so the audience doesn't get the impression that you're skipping something important.
Understand your audience. If you're presenting to a bunch of sales reps, leave out the content useful for teachers if it's not relevant to your audience. Cutting out irrelevant content saves time for relevant content and can help keep your audience engaged. If you're telling them something irrelevant, they'll disengage and their minds will wander. It's here where you need to remind yourself of the adage, "addition through subtraction," where taking something irrelevant away will actually add to your message.
Practice, practice, practice. There's no way to tell how long your talk will take if you don't practice. You should do at least 3 full run-throughs with a timer. Keynote has a great timer in the presenter view. If it's too long, look for areas to cut, either in slides or your speech, without compromising your message. Once you make the cuts, practice again at least 3 times more. I'll put hours over a few days into practice for a 15 minute talk and every time it pays dividends.
