Mat Waer
Why know you audience? The answer to that question can be the key to success when presenting or even talking in public. In the next couple paragraphs I will give you some pointers to how I treat this question and hopefully able shed some light on why it is so important to know you audience.
When I am getting ready to write and present a report to my management team one of the first thing I think about is the personalities that I will be attending this meeting. The whole purpose to write the report based on the members of the management is to be able to motivate, inform and lead this team to success. In order to achieve these goals I must be able to provide the management team with information that keeps their interest as well as give them the information and tool they need.
One thing I always like to do is show up to the presentation early to engage in small talk with the team members. This way I can accomplish two things, one I will be able to grasp the mood of these people that will be listening to me talk and present this report. Secondly, I can get little tid bits that the team members are interested in. these two tactics allow me to make what I like to call “game changing” adjustments in my speaking notes. If I talk about events and interests that the audience is currently in to then it help me keep the focus on the report and the presentation.
Knowing your audience will not only allow you to feel much more comfortable