This vlog talks about focusing on the people in your audience – whether they’re advocates for you, the ones who’ll never come round to your way of thinking, and those who can be persuaded…the persuadables.

Focusing on the people in your audience

Here’s the summary if you don’t have the opportunity to watch the video.

Who are you really speaking to in your presentations?

One thing that we don’t always consider is the breadth of experience that our audiences might have and their expectations that they may have of you as a speaker and how open they might be to what you have to say.

The advocates

There will always be some people in your audience who are open doors. They already understand what it is that you’re talking about. They already agree, they’re already behind you, cheerleading you. They’re advocates, right there absolutely with you.

Oh, thank the lord. There are always those people in your audience.

The ones who aren’t interested

There are nearly always some people in your audiences, however, who it doesn’t matter how persuasive you are. It doesn’t matter how many arguments you marshal up or how much enthusiasm you put into delivering that message. They will not, be persuaded and will not come round to your way of thinking. Or your point of view.

The persuadables

And then there’s those in the middle – we can call them the persuadables.

They’re the ones that will listen, will connect with, will resonate with what you to say. And if they are ready to hear what you have to say, and if you say it really well, then they may be persuaded to hear what you’ve got to say and to put it into some sort of action.

But what does that mean in practice?

It helps you when you’re putting your talk together because don’t put so much time and effort into those that will never come round to that way of thinking.

That type of audience there, build connections with seek to understand, ask questions, recognise the difference, acknowledge that. But if you put so much effort into that,

then you will miss an opportunity to work with the persuadables and to continue your support with those who are your advocates.

And don’t put all your time and effort into persuading your advocates because they’re already there. So seek to continue connecting, continue that relationship acknowledging and reinforcing and validating that view.

But put your effort into the persuadables, understanding what their world and their lived experience might be like, reflecting that back to them. Thinking about how you might express, your point of view, how you might share your experiences and insights and information in a way that will appeal to, and influence those people in that audience.

Who are you talking to?

So the next time you are preparing for a presentation, give yourself some time to think, some time focusing on the people in your audience. Think about who are the advocates? Who are those that might have a very different point of view? And then think about those persuadables in the middle.

How can you express what you’ve got to express in a way that will find an audience that will find, a place to land because that’s where you’ll get your magic.

You can also check out how to identify if people are ready to here what you have to say in this vlog.

And of course please get in touch with me if you have any questions. I’d be happy to answer them.