So you have a catchy opening that immediately attracts your audience’s attention, and a well-structured presentation that closes with a strong call to action. What more is there to the perfect presentation, you wonder? Building a relationship with your audience, that’s what.
No matter how brilliantly crafted your seminar, workshop, or presentation may be, once you’ve attracted your audience’s attention, you must always work to build your relationship with them.
The following are a few tips on how to build that relationship while delivering your presentation:
Identify with your audience. Refer to something you have in common with your audience, be it a common problem, characteristic, interest, history and so on. This will help to create a direct relationship to the group you are addressing.
Always speak in terms of your audience’s interests. After all, you are there to present a solution to a problem they have. Even if you are presenting a signature talk, edit your presentation to sound as if it were freshly created for each particular audience.
Appreciate and praise your audience when you can reasonably do so. If your audience has achieved some sort of common success or positive decision, acknowledge and praise them for it! No outright base flattery here, please. Research to find a concrete accomplishment. (This also serves to help you know your audience, by the way.)
Include audience participants in your talk. When feasible, including audience members in your presentation will immediately attract the full attention of the entire audience, as everybody waits in suspense to see what you will do to your participant and if they’ll be next.
Show some humility. Never present yourself as being above your audience or risk alienating them immediately and completely. Being inclusive and sympathetic with your audience is far more powerful than exclusive superiority.
As you prepare for your next public speaking engagement, please practice the above techniques to increase the impact of your speech. And don’t forget to have fun with it!
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