By Taylor McKnight
Presentations come in many forms. You may be giving a speech to a local political group, introducing new procedures to the staff at your workplace, or taking part in your child’s Parents Day festivities. A presentation can be many things, but all require understanding your audience.
Tailoring a Presentation to a Specific Audience
When creating a presentation, you must tailor it to your audience in regard to subject matter, language, and detail. You should consider the ages of the audience members, their knowledge of the subject, and their reasons for listening to you.
If you are giving a talk to a department at work, your presentation can be more sophisticated because your audience is highly knowledgeable about the subject. You all work for the same company, so you can assume your audience understands the basics. Your language can be more complex and include professionally understood terms
If you are addressing your car club’s meeting, you will choose a less formal tone for your presentation. You may include “inside” anecdotes in your talk as you discuss a topic your audience understands.
In contrast, if you visit parent’s day and tell third graders about your job, you will be using simple language and explaining the basics in ways youngsters can understand. You will avoid complexities and be more general while relating to a child’s interests.
Every successful presentation reaches the audience where they are. Subject matter, language, and tone should all depend on the audience.
Tips for Audience Engagement
Keeping your audience actively engaged can be tricky. The following tips should help:
- Use humor. This tip only works if you are comfortable with humor. A self-deprecating joke or anecdote can get the audience to relax and participate.
- Have the audience participate: Prepare an activity that supports your presentation and allows the audience to be active. Put them in groups to brainstorm or complete a task.
- Avoid talking at them. An engaging presentation needs to include interaction with the audience. When you do all the talking, you will lose their attention.
- Keep it brief. Long presentations will put your audience to sleep. If your subject matter requires several hours to share, break your presentation into parts separated by activities. Almost everyone loses interest if they are limited to listening for too long.
Consider what methods keep you engaged when you are an audience member. Feel free to include them in your own presentation.
Maintaining Audience Attention
Too many presentations are too long and boring. They sometimes use the wrong tone, have too simple or too complicated content, and drag on too long. You will be more successful if you carefully consider the needs of your specific audience. Consider their interests, knowledge level, and motivation. Then craft a presentation with those elements in mind.
When you tailor your talk toward your audience, they will be more engaged and willing to learn. Your tech team needs a different approach than your interns. When you meet the audience’s needs, they will consider the experience worthwhile.
Written by Taylor McKnight, Author for Presentation Training Institute