Public Speaking Tips: Know Your Audience




Before you even start thinking about what your speech is going to be about, there is one crucial factor that you have to take into consideration:

Who are your audience?


You see, it doesn’t matter if you have the best speech in the world.  If it is not relevant to your audience, if they have no interest or knowledge about your topic, then you have no speech.  Period.

If you are presenting your speech at your own club, then it is safe to say you probably know your audience.  However, be mindful that you may have guests visiting and they could be sensitive to your topic.

Therefore, to be safe, always treat your topic and your audience with respect.

In the event that you are expected to speak in front of an audience that you are not familiar with, here are how you can get intel on them so that you can tailor your speech accordingly.

1. Ask the Organizer

The organizer of the event is the best source for this kind of information.  They will know the basic information on the audience demographics such as their age, race, economical background, profession, etc.  All these information will guide you in preparing your speech, how your tone should be and how in depth you should go on your topic.  For example, you wouldn’t give the same speech to an audience of teenagers as the one you give to an audience of middle aged people, right?  If it’s a mixed audience then you have to make sure you have something for everyone.

2. What is the Objective of the Event

What is the end game that the people attending the event hopes to achieve or learn?  This will tell you who will be attending the event and what your speech should be about.  For example, if the event is a property investment seminar and the audience are there to learn about investing in properties and hopefully get some investment leads, then you’ll know that the audience probably consist of people in their 30s to 40s who can want to start investing in properties or who already are investing.  Your content should center around the property investing topic.

3. Mingle with the Audience

A good way to get to know your audience is to mingle with them.  Be at the venue early and talk to the audience.  If it is a multi-speaker event, sit at the back of the room and watch how the audience respond to the other speakers.  This should tell you what they are interested in so that you can make any final adjustments to your speech.

Having a little bit of knowledge on the interests of the audience is key to crafting an engaging speech.  If you are talking about something that has no relevance to the audience then you might as well be speaking to an empty room.


If you would like the opportunity to hone your public speaking skills as well as learn leadership skills, join us for our bi-monthly meetings on every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month.  Our meetings start at 8pm.  For further information please contact us at gurneyhydrotoastmastersclub@gmail.com or refer to our Next Meeting page for information on our next meeting.

Comments

  1. agentprinceMarch 25, 2021 at 6:29 AM

    Media coach I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article.

    ReplyDelete

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