Should I adapt to my audience or have them adapt to me and hope they "get it”? Presentation Skills
Should I adapt to my audience or have them adapt to me and hope they "get it”? Presentation Skills
You should never ask your audience to adapt to you and hope they get it. Remember, you will learn at our Presentations Skills Seminars, that the person with the most skin invested in this game is you, the presenter, not your audience. They’ve come into a room to hear what you have to say, and you are the one that has the goal of having them do something. Therefore, if they do nothing, they usually have the least to lose.
My personal belief is that the presentation is always about the desired outcome with the audience. Therefore, it is not enough to hope that what you are saying is compelling enough to have them adapt to you.
Think of it this way: how would you feel about a waiter who says, “I don’t work here to greet my clients, say thank you, or make them feel welcome in our restaurant. I just tell them they can order exactly what’s on the menu, we’ll make no substitutions, and we want them to feel good about what they pay us.” When you walk into a restaurant, you expect that the waitress will adapt to you and that your experience will be a pleasant one.
You want to maintain the same philosophy when you are giving a presention. By falling into the trap of believing the audience should adapt to you, you’re really saying that the presentation is all about what you need to say and not about what they need to hear. Never shift your focus from your audience, for they are your presentation.
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