It requires wisdom
to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
Becoming the audience yourself!
Sometimes you
would have delivered an excellent speech; you would have given enough stories
and jokes. You may also be very satisfied. But the key issue is: how about the
audience?
You should
know that your audience have some specific expectations from you. You need to
know clearly what the audience want from your speech. Your primary goal is to
connect with what they want. While writing the specific purpose of your speech,
you should have this perspective in your mind. This is called 'audience
adaptation'.
You could ask
the following critical questions to yourself before your speech:
- Who are my audience?
- If I were my own
audience, what will I expect from the speaker?
- Will my jokes be
relevant to my audience?
- Will my stories and
anecdotes be interesting to them?
- What pace will be
comfortable to my audience?
- During the entire
process of my delivery, will my audience be interested in my speech?
Compare the
role of a shoe salesman. When a customer enters his showroom, he should show
what the customer wants and not what all he has! Understanding this and
delighting the customer is the art of salesmanship. This principle applies to
public speaking also!
NC Sridharan
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