It is a easy given that when you associate with your audience they take in more, understand you better, and suck in the material with greater intensity. A room of five or a gallery of five hundred requires many talents and connections to make a vital impact.
The majority of my audiences have been teachers. Some are there by force, others by mildly disinterested interest, and then there is the tingly, wiggly, thrilled group that has attended to learn, enhance their skills, and exit with a dose of enlightenment. Re-envision the group who showed up for your last performance. Scan the group as you tap a face into place on each body. Now you can identify Group 1 - the Tinglers. They are in the front with notepad in hand and a bulging portfolio packed neatly next to their feet. Group 2 - the Oughters - are not exactly opposed to learning and trying new things and they know they ought to, but they require some persuasion. After all, they could be out shopping or home watching television, but they came today with at least a teaspoonful of enthusiasm, and they dot every part of the room.
Group 3 is comprised of the Pricklers. Not only are they disinterested and unmotivated, they often believe that they already know everything there is to know and could not possible squeeze in a particular novel idea. Plus they like to judge the presenter straight through the "I could do 10X better" lens, never acknowledging the remote possibility that there are new thoughts in the world. They often sit in the back, laptop open as they surf the internet or cell phone in hand as they chat and disturb.
Your job, since you have agreed to accept this assignment, is to move the Tinglers, the Oughters, and the Pricklers into a cohesive group for learning "Tops". If you are working with a particular school or company, you want this oddball assortment of individuals to return to work united in endeavor and desire to improve, growth yield and productivity, and institute more sufficient and sufficient skills, delivery, and talents.
You must connect, knowing that connections are contagious and will spread throughout the audience and back to the work place. Your techniques will consist of being personable, polished, professional, and knowledgeable without being overwhelming, over-confident, and conceited. Begin your presentation on a personable note by telling the audience something about you. This is not your resume or portfolio of accomplishments, but a snippet of what makes you human. A link to the community or state is essential so scan the newspaper for a new articles and subjects of interest, check out an internet story from the area, or chat with locals. Tie the event/topic to you, your life and your beliefs. For example while presenting in Las Vegas I read an description on a secret school that recruited basketball players and no one else. Their goal was a national championship and they achieved it. Tying this topic to teaching in "regular" schools, I opened with recruiting for excellence in every school. The room was abuzz with interest from the outset.
Be polished. This does not mean memorize until all naturalness disappears but there are few things worse than a disorganized presentation that starts late, drags on, and hypnotizes the audience with the doldrums. Use metaphors to bring your presentation to light and to life. Seek the faces that are uplifted towards your voice and scheme reliance and humility. Continually add meaningful links to keep them in tune. Stories about your experiences, hobbies, successes and disasters will ring true if you are true as well. I love to run - that fits in the introduction with a training program that leads to a goal; I love to write - I let the audience know that they possess magnificent stories and information that only they can tell; I was once upstaged by a bedraggled dog who had snuck in from the thunder so I made him my working partner. The same can be true anytime a scruffy learner or co-worker taps on your door.
Professionalism is essential if you want others to believe in your skills. A disheveled appearance does not add credibility nor do hand-outs that are a mishmash, timing that is abysmal, misspellings on the Power Point, or improper use of English. Arriving late begets problem so plan to get to your destination a day early or at least any hours ahead of time to check out the room, gauge the audience, ask pertinent questions of others, and procure your stage presence. Presenting is acting as well as delivery of good.
Sometimes, however, the dynamite intentions are detonated. I had been led to my room three hours prior to "the show" so I had projector, laptop, hand-outs, and chairs arranged perfectly. I turned out the lights and headed towards the keynote speaker to compare my upcoming audience. As the speech ended and the applause died away, I gathered my final notes and headed towards my room to Seek that I had been uprooted. New presenters smiled as they relayed hope that I did not mind a room change. They pointed to my pile stuffed onto a cart and then returned to their own presentation preparation.
I rolled my little cart with my supplies to a second room. Just as I began to feel calm and composed sufficient to carry on, new invaders arrived on the scene and my second room was snatched from my grasp. I spied space across the hall and away I rolled yet again. By this time my audience had begun to assemble, in fact I appeared a bit like the Pied Piper as I tooted them along with my cart as we searched for ready space. Reasoning wildly but coherently, I fast plugged in my projector, scanned my screen, sorted my hand-outs (fortunately I had fourteen hands with me that day), and confidently clicked the "Start" button. Red lights flashed their over-heated warning and I knew that the Power Point was now in collapse.
I wiped sweat from my brow, tugged at my jacket, and then looked up to meet the eyes of my assembled crowd. A sign-up of twenty-five had morphed into forty-two, but what could I do but begin. Acknowledging my moves (they nodded as witnesses) and the orneriness of the projector (they'd felt the heat), I embarked on my presentation adventure. The group joined with me and with an challenging topic and hands-on activities and peer interaction our next ninety minutes passed in a snap.
That is where the knowledgeable part comes to play. In expert improvement I have been called upon to present on a vast variety of topics. My old boss all the time said, "Just Do It!" and I did, lacking the making ready time essential for excellence and the deep knowledge base and touch to ever feel 100% ready. It was never that I came without an arsenal of ideas, but a compartmentalized insight with minimal direct convention left me ill-at-ease and less than confident in my explanations, examples, and knowledge excellence. Time and again I beat myself up as the party ended with "would have, could have, should have", those stealthy thieves and sappers of strength. Now that I operate independently I am able to only accept assignments where my background is solid, researched, practiced, and honed. What a relief!
While every particular Prickler may never join the ranks of the wise and educated, know that your personable, polished, professional, and knowledgeable presentation has impacted them if they listened for even one minute. The Oughters now have had the opening to identify the value attached to competence as they realize that new techniques are tangible and within their reach with some endeavor and drive. The Tinglers are thrilled and ready for activity and your distinguished presentation has left them with tools and capabilities to drive success. They possibly could have utilized your ideas by reading your hand-out or scanning your website without you are the leader, you have made their lives easier and more likely to be filled with achievement because you have connected to them and assured future triumphs and brilliance.
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