CHAMPION STRATEGIES PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE – July 14th
Module Two: Identifying Your Audience
The key to effective public speaking is preparation. The better you prepare, the more confident you will feel.
Preparation begins with identifying your audience. What do you know about your audience? What do they care about? What’s important to them? Do they have any misconceptions about your topic? These are the kinds of questions you should ask as part of your preparation. Sitting down and listing the questions, and your answers to them, will give you a basic structure for your speech, around which you can add things and take them away as you see fit.
Holding the attention of an audience and speaking to what interests them is the most important thing about any public speech. It is not merely about what you say, but also how you say it. If you have a message you wish to get across, then think of how that message will communicate itself best to the audience you are speaking to.
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Performing a Needs Analysis
Preparing for a speech should begin with thinking about the wants and needs of the audience. What are they interested in? What do they care about? No matter how entertaining a speaker you are, people will not give you their full attention unless you are talking about something that is meaningful to them.
You should try to let the audience know early in your speech that you are going to try to address their concerns. Too often a speaker starts out with a lengthy discussion about the history or background of a topic. That is usually not what the audience cares about! They want to know how this topic will affect their lives.
A needs analysis measures what skills employees have — and what they need. It indicates how to deliver the right training at the right time. The results answer the following questions:
- Where is the audience with the problem or need for change?
- What tasks and subtasks does an expert perform to complete a work process?
- What gaps exist between experts, average, and poor performers of a work process?
- How do we translate the needs into objectives to promote a strong learning outcome?
The method can be simple observation, careful note taking, and asking questions.
Question | Methods |
Audience? | Interview key stakeholders and listen to their concerns about the problem Define who needs help to overcome the problem Identify and describe the audience and the work |
Tasks? | Observe the work being done by recognized experts Take careful notes and ask questions where needed Document the proper performance of the work tasks |
Gaps? | Observe other workers doing the tasks. Compare results with the performance of experts. Document identified skill gaps. |
Outcome? | Develop a complete list of tasks for performing the work completely and correctly. |
Make it a champion Day!
Brandon Hardison
Champion Strategies
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