who is your audience?

One of the most important parts of any presentation, be it a keynote talk, an internal update, a sales pitch, or introduction, is to put yourself in the shoes of your audience.

It's no longer "know your audience." Now, it's "become your audience."

What are their struggles? If you know their struggles, you can list all of the challenges they are facing and you'll be close to capturing what they are going through. But, if you become the audience, you will not only be able to frame the uphill battles they are facing, but you'll be able to FEEL what they are experiencing.

That is the difference between average speakers and awesome speakers. The average ones know the formulas to list for an audience. The awesome speakers feel the heartaches, the frustrations, the complexities of a situation, the confusion on what to do next, the insight on clarity for what to do next, the second-guessing of the actions they are considering, the joy of achievement, etc.

Doing this shows them that you TRULY get who they are and what they face. We are humans. There is more to us than telling us what to do. When we show them we understand a part, not necessarily all of their psychology, we connect a whole lot more with them and become a better fit for what they are needing or wanting to get out of their lives.

I know this is challenging for some of you to do. Some of us choose to guard our emotions or are afraid of displaying any kind of vulnerabilities. It can be done. It may take more practice, but that's ok (and worth it).

Demonstrating you are actually more like your audience by living through the ups and downs of life, feeling what they are feeling, will have audiences leaning in, wanting to learn more, do more, and connect more with you!

Give it a whirl and let us know how it goes.