How often do you jump straight into a task without stepping back to think about the right strategy and approach?
Maybe you’ve asked AI to make a plan for you. You might even have asked it to build your presentation.
This is want to share with you, knowing your audience before you put pen to paper can be the difference between a presentation that moves the room and one that doesn’t.
It’s not about you
When we present to a room full of people, we want to express ourselves as speakers and let the audience connect with us on a human level. The presentation, visuals included, isn’t really about us. The focus should always be on the audience.
Over 14 years of working on presentations, I’ve noticed that many lead with data, statistics and information. Somewhere along the way, the core audience gets forgotten, and the message and clarity is lost.
That’s when pitches fail to connect with investors, teams don’t buy into the strategy or understand the company’s direction, and thought leaders struggle to make their ideas investable.
“Selling, at its core, is not a business transaction. It is first and foremost the forging of a human connection.”
– Bob Burg
Start with an Ideal Audience Profile
I take a different approach, and it starts with an audience profile.
You may have heard of an ICP (ideal customer profile). I use a process I call the Ideal Audience Profile (IAP). Your IAP should:
- Identify the main challenges your audience faces right now.
- Understand who they are and what they need to understand from you.
- Discover what moves them and what they connect with.
The goal then isn’t simply to make a better presentation. It’s to design one that’s audience-focused from the very beginning.
“I don’t have time for this”
I know what you’re going to say: “Illiya, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to get this presentation done for my team tomorrow.”
I hear you, there’s a simple way to put the focus back on your audience. Ask yourself these three questions as you look at your content:
- What do I want my audience to connect with?
- What action do I want them to take afterwards?
- What do I want them to feel after hearing me speak?
Apply just these three questions to your next presentation, and I guarantee you’ll make a deeper connection with your audience. Don’t open with the data or the infographic. Start with what they need to connect with.
Your clients, partners and team will thank you for stripping back the noise and focusing on what matters to them.
The three things every presentation needs
Every successful presentation needs three things:
- Confident delivery from the speaker
- An emotional connection between the audience and the content
- Visuals that bring clarity and understanding
Get all three in place, and you’ll inspire the room to take action.
That’s why your audience matters more than visuals or delivery alone. Many of the people I work with spend thousands learning to sound like professional speakers, only to forget the one thing that makes someone worth putting on stage: the ability to connect with their audience.
Not sure if your next presentation will connect? Take my free 3-minute quiz to find out whether your message is landing with your audience, and where to focus first.
