If you get beyond the objection, you generate an opportunity for a relationship. The relationship may last only as long as the presentation, or it may last far longer. Relationships emerge from a community of understanding and a sense of trust. To use a gardening analogy, relationships do not bloom overnight, but they can emerge over time if the ground is made fertile and adequately watered. Oprah has taken the relationship with an audience to an all-time level; over the decades she has been on the air, she has forged a bond with her audience, which has come to understand her as someone who reflects its issues and seeks to make the world better for it.
Both the success of your leadership presentation and your personal credibility depend upon assessing audience expectations. You can establish a relationship only if you demonstrate that you understand and acknowledge audience issues.
Communications Planner: Structuring the Presentation
Audiences have expectations. It is up to the presenter to determine those expectations prior to the presentation or upon its delivery. Understanding audience expectations can make the difference between a forgettable nonevent and a memorable event.
- Identify a key information resource.
- Create a five-question survey. Mail it to key informants. Collate the data.
- Ask what is on people’s minds—e.g., “What issues related to what I will say should I be aware of?”
- Make a list of relevant issues. Find ways to link those concerns to your content early in your presentation.
- What story or analogy might you use to connect what you do and the issue facing the audience to whom you are speaking?