Who is your audience and how do you convince them

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After forming your objective it is imperative to know who your audience will be and then, according to your analysis, thinking of ways to get your information across.

‘There is no such thing as a dumb audience. If they don’t understand it’s because you can’t communicate’ –Harvey Golub, American express

Analyse your audience-
Think of how many people will be attending, what most of their interests would be, their line of work etc. Based on those statistics think of how they will respond to your information and delivery and change or modify your presentation to suit your audience

Identify the individuals who you want to impress-
Adhere to the people in the audience who will have a say in your objective and shape your presentation according to the standards of what they expect or need to hear. There may be audience members whose support or opposition will not affect your presentation therefore do not waste your time catering to how they would prefer to hear your presentation.

The audience’s knowledge-
It is important to know how well versed your audience is regarding the contents of your material and vocabulary. You must not make any assumptions as to how well they can follow complex fast paced presentations nor create extra slides with information they already know. To combat this, you may need to spend time during presentations to explain complicated concepts or send them the concepts before the presentation.

The level of your audiences’ interest –
It is essential that your audience cares about what you are presenting. If they appear disinterested, share your thoughts of how this presentation matters and why the objective is relevant. You could also display your objective or give handouts prior to your PowerPoint to ensure your audience knows and is interested in your aim.

State the effects of agreeing with your objective-
Inform your audience of the benefits or reasons as to why your presentation or ideas are worth approving. State potential losses or alternatives and how your audience will benefit from taking action with your plan.

Think why your audience could have aversions to your presentation-
Think of reasons as to why your audience may find problems with your PowerPoint and information and how you could fight those issues. They could be due to problems with the way your PowerPoint is presented. If it is an aversion to the act of changing itself then present ideas as to why it is beneficial to make those changes in contrast to letting things stay the same as they are.

The reaction of the audience-
If your audience members aren’t evidently happy with your proposal it may not necessarily mean hatred or for your objective but may mean that your presentation is unexpected or unpopular in statements. This would require you to be patient, build your points and further explain the implications that would arise if your recommendations were overlooked.

Their data processing ability-
It may be difficult to foretell your audience’s preferences when it comes to displaying information and it may be confusing to deal with charts colours graphs images and whether they are needed at all. The best way would be to contact audience members or individuals close to the people you want to impress and ask around about their preferences.