The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Do I need to memorize my speech?

Your Public Affairs Director: “Yes, you will seem more professional if you memorize your speech.”

Your speech Coach: “Yes, with enough hours of rehearsal, you can memorize your speech.”

You: “Ugh!!! I guess I have to memorize my speech. This is going to be long, hard, difficult work, but I guess I have to do it. Goodbye family, friends and fun for the next two weeks!”

***

Your Audience: “Of course we don’t want you to ignore us or read to us or have your head buried in a bunch of papers. But don’t give us too much credit. We can’t really tell if you have memorized your speech or not, and, frankly, we don’t care. If you’d like to use a single page of notes that you refer to from time to time, we certainly won’t hold that against you. Of course the less obvious about looking at your notes, the more you will fool us into thinking you simply know your subject matter cold. There’s certainly nothing wrong with using a cheat sheet. After all, you aren’t taking a geometry test.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

What bugs my audience the most?

Your Speechwriter: “Not having perfect transitions and a clear enough outline/structure.”

Your speech coach: “Audiences are bothered by excessive hand movement and shuffling of the feet.”

You: “I’m sure they are bothered by my ‘uhs’ and ‘ums’, less than graceful transitions,  an unclear structure and by going on too long.”

***

Your Audience: “What bugs us the most is when you bore us with tons of abstract details, numbers and facts that seem disconnected from anything with a real world application. We are so easy to please: just tell us a few interesting messages unsung stories and examples. Throw in a little passion and we’ll be telling people for years what a great speaker you are.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I take questions during my presentation, or ask people to hold them until the end?

Your Speech Writer: “Wait until the end of the speech to take questions. This way the logic and flow of the speech won’t be interrupted.”

Your Director of Marketing: “Wait until the end. We want to make sure we get out all of our marketing points up front.”

You: “This is freaking me out! It’s all I can do to get through my presentation without people interrupting my training of thought. Of course we should hold all questions until the end. If people interrupt me, I might forget what is coming next in MY presentation.”

***

Your Audience: “With all due respect, it’s not YOUR presentation, it’s OUR presentation. We aren’t likely to remember our questions if we have to wait half an hour. Who do you think you are, the Queen of England? How can we focus on what you are saying now if we don’t understand something you said a minute ago and you didn’t let us ask questions? Here is the one thing you know about us audience members: if we are asking you a question that means we are not falling asleep or reading emails at that moment. Isn’t that a condition you’d like us to stay in as often as possible during your presentation?”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I interact with my audience at the beginning by saying “good morning” and then saying “I can’t hear you” to get them to try again with more energy and enthusiasm?

Your Speech Coach: “Yes, this will be a lively way to show you’re unscripted.”

You: “Yes, I’ll certainly look friendly and “interactive’ if I engage my audience right off the bat.”

***

Your Audience: “Gag us with a spoon. We hate this sort of manipulative cliché. Thanks for making us feel like we are back in second grade. I case you have forgotten, you have been assigned the task of presenting and we have been assigned the task of listening. So don’t treat us like we are trained dogs that bark on command!”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Will reinforcing my key points in text on PowerPoint slides make my audience retain the points more easily?

Your Director of Marketing: “Yes, research shows that if people see the words in print and hear them, they are more likely to remember the points than if they simply heard them.”

Your PowerPoint Specialist: “Don’t be a jerk! Everybody knows you put all of your key concepts in bullet points on a PowerPoint. Otherwise I’d be out of a job!”

You: “I’ll feel a lot more confident if all of my key concepts are up in bullet points on the screen. This will make life easier for me and my audience.”

***

Your Audience: “If we wanted to read, we’d stay at home and curl up with a good book. Or we’d close our office door and read the newspaper on our computer screen. We are more than capable of reading but we’re not quite sure why we’d want to if you are going to say the same stuff. What’s easier for you to remember, the face of someone you just met, or their name on a business card? Obviously, it is the person’s face. So if you want us to remember something, don’t take the lazy person’s route and throw up text. Instead, use a photo, graph or chart. Create an interesting visual and we won’t forget. Sadly, there’s nothing particularly interesting or memorable about text up on a screen, no matter how interesting the topic.

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I tell my audience that I am sick/my plane was late/I didn’t get a full night’s sleep?

Your personal assistant:   “Of course you should let people know you are feeling under the weather, boss!”

You: “I feel awful with his cold. I don’t want people to think that I normally sound like this. Plus I’m really tired. The plane didn’t get in until 3:00 AM. I’m not at my best. This isn’t fair!”

***

Your Audience: “Too much information. We don’t care about your problems at this stage of the relationship (presumably we just met you for the first time as you were being introduced). It’s not that we are mean and wish you ill-will. It’s just at this point, we don’t need to know about your medical history or your sleep problems. We have our own problems. Do you want to hear about them? We didn’t think so. Just do the best that you can and focus on giving us interesting and valuable insights and information. If someone asks later or the issue comes up, then you can talk about your problems. But don’t talk about your petty problems at the beginning of your presentation.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

If my allotted time is cut, what should I eliminate from my speech?

Your Marketing Director: “Unfortunately, you’ll have to drop the stories and examples and the jokes and humor. Just get the facts out as quickly as possible.”

Your Boss: “Get the facts out. Get in. Get out. Sit down and shut up.”

You: “I’ll just cut out the examples and stories and talk faster. That way I’ll still cover all of my points.”

***

Your audience: “The faster you talk, the faster we zone out, forget or fail to process in the first place. Since it is highly unlikely that we will remember more than a couple of points from your speech anyway, why don’t you figure out what the couple of points of greatest importance are from your speech? Then, without rushing, give us examples and stories to make those one or two points come alive. Far better to communicate one point with one story memorably then to quickly dump lots of data that is quickly forgotten. Plus, you can always give us handouts or direct us to a website for more information. If you have said anything remotely interesting and useful, we will seek out more information from you.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I use a microphone when speaking to an audience?

Your Director of Communications: “if you are speaking to more than 100 people, then you should use a microphone.”

Your Director of Public Affairs: “If the room you are speaking in is larger than 50 feet by 20 feet, then you should use a microphone.”

You: “I don’t need a microphone. I have a strong voice!”

***

Your audience: “Hey dummy, the microphone isn’t for YOU; it’s for US the audience. It makes it easier for us to hear you at all times, especially if we are in the back of the room, if there are distractions or if we are a little hard of hearing. The other nice thing about you using a microphone and speakers is that now when you talk to us you can sound conversational without having to project your voice. When you project your voice you become monotone and you remind us of our least favorite home room teacher from 8th grade.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Is drawing on white boards and charts too old fashion for modern audiences?

Director of marketing: “Of course it’s too old fashion. You should always use video or slick PowerPoint graphics.”

Director of Public Affairs: “We want to project ourselves as modern members of the 21st century, so let’s not be caught using old technology.”

You: “I don’t want to draw or diagram in front of people. What if I make a mistake? All eyes will be on me. If I do the PowerPoint slides in advance I can spend hours on them and add many layers of useful date to each slide.”

***

Your Audience: “Actually, it’s quite refreshing to see someone draw or diagram for us live and in the moment. It’s, frankly, much easier to follow because a speaker cannot draw 8 different color-coded lines at once. As audience members we feel we can see and experience exactly what the speaker is talking about us. Also, it slows the speaker down and gets the speaker away from doing a huge data dump. By drawing items, it forces the speaker to get away from meaningless abstractions. We don’t care if the drawing or writing is less than great, as long as we can understand the concept and see the drawng, we are OK with it.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Who should be my role model for speaking?

Your Chief legal Counsel: “Johnny Cochrane or F. Lee Bailey.”

Your Public Affairs Director: “Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair.”

Your CEO: “Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet.”

You: “Joel Osteen, Oprah, I don’t know, help!”

***

Your Audience: “Nothing is more annoying than watching a non-actor trying to act like someone they’re not. When we talked to you last week in the lunch room one-on-one you were quite animated, passionate and interesting. When we had a drink at the pub two weeks ago with you, you were quite animated, interesting and passionate talking about your project. But when we see you giving a speech, you seem more subdued, low-key, low energy, and, frankly, a little boring. You need a new role model and that role model should be yourself. We don’t mean the “you” that is nervous and low energy in front of a group of people. We mean the “you” when you are talking to just one or two other people.”