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.

How can I increase my sales to the group I am speaking to?

Marketing Director: “Stress benefit, benefits, benefits!

Sales Manager: “Give them an incentive to act today!”

Your Boss: “Tease you audience and tell them they can’t get all of our insights without hiring you.”

You: “I’ve got to be really aggressive here. If I don’t ask, I won’t receive. I’d better push this audience hard.”

***

Your Audience: “The best way to sell us is to NOT sell us. Instead give us information that is so valuable to us that you leave us wanting more. Case studies can be interesting for us and will help you too. Help us so much from the content of your speech that we feel there is no risk buying your product or service because you’ve already delivered value. Give to us freely and you’ll get back in return.  Also, we tend to forget stuff very quickly, so if you have a tip sheet, free report or some other handout with valuable information for us, then we will gladly take it and we might even contact you in the future.”

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.”

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/what should I look at when speaking?

Your Therapist: “Look at the clock in the back of the room. This will keep you from getting scared by your audience.”

Your Colleague down the hall: “I look at the top of people’s heads. This way I can’t see them staring back at me.”

Your Speech Coach: “Sweep the room with your eyes, moving in a counter-clockwise movement going from the top left quadrant, to the bottom left quadrant, to the top right quadrant and then the bottom right quadrant every 2.3 seconds.”

You: “I’d like to look right at my audience, but I don’t want to make any mistakes. Therefore I better keep my eyes on my script or on my PowerPoint slides.”

***

Your Audience: “Would you give me a job if I came to a job interview and never looked you in the eyes or shook your hand? Of course not. We hate to sound petty, but if you ignore us, we will ignore you back. If you want to get our attention, look us in the eye. Look at each one of us individually, not as some big sea of people. If we feel and see you looking at us individually, we will pay great attention to you, individually. That will add up to one big attentive audience for your speech.”

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 rehearse my presentation and for how long?

Your PowerPoint Presentation Creation Specialist: “Rehearsal sounds like a nice idea, in concept, but we still have to re-design the last ten slides.”

Your Corporate Communications Director: “Sure, let’s rehearse if there is time. But we are still waiting for approval on the slides from corporate HQ and I don’t expect those until the morning of the presentation.”

You: “I absolutely have every intention of rehearsing. But shoot, it’s midnight and we are still changing the font size for the bullet points on the presentation and the speech is tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM and I haven’t slept in 2 days. Looks like there is no time for rehearsal. Besides, I want to seem ‘fresh.’ I might seem stale or canned if I rehearse.”

***

Your Audience: “We don’t care if you rehearse or not, just don’t rehearse on us. If you don’t know what slide goes where, or how your transitions work, or how your clicker operates, guess what you are telling us? You are telling us that you and your one hour of time are a hell of a lot more important than the collective hundred hours of our time as audience members. You are telling us to drop dead. OK, we will; right in front of you. You now get to speak to a dead audience. Are you happy now? You had better be great when you present to us if you want us to remember you and to love you. In theory it’s possible you could be great without rehearsing, and maybe Tiger Woods could have become a great golfer without ever practicing. Yeah, right!”