How to Create a Standing O worthy Audience-centered Speech (It’s all about the experience)
In our look-at-me, everyone’s-a-winner, make 6-figures from speaking in 6-minutes, social media-crazed society, the easy way to attempt to grow your speaking business is to focus on what you can take from your audience and ignore the audience experience entirely.
Everyone is doing it, right?
Those ever popular selling from the stage formulas encourage you to see the audience as bags of cash just like Wile E. Coyote (not-so super genius) fantasizes about the RoadRunner as meat turning on a spit.
During your presentation that audience sits bracing themselves for the inevitable pitch. Never able to relax. Never able to connect with your or your message. Only ready to fend off your pitch.
Your speaking career suffers from it (I’m just an email away to chat about a better way).
And really, do you want to be THAT speaker?
If you plan to be a successful speaker, you must be a giver, and remain laser focused on the audience experience from beginning to end.
Take the sage advice of my “boyfriend” Simon Sinek, “Even at a distance on stage, we can tell if you’re a giver or a taker, and people are more likely to trust a giver—a speaker that gives them value, that teaches them something new, that inspires them—than a taker.”
Be still, my heart. Now, the hard work begins.
Table of Contents
Aspire to Action because Inspiration Is Overrated
Inspirational content is a dime a dozen, and it’s found in abundance for free.
Why do you think social media can suck you in for hours at a time?
Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube alone will inspire you forever—for free. Even the wrapper of my Halls cough drops told me to “Seize the day.” Really? When I’m sick, the only thing I’m seizing is gonna be my comfy clothes and couch.
What’s harder to come by and therefore more valuable to the audience experience (remember what Simon told us, be a “speaker that gives them value”) is to change them for the better by taking them on a journey to action.
Define Your Audience Journey
To be a change agent and motivate action, you must define the audience journey and the experience you want to give them in your presentation.
There are two questions to ask when considering the audience journey:
1. What’s the state of your audience before they hear you speak?
Before you get distracted by all the brilliance you plan to spew on your audience, put on your detective hat. Research your audience and the organization you will speak in front of by stalking them on LinkedIn or Googling to understand their beliefs, perspectives and feelings. If only humans would come to your presentation as empty vessels willing to absorb your message without hesitation…our jobs as speakers would be simple.
The more you know about your audience and the more vivid the portrait you have about who these people are, the better you will be able to meet them at their starting point.
2. Where do you want to take your audience? Where’s the end of the line on your journey? What action do you want them to take?
Begin with the end in mind, a Stephen Covey mantra, helps chart the course for you to deliver a transformative presentation. Consider how you want your audience to think, feel and what you want them to DO after hearing you speak. Don’t you dare say as your do, “buy my stuff.” That’s all about you, and, I say this with love, you are NOT the point, my speaking friend!
An Epic Audience Experience – Emotion, Value, Action, Meaning
So, you know where you’re starting from and where you want to end up, now you just need to fill in the gaps for an epic audience experience.
We could go the easy, unsuccessful route again, and just speak to the audience, but when you create an audience experience you will become a highly sought after speaker.
After years of noodling on just how to go about creating an epic audience experience, you can thank a killer pilates class for giving me clarity about the following four essential ingredients to create an epic audience experience:
Emotion: You have to tap into emotion to create an audience experience. It’s how we connect to each other, and how you build a lasting relationship with the people you speak to.
Value: Back to Simon, it’s all about value. Plus a little bonus from yours truly: Give away your best idea for free! For an audience to have an experience, they must value it.
Action: You must include action that your listeners can implement NOW.
Meaning: Actively interact with your audience to allow your listeners to create meaning with each other and with you. This ends up with a more creative and inspiring experience.
An Epic Audience Experience is Hard Work, but So Worth It
You can change lives by giving your audience an epic experience. It’s much harder than just giving a speech, but so much more worthwhile.
Be a giver who motivates audiences to action and crafts a presentation with a laser focus on delivering an epic audience experience—be a speaker who is meaningful to the people you serve.
