Presentation Skills Are Foundational Skills Part One: Know Your Audience

There are some skills that are so important to your career that it doesn’t matter what job you have or how far into your career you are…you have to have them. Presentation skills fall into that bucket of skills, and I don’t believe that most of us have been given the right level of training on how to deliver an effective presentation to audiences of all size and make up.

Here are five things to consider the next time you find yourself delivering a presentation:

1. Know your audience

2. Know your subject matter

3. Know your limits

4. Know the situation

5. Have confidence in your presentation

Using these five things, you’ll be able to come up with an effective presentation that helps your audience get the most out of your time together. Over the next few weeks, we’ll dive into each of these topics a little bit further…and this week we’ll be focusing on number 1:

Know your audience

In other words, who are you presenting to?

This is the most important question to ask yourself before you even start to put together your presentation content. Are you going to need to work the crowd? Are you going to need to introduce them to who you are and why you’re presenting? Have they paid to be in attendance, either for you or for some other express purpose? Do you work for them, either directly or indirectly? This will help you to really put together the framework for your actual presentation. I believe that there are three main types of presentations:

1. To an audience

2. To peers

3. To a superior

Each of these types of presentation need to be presented a little bit differently, and are not always mutually exclusive. You may be presenting to peers and a superior, or an audience of peers or superiors, etc. We’ll focus here on a few things to consider when approaching a presentation of each of these types…but will primarily focus on these main three types.

First off, presenting to an audience - you need to plan for the lowest common denominator. This doesn’t mean assume they’re stupid, but instead it’s on you as the presenter to have a good idea of what your audience already understands. There’s a strong likelihood that you’re the expert on the topic since you’re presenting to a group and that not all of the members of your audience will be able to dive right in at your level. If you lay the right foundation, you can bring them along for the ride with you through the rest of the presentation. However, if you spend too long covering the basics you’ll lose the core of your group if they are ahead of you. Don’t make them feel like you’re talking down to them, even though in some situations from a stage you might literally be talking down to them.

When you’re presenting to an audience, you also need to understand their expectations and be clear with your expectations for them when appropriate - and it helps to craft the narrative before your presentation even starts if you can. In a business context, this can often be done by laying down some level of understanding and expectations for your audience within the calendar invite. Do they have homework to do before attending your session? Are you expecting them to have questions ready or submitted beforehand? Can you share some of the topics you’ll be covering ahead of time or does that detract from your presentation?

Another important consideration when presenting to an audience is how far you can take it and if you need to build in relief. Does your audience have a high tolerance for data being shown to them or covered in depth if it’s a crucial part of your point? Or do you have to account for the fact that your audience needs to know the main points, but would probably prefer the presentation done in a way that allows them to easily grasp the main components but doesn’t dive too deep into your methodology? Comedic intervention, when done appropriately, can make a huge impact on the way the audience engages with your presentation.

The more you can do to align your presentation to your audience’s expectations, the more likely it will be received positively.

Next up, presenting to peers. I personally find this one the most enjoyable because it affords some level of discussion in most circumstances, and you’re able to control the direction of the discussion if you choose to. For example, you might find yourself in a situation like I have in the past where you want to both present and come up with a best practice as an outcome. When other people have a part in the ultimate best practice, it’s most beneficial if you include them in coming to the decision with you. My asking or my telling a peer that I need them to do something ends sometimes in a “no” - but if I prioritize laying out my points for them, I can help them come to the same conclusion that I have…which is much less likely to result in a flat out no.

In most peers situations, you know the people you’re presenting to so you can have a little fun with the audience and building to the ultimate presentation content. Get them engaged. Get them interested in the presentation. You can be a little vulnerable without also impacting the audience’s perception of your expertise on whatever you’re about to present. Generally a presentation to peers is somewhat of a rallying cry. It’s okay to treat it that way and give them time to participate in your presentation.

There will be times that you’re presenting as an expert to your peers and it’s not about having the discussion, and in those situations, it’s often best to operate under the “audience” mindset.

Lastly, let’s discuss presenting to a superior. This is the trickiest of the presentation types because it relies heavily on the 4th point above around knowing the situation. We’ll dive deeper into that in that post, but for now just be aware that context is the most important part of a presentation to a superior or group of superiors. All of the things that apply to the audience presentation also apply to the superior presentation, but with the added expectation that you’ve got a targeted message or ask for them. Think of the term “executive summary” even if they’re not technically an executive. Summarize your key point or two, and make your ask(s) extremely clear. Bracket your presentation with it.

Executive Summary > Main Presentation Content > Executive Summary

Presenting in this way will help them to understand the main points up front and quickly, it will also help them to understand what they should be considering throughout the course of your presentation. This helps in the case that your presentation doesn’t answer their questions directly, since they’ll know what you’re asking for before the end. Particularly when the situation requires them to make a decision about your presentation, you want to be clear about what you need from them before you present your case just in case you’ve missed the mark when making your case.

Think about it like talking to a child…only as the presenter, you’re the child. When a kid is asking for something, it’s not always clear what they’re building up to. Sometimes it sounds like they’ve gotten ahead of themselves and can’t articulate a clear point. Something like this comes to mind…

I was messing around with some Premiere transitions and this was the first idea that I thought of. 2011 memes shall never die

There’s a while there where you think this kid might not make it to his question, and several other points where you probably thought “any day now, kiddo…” - and this is what we’re trying to get around by presenting an executive summary up front and making sure they know what you’re building towards. I’ve seen this done well in many different ways, but the key is that you want to avoid completely missing the mark and this is one really effective method of doing that.

Next week, we’ll talk about knowing your subject matter and what that really means.