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- A.U.D.I.E.N.C.E.
Analysis - It's Your Key To Success
- by Lenny Laskowski
(c) 1996 LJL Seminars
As speakers we all know the importance of properly
preparing our material far enough in advance so we may
have sufficient time to rehearse and "fine-tune" our
speeches. Unfortunately, this is not enough to assure
that your speech or presentation is well received. Your
speech preparation must also include gathering
information about your audience and their needs. A well
prepared speech given to the wrong audience can have the
same effect as a poorly prepared speech given to the
correct audience. They both can fail terribly.
It is critical that your preparation efforts include
some amount of audience analysis. The more you know and
understand about your audience and their needs, the
better you can prepare your speech to assure that you
meet their needs. Speech preparation should use what I
like to call the 9 P's.
Prior Proper Preparation
Prevents Poor Performance of the
Person Putting on the Presentation.
Nothing will relax you more than to know you have
properly prepared. The stage fright or speech anxiety
felt by many speakers is due directly to not knowing
enough about the speaking environment or the audience.
The more you know about your speaking environment and
your audience, the more relaxed you will be when
delivering your speech. Many speakers; however, often
overlook the need to include any kind of audience
analysis as part of their speech preparation. Proper
audience analysis will assure that you give the right
speech to the right audience. Most professional speakers
send their clients a multi-page questionaire in order to
gather enough information about them and the speaking
event to properly customize their speeches. Using the
word "A-U-D-I-E-N-C-E" as an acronym, I have defined
some general audience analysis categories that these
surveys should include.
A nalysis - Who are they? How many will be there?
U nderstanding - What is their knowledge of the
subject?
D emographics - What is their age, sex,
educational background?
I nterest - Why are they there? Who asked them to
be there?
E nvironment - Where will I stand? Can they all
see & hear me?
N eeds - What are their needs? What are your
needs as the speaker?
C ustomized - What specific needs do you need to
address?
E xpectations - What do they expect to learn or
hear from you?
- Develop specific questions which fit into each of
these eight categories and ask the client or audience to
tell you what they want. Essentially, ask them what they
need and give it to them.
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- Lenny Laskowski
- Lenny Laskowski is an international professional speaker and the author
of the book, No Sweat Presentations - The Painless Way to Successful Speaking and several
other publications. Lenny is also available for hire to speak to your organization,
college or association. Lenny also provides in-house seminars and workshops. Why not
contact Lenny today for your next function or event. Lenny can be found at his Web site, http://www.ljlseminars.com/ or can be contacted by
email at the following address: Sales@LJLSeminars.com.
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