How can you engage your audience through public speaking and webinars?

Understanding your purpose in public speaking is the compass that directs your content and engages your audience. It's the foundation for meaningful connections and impactful messages.

Think about what you're trying to achieve. Do you intend to present your entire public speech, or offer a segment as a taster to encourage bookings for the entire presentation?

Know your audience, and what they are looking to gain from attending your presentation, is it a general synopsis of the subject with a more in depth email follow up/invitation for further engagement? or a more detailed covering of a key part of the topic and taster into the rest?

Truly resonating with your audience means stepping into their shoes. Tailor your message not just to inform, but to connect and address their core needs and interests. It's the difference between merely speaking and genuinely communicating.

The best way to KNOW your audience is through research. Use LinkedIn and other online tools to learn about the key audience members collectively and individually. Find out what they care about and how they like to communicate. Then leverage this learning to build the most effective targeted talk for the group.

1 aspect of Audience research that I have found to be very important, is the purpose of attending the session with you. Are they attending to learn something, get inspired, out of compulsion, or learn some skill. This will drive the tone, content and also the interaction you will want to have with the audience.

Think of your audience as a group of friends with different tastes. You wouldn't serve steak to a vegetarian, right? Similarly, in a presentation, you wouldn't use complex jargon when explaining a concept to someone new in the field. You'd adapt your language and examples to suit each friend's preferences. Knowing your audience is like knowing your friends' food preferences – it ensures everyone leaves satisfied.

Think of your presentation medium as a vehicle. Public speaking is like driving a car; you have full control and can navigate smoothly. You can even stop and chat with passengers (your audience) along the way. Webinars, on the other hand, are like flying an aeroplane; you're up in the sky, and your connection with passengers is through screens. To keep them engaged, you provide in-flight entertainment (slides, videos) and communicate via intercom (chat, polls). Each vehicle requires different skills to reach your destination successfully.

Having a roadmap is crucial to clearly deliver your ideas. However, sometimes too much structure can take away from the authenticity of the delivery. One way to still effectively demonstrate you know your content while still following a roadmap is to tap into those transitions and signposts. These moments can be used to tackle the emotional side of the presentation and help you gauge where your audience is at in terms of interest. It also allows you to be authentic and stick to your presentation plan.

Imagine your presentation is like a recipe. You need to practice it like a chef preparing a dish. Practice is like following the recipe step by step in your kitchen, ensuring you have all the ingredients and equipment ready. Rehearsing is like cooking the dish multiple times to get it just right, adjusting the spices and flavors. And when you serve your dish (deliver your presentation), you do it with a smile, like a chef presenting a delicious meal to their guests. Your audience is your food critic; you want to make sure they leave satisfied!

Keep your language simple. Drop the jargon Throw the complex words down a well. Tell your audience stories in a way a 7 year old can easily follow.

Asking questions is a great way to get your audience involved and engaged. It also helps you to gauge their understanding of your article, blog or video.

Breaking the ice with relevant but throw away humour can be an easy way for your audience to both remember and retain the message, remember you, and to show your humanity whilst remaining on task and demonstrating your knowledge on the topic. When talking about AWS with people and about our global reach, I often joke the only area we don’t currently cover is the Artic, but find me an Eskimo that wants Glacier Storage and who knows…. ??