How can you adjust your tone and language to connect with millennial audiences?

Don't! The golden rule of public speaking is always to be the best version of yourself. Every audience member I have met in my 20 odd years of professional speaking has a finely tuned authenticity detector. So where does that leave us? We need to establish a commonplace. You don't have to be the same as your audience, you just need to have something in common. I may have tattoos and a silly haircut, but I'm a husband, dad, and entrepreneur - that's ofeten enough to connect me to my audience for them to see past the differences. One thing you could do is to ensuure that your references make sense i.e. Alex Hormozi may be a better person to quote on sales than Zig Ziglar.

People can easily spot a fake miles away, and you will then lose their trust forever. As such, it is essential first to be authentic and honest to yourself, and then it can flow over to your audience. Tell your true personal stories that can help carry out the message(s) intended in your presentation with simple language, appealing to their deep emotions. Listen and learn from your audience even as you expect them to listen and learn from you and show them that you do not know it all.

Use clear and relatable examples to draw out the audience's imagination and engage and sustain their attention. The examples could be from things that bring excitement, like social media, modern events and happenings and their dreams and goals. Use practical examples of people who have been successful in various fields that they can relate to, making them know that humans just like them could do it, and so can they. Demystify successes with practical examples and empower them with your stories and stories of people they can relate to.

To make your discussions interactive and inclusive, use small breakout sessions where everyone can easily share ideas, create polls, and create groups within the audience that can compete against each other on the topic statement(s). Have little breaks within discussions, allowing for quick social interaction and feedback. Be welcoming of various backgrounds, cultures, ideas, and perspectives, and be mindful of bias and stereotypes.

Use simple language to keep the millennials engaged and sustain their attention throughout the presentation. Let your presentation be well structured, following a logical sequence and drawing a reasonable conclusion. Avoid giving out ambiguous and conflicting information, and let your presentation be relevant and value-adding to their situation. State essential points clearly and avoid repetition and unnecessary information. Keep the conversation exciting and inspiring, and use pictures, videos and appropriate body language to emphasize your points. Should your presentation be lengthy, break it down into various sessions, giving them a chance to have coffee, tea, bathroom breaks, and interact with others within sessions.

To easily connect with Millennials, you should be ready to learn and adapt to their ever-changing moods, preferences and expectations. You should be open to observing and reading their body language. Be welcoming of their ideas, feedback and criticism and be ready to learn from them since they keep exploring and innovating. Take their input in good faith and let it be a guide when working on future presentations. Learn to engage them using the tools and mediums they constantly communicate, such as social media, chats, and games. Being adaptable and flexible and incorporating measures relatable to millennials will support delivering your message smoothly, and they will quickly assimilate the message.

Some parameters to find the tone: 1. Skip the passive language: Passive voice is great when you want to avoid pointing fingers, but not for explaining complex ideas. Keep your language active and clear. Better yet, address your audience directly with words like “we” and “you.” 2. Watch those advertisements: Look at any advertising or marketing materials produced for millennials. Is the copy quirky and spunky? Strong and direct? Take those cues to build out the language in your content. 3. Read out loud: You know your content's tone because you created it. Pay attention to how sound out loud. Does it fit the conversation? Or does it bring everything to a hard, jargon-laden, screeching halt?