Focus is always on your audience

When you’re addressing your audience, use the “You” approach. Focus on your audience members as if talking to them as individuals.

Don’t say, “Common amongst people are…, but say, “As you are aware….”

Don’t say, “If there is a cooperation between the two entities….”

But say, “If you and I agree to work together….”

When using an illustration, put the listener into the picture.

Don’t say, “The typical manager feels slighted when staff don’t know her and don’t acknowledge her.”

But say, “Imagine YOU are a manager assigned to a new department without being formally introduced…. What reception would you expect from the people in that department?”

This is the I:YOU ratio. It’s always better to involve your listeners. Talk about the other person i.e. the YOU and less about the I.

Involve your listeners and weave them into your speech. That way you’ll be more interesting as a speaker, nobody will fall asleep in your presentation, and you’ll be able to walk away at the end with standing applause!

Well, at least you hope that will happen!

Just remember this, no involvement, no commitment. And when you don’t involve your listeners in your speech, you will not get any commitment from them either.

It’s simple, really.

But until you practice a more inclusive language when approaching others, knowing these alternative ways of saying won’t be ingrained until you have deliberately practiced the phrasing.

Deliberate practice makes you into a more influential speaker.