Last week I had the distinct pleasure of presenting to grade 9 students as part of Take Your Kid to Work Day. I do it every year even though my kids aren't in grade 9 yet. Why? Because I have a soft spot for teenagers and I like a challenge! What could be a more difficult communications challenge than presenting to an audience who is there because they have to be and would much rather be scrolling on their phones? Based on the level of engagement from this year's fresh crop of high schoolers, I think it went well. Here are my top strategies for engaging a discerning audience, teenagers or otherwise:
- Know your audience - first and foremost, the content needs to be adapted to the level of understanding of the audience. This applies to the length, the word choices/jargon, level of detail, images and examples. For my presentation this year, I decided to do an intro to crisis communications. I used images of teenagers on the slide; I kept it VERY high level; I made it useful to them now; and I asked them about examples of crises in their lives (leveraging my own understanding from having two t(w)eenagers in the house... like your mom not liking your friend is a crisis. That one really resonated).
- Talk with them, not at them - I decided to sit for my presentation instead of standing so that it felt more like a conversation and I wasn't talking at them. It worked. I was warned they were a quiet bunch, but asking them about their lived experience, at eye level, made it easier for them to engage.
- Remove distractions - I took advantage of the fact that, in this situation, it wasn't weird for me to ask them all to put their phones at the front of their tables so they wouldn't be able to touch them. In business meetings, I've had leaders ask that everyone keep their laptops closed. Doing so sets the tone that this is important and I expect you to participate. No one looked at their phones once during the 30 minutes we had together.
- Get feedback - I've been doing this almost every year for a decade and I adapt the following year's presentation based on the previous. For example, last year my colleague mentioned her daughter is an introvert and it would have been nice to make it easier for introverts to participate. I think I did that this year.
- Manage your expectations - A group of quiet introverts will never be as engaged as a bunch of keen extroverts. The goal isn't engagement itself, but learning. Of course, if you can get both because you applied the above techniques, even better.
Next year it will finally be my son's turn to join. I've been practicing for a decade, and I sincerely hope that by then I can create a presentation that won't embarrass him, and he might even find interesting. I have 12 more months to prepare...
