(Or read:  3 Audience Tips For Novice Speakers)

If you are an experienced speaker, you are less concerned about nerves, but you should still get nervous. Wait, did he really say that? Why?

I say it because if you do not feel some sense of nervousness before a presentation, you are probably not taking it seriously enough. Too much anxiety is debilitating; a little bit of anxiety is exhilarating.

Mark Twain was perhaps the best speaker of his generation. He once said: “There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars.” So don’t worry if you feel a bit nervous before you speak – worry if you don’t!

Tip #1: Focus on the Audience, NOT on Yourself

Too many speakers worry about the wrong things. If you need something to worry about before your speech, worry about your audience. Worry about how you can ensure that they will understand and benefit from your message.

I don’t want to promote worrying, so let’s shift to the issue of how we spend our preparation time. If you spend more preparation time thinking about yourself than about the audience, you have the wrong focus.

Don’t spend too much time doing the following:

• Making minor decisions about your wardrobe or props
• Worrying if you’ll remember everything, or whether you’ll be embarrassed
• Perfecting minor components before addressing the big questions (such as the Core Message, the Secondary Messages, and the speech structure)
• Worrying about what audience members will think of you.

Keep in mind, a speaker should spend some time on each of these decisions. But don’t forget that the audience is the reason for the speech.

Here are seven questions to ask yourself about your audience – and a brief answer to each:

1. Will the audience LISTEN to me?  Make sure you have an Attention Grabbing Opening. Vary your vocalizations, gestures, and movements. Make your presentation memorable.
2. Will I have CREDIBILITY with the audience? Research your topic and cite recognized experts, facts, and publications to support your message.
3. Will the audience UNDERSTAND my message? State your Core Message (CM) distinctly and succinctly. State your CM early and clearly. Preview your main points. Summarize your main points before your close.
4. Will the audience be PERSUADED by my argument? Make a logical case for your message. Use emotion to help persuade your audience. Use your credibility to help persuade your audience.
5. Will the audience be TOUCHED and INSPIRED by my stories? Use stories with a message, no matter how simple or common. Tell your personal stories, not someone else’s. Learn the techniques of storytelling. Learn the techniques of delivery. (Fair warning: you can spend a lifetime doing both.)
6. Will the audience REMEMBER my message?  State your Core Message early and clearly. Repeat it every few minutes. The importance of repetition bears repeating. Decide what you want the audience to remember – your Core Message – and repeat it multiple times.
7. Will the audience ACT on my message? This is the hardest question for which to prepare. The energy dissipates quickly after a presentation.  Typically, so do the good intentions about taking action. While this is a complex question, I’ll repeat some advice from #5 above. Learn the techniques of storytelling. Learn the techniques of delivery.

Tip #2: Learn about Your Audience Before You Speak

Every speaker needs to understand the audience.

If you already know your audience well, then speak to them conversationally and call individuals by name. If you don’t know your audience very well, look for commonalities among the audience members, such as similarities in age, gender, region, or membership in an organization.

The best professional keynote speakers tailor their stories and metaphors to their specific audience. Use what you can learn about the expected audience to highlight some commonalities. For example, imagine you will be speaking at a medical supply conference in Las Vegas. You could find out that the audience will be a) mostly men, b) mostly people from the East Coast, and c) that there were some engineers and some sales and marketing people. Knowing all that, a good speaker will tailor his or her standard remarks to the current or recent experience of the audience. There are many opportunities to connect with your audience. For example, you can tell jokes about experiences that your audience may have had—as out-of-towners, as east-Coasters, or as conventioneers in Las Vegas.

Tip #3: A Speech Takes Place in the Mind of the Audience

That bears repeating: A speech takes place in the mind of the audience. Once you think in these terms, you can develop creative ways to reach different members of your audience.

Your audience comes to your speech with a wide set of interests, commitments, and connections in their lives. They are curious about what you might add to their already full lives. But they aren’t interested in you, the speaker. Technically, they aren’t even interested in your message. They are interested in how your message will make their life better.

At some level, we are all self-centered. We think first about how we will manage our own lives. We only care about a speaker, a magazine article, or a self-help book if we can see a way to apply the ideas to our own life.

You should imagine that every member of your audience will be sitting there thinking: “Why should I care? What do I get?”

If that’s what they are asking, your job is to give them an answer they will love.