Steps to Customize Your Communication for Each Audience

Steps to Customize Your Communication for Each AudienceSteps to Customize Your Communication for Each AudienceIf you hope to communicate with people in a way that shares information, and especially, changes behavior and has a serious impact, you need to know your audience. Its a fundamental principle of great communication. Understanding the perspective of the people youre talking to helps you become a better presenter and Human Resources professional. Know your audience. Know what they care about. Know what they want to hear. And by knowing them, and focusing your message, you can show them that you are a resource. You engage your audience and have a greater impact. The problem? Knowing your audience takes time, and its always easier to do a brain dump of all of the things that you know or want to tell your audience about a topic. Thinking critically about what your audience wants or needs to hear is tougher. A lot of HR professionals get caught up in giving their audience an everyt hing they should know or do about an issue presentation. You know youve fallen into this trap when you find yourself putting bullet points on slides instead of thinking about what the audience really cares about,what your most important points are, andhow to map them into a clear story that creates an engaging talk. The second trap many HR professionals fall into is repeating that saatkorn presentation day in and day out to different audiences. The problem is that different audiences care about and respond to different things- so if you want to be engaging, you need to customize your message every time you speak. It is how to ensure that you customize your message, cut through the noise, and keep your audience engaged with what youre telling them- no matter who or where they are. These five key reminders will ensure that your words achieve the impact they deserve- when you win your audiences full attention and engagement. Know What Your Audience Cares About Your audience wont ca re about what you say until youve demonstrated that you care about them. As you plan your presentation, ask what are the challenges and needs of yourexpected audience? What are the three to four main questions or issues on their minds about your topic? If you dont know, ask a few people who will attend your presentation, ask the manager of the department, or, if no information is available, make your best guess. Then start your presentation by reminding your audience of their identified concerns. Say, I know that several of you have been wondering about our benefits options, or I imagine that these three things are what you really want to get out of this workshop. When you talk first about your audience and their problems and needs that youll address in your talk, you demonstrate that you care about them. That makes people want to listen. Map Out Your Main Points for Your Audience Most HR presentations feel like an information dump, not a clear story with a set of main points.HR professionals usually know much more than other people want or need to know about any necessary topic. Authors Chip and Dan Heath, in their book Made to Stick called this the curse of knowledge. When was the last time you felt a presentation was too short or covered too little information? Probably rarely if ever. The people who stand out as presenters, the ones who are heard and have influence, start out by acknowledging the problem of the audiences that they are helping to solve. Then, as they prepare their presentation, they separate the must know from the nice to know. Take half of whatever preparation time you have to focus on the heart of your presentation and what your audience needs to know that will help them. The best way to break the curse of knowledge is to focus on whats most important to both you and the audience. Map your presentation out on a whiteboard or piece of paper, or use a set of sticky notes. What sequence of points is best? Is there an order to the points that will make more sense for your audience? How do your points relate to each other? Make them clear. If they dont, tell people, Heres a totally different, yet important, topic. Tell Stories and Use Examples Your Audience Will Find Relatable Besides trying to present too many things at once, all too often HR presentations sound abstract and unrelated to the daily life and work of the audience. What happens then is that people tune out, sit through the talk, assume its not about them, and take no action. This makes the presentation a waste of their time and yours. To relate to them, to help them take action, people need the ideas grounded in stories and examples. Human brains are wired to relate to stories and to remember them. So, cover fewer points- better- with many examples. And, whenever possible, make the examples from their department and their day-to-day experience at work. Tell stories about how to use the idea youre sharing. Whether its how to solve a compensation prob lem, how to give feedback, how to sign up for your vision plan, or how the new organization is different from the old one, tell stories. Make the bridge clear between your topic and their lives and interests. Show, Dont Just Tell Your Audience A picture is worth a thousand words in many instances. Videos are becoming the norm for effective communication.In this day of accessible video tools, presenters who use too much text often use excuses. They say, But I have to communicate very specific information. or, My audience will be better able to digest this complicated idea if I write it down. No, you dont, and no, they wont. Unless your goal is to bore, alienate, and underwhelm your audience, and have no influence in a worst case scenario, cut the text. Send it in a follow-up email, or share it in a Google doc. The visuals you use need to support the story, not become your script. Once you have your clear set of main points and a good flow supported by stories and examples, only t hen should you launch a presentation tool. Otherwise, you end up with your slides serving double duty as your speaker notes. In that case, you should have just emailed the presentation instead of wasting your audiences time. Customize and Improvise by Knowing Your Audience Once youve created a good presentation that visually supports your main message, you have the freedom to tailor it to each audience you serve. You can make your point and then ask out loud, So why should you care about this? and tailor your answer to the audience that is in front of you.What your marketing team members care about may be very different from your development staffs needs. In years of providing training and making presentations for leaders at dozens of organizations such as Apple, Oracle, SAP, and T-Mobile, the power of a simple set of messages has shone forth. When the messages were supported by simple images and delivered by a focused presenter who could make clear points and connect them to th e daily life of their audience, communication occurred. And, isnt that the point of making a presentation? Tobey Fitch is a Managing Partner at Fitch Associates. He has previously contributed to publications including Entrepreneur.