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Don't Offend the Audience!

No speaker intends to annoy an audience, but in most speaking situations someone is just waiting to be offended. What can the speaker do to avoid offending an audience? Here are some suggestions to keep disgruntled listeners at a minimum and to stay in the good graces of the audience.

Always be concerned about time. Be present early for your speaking engagement. The person in charge of the program will be relived to see the speaker there with time to spare. Audience members who see you before your scheduled time will be impressed. Also, don't go overtime with your presentation. If you are to speak 30 minutes, never speak 35 minutes. In fact, stop at 28 minutes. Show respect for the time of the listeners.

Pronounce proper nouns correctly. Check ahead of time to make certain you know how to pronounce the name of the organization you are speaking to, key names of people in the group you will be conversing with, and any buzz words the audience may have in common. If you are speaking in an unfamiliar town, check out the pronunciation based on how the people who live there pronounce their city name. For instance Layfayette, Tennessee, is La FAY ette and Lafayette, Indiana, is La fay ETTE.

Have new and relevant information. Audiences are more intelligent and more demanding than ever before. Before you speak, find out the group’s knowledge level on your topic. A speaker has a responsibility to stay current with findings connected to speech content and share that with audiences.

Be pleasant but not pushy in the way you interact with the audience members before and after you speak. Don't be demanding if the room is not set up the way you want it or the public address system is not quite like you prefer. Be willing to go with the flow and adapt the best you can. In talking to individuals before and after the presentation, be a good listener by asking open-ended questions that engage the listener. Don't reinforce the speaker stereotype that all speakers monopolize conversations. Be sincere and pleasant as you relate to the audience members one-on-one.

Finally, be very careful of poking fun at people in the audience. Even if the program chair points out someone who could be the object of a joke or one-liner because he or she is a jokester, think twice before doing it. Someone might be offended if you do. Be safe by only making fun of yourself.

Especially if you are speaking to a large audience, you cannot predict the context each member is coming from; thus the possibility of alienating someone can't be avoided. Keeping these principles in mind, however, will help to win your audience over.

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After the Speech

Usually preparation before the presentation is emphasized for making an effective speech. But if you speak very much, what you do after the speech can help you become a more effective speaker as well.

As soon as possible after the speech, write down impressions of how you felt the speech went. Answer at least two questions about your presentation: What was the best part of the speech? What part of the speech can be improved the next time?

Some of your best ideas will come to you as you are speaking. Write them down as soon as the speech is over so you can be prepared to use those lines or ideas the next time you speak.

Think about the peaks and valleys in the speech. Consider when the audience seemed to listen best and when the audience seemed restless and disinterested. Write down your reactions while they are fresh on your mind.

Talk to someone about the speech within the first day after your presentation. You'll remember best what you talked about. You might discover a better way of telling a story or making a point as you summarize your speech to a friend or colleague.

Keep track of stories you tell and case studies you include so you'll not repeat yourself if you speak to that audience again. In addition, keep records of how long you spoke, what you wore, key people you met, and anything unusual about the speaking context. Occasionally look back over your records of individual speeches and look for trends in your speaking that you might be unaware of. When you speak to this group again, this information will be the basis for your audience analysis. This is especially important if you speak frequently within your company and your audience will be made up of listeners who have heard you before. You don't want to develop a reputation for telling the same stories over and over.

If the group completes speaker evaluations, ask that a copy of the summary be sent to you. Look for any pattern in the comments as you analyze the summary. If one person said you talked too slowly, it may be a personal preference and you don't need to give much consideration to the critique. If four or five people make that comment, however, then you might want to consider changing the pace of your speaking for the next speech.

Certainly your main concern should be with your preparation before the speech. Don't underestimate, however, the effort of what you do in analyzing the speech after the audience has left the room.

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