英语书籍：Well Said (节选2）

英语书籍：Well Said (节选2）ZT

WELL SAID!; Presentations and Conversations That Get
Results by Darlene Price

When is your next presentation? To ensure you achieve the outcome
you want, take the time to get to know your audience. Use the
following ten questions, as Judy and her team did, to analyze your
audience and address what is most important to them.


TEN CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE

1. "Who are they?" Connecting with your audience means understanding
them on a professional and personal level. Know their names, roles,
titles, responsibilities, and day-to-day work activities. Find out
the basic demographics such as their age range, education level,
professional experience, economic status, cultural influences,
race/ethnicity, and political leanings. What is the gender ratio,
men to women? Will the decision maker(s) be in the room? Do these
individuals have the authority to buy your solution or approve your
proposal? If possible, take the time to find out some personal
information. Do the attendees get along and like one another? What
do they have in common? Are there any avid sports fans in the group?
What are their special interests and hobbies? Are they parents
and/or grandparents?

2. "What are their expectations and why are they here?" Find out
what your audience expects to gain by attending your presentation.
What are their individual motivations? Are they willing and eager
participants, or is their attendance mandatory? How interested will
they be in what you are talking about? Considering audience
expectations is a vital part of crafting a persuasive presentation.
If your audience members arrive needing and wanting one thing, and
you as the presenter deliver something different, regardless of how
good you are, it's likely that they'll be disappointed.

Marty, the vice president and general counsel for a major online
retailer, was asked to present to the company's board and executive
committee on the topic of privacy. A customer was suing the company
due to an alleged breach of privacy, so in their minds it was a
burning topic. These individuals had canceled plans, delayed trips,
and moved appointments to attend the meeting. Marty, wanting to
promote his own agenda at the meeting, began by saying, "I know many
of you are eager to hear about privacy, and we'll cover that later
in the presentation if time permits, but I would like to spend most
of this hour reviewing our contracting policies." There was almost a
riot. The chairperson spoke up at once and insisted Marty stick to
the issue the audience was there to discuss. In a very public and
embarrassing way, Marty learned to stick to the topic and meet the
audience's expectations.

3. "What are their main issues and challenges?" Discover what keeps
them awake at night and causes them headaches, hassle, and
frustration. Be able to pinpoint the problems that are causing them
financial loss, decreased customer satisfaction, low morale, and
operational inefficiencies. What do they need to be more successful,
meet their business metrics, and fulfill their goals? As the Native
American proverb goes, "Walk a mile in their moccasins." Show them
you understand their unique situation and empathize with their
problems. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "Life's most
persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

4. "How does your message solve their problem?" There is an old adage
that says every audience is tuned to the same radio station: WIIFM,
which stands for "What's In It For Me?" What are you doing for the
people in your audience? Be able to state confidently how the
audience benefits from your message. What purpose does it serve in
terms of helping them? Now that you know the audience's main issues,
be sure you can show them how your product or idea resolves their
concerns and makes life easier for them. This satisfies the other
two questions the audience is asking: "So what? Who cares?" Do not
expect the audience to figure out the benefits for themselves,
regardless of how obvious the advantages seem to you. Clearly and
overtly articulate how your solution will help them.

5. "What do you want them to do?" What is the call to action? The
purpose of presenting is to persuade. Ideally, your talk will
influence people to act in response to your message. Otherwise, why
make the effort? Ask yourself: At the end of this presentation, I
want my audience to________." Fill in the blank with your single
clear-cut objective beginning with an action verb. For example: "At
the end of this presentation, I want my audience to:"

* Recommend my product to decision makers

* Request a detailed product demonstration

* Buy my product

* Approve the budget

* Fund my project

* Vote "yes"

Remember Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz?" Even though the book is more
than two hundred pages long and the movie lasts nearly two hours and
features a cast of colorful characters, Dorothy is striving for one
single overriding objective: to go home; to get back to Kansas.
Every scene, conversation, song, and dance is motivated by that
single clear-cut objective. What is your Kansas? Think about the
single most desired action you want your listeners to take away
after they hear your message. By doing so, you reap mighty
dividends. Not only will you be able to direct your listeners
thinking and craft the content accordingly, but you will also be
able to state a clear call to action at the conclusion of your
presentation and achieve a measurable outcome.

6. "What is the single most important idea you want to communicate to
this audience?" Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the well-
known American songwriting duo, perfected this technique. They
created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and
1950s. Legend has it that before they began composing, they asked
themselves, "Which tune do we want them whistling when they leave
the theater?" This decision determined which scenes featured the
song, which character sang it, and how often the audience heard it.
I recently attended a production of "The Sound of Music," and sure
enough, I hummed "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" all the way home. What
phrase, idea, or proposition do you want your audience to remember
after your presentation?

I once prepared a computer manufacturer's CEO for his keynote
address to 1,500 salespeople. He emphatically stated that the main
"tune" he wanted them all whistling as they left the conference was,
"Build customers for life." He wanted his sales force to believe it
was the company's mission and their job to deliver outstanding
customer service. We composed the presentation around this theme.
His speaking points, slides, stories, and statistics all pointed to
this main idea. It's no surprise that when I interviewed dozens of
salespeople afterward and asked, "What's the main idea you took away
from your CEO's speech?" every reply included, "Build customers for
life."