Understanding your Audience

To create an immersive and informative presentation, we must first reach our audience. Engaging our audience may be the most critical part of our work as each individual has their own background, interest level, and motivation to learn from our presentation. However, there is a simple guide to establishing a unique, entertaining, and informational speech by catering to four distinct groups of people.  

• The first group are individuals who focus on the big picture. Think of a busy CEO who is interested in getting the most out of your presentation with the least amount of time commitment. These people search for key statements supported by bottom-line results. By including a mission statement or central theory at the start of our presentation, we can reel these big picture audience members in, enticing them with the important facts and then delivering relevant details.  

• Next are individuals who are exactly the opposite! These audience members are process oriented, searching for data, statistics, and spreadsheets that backup our claims. These are the analysts who love to get into the nitty gritty and pick apart the problem themselves. In order to reach these audience members, I would recommend including a few impactful pieces of research throughout your presentation. By calling attention to reputable sources and intriguing results, we catch the attention of these detail-driven groups. Finally, include links to data or provide a handout to share the complexities of the presentation. Through this process, we can capture the attention of both the big-picture and the little-details audience members. 

• Following these two groups are the collaborative thinkers. Similar to those obsessed with details, these individuals care about the step by step process of our presentations, emphasizing the usage of communication and teamwork to achieve the ultimate solution. This group may be filled with team leaders or conflict mediators interested in working with their group to implement the strategies we share. To attain their attention, discuss small but actionable changes that can be made to reach an eventual goal. These individuals will take your tips to heart and share them with members of their organization, spreading knowledge and inciting change!

• Finally, we have our audience members interested in the overall impact of the presentation. These are individuals focused on innovating their office culture. To reach this group, we can close our presentation with insights into how our presentation can change the team, organizational, or even global environment. Highlight how the central themes of our presentation can be used to solve problems in the workplace and surrounding community. Through this process, we illustrate the ripple effect our speech can have on their lives. 

To summarize these tips, here are four main ways to reach these distinct groups in your presentations: 

1.     Start with a bang!

A high-level main message will call your big thinkers to attention, ensuring that they are captivated immediately.

2.     Showcase our knowledge 

Throughout our presentation, we can expand our viewer’s knowledge and explain important facts and figures. These bits of information will grasp detail-driven audience members and increase our credibility.  

3.     Share the process

To create a relatable and influential presentation, we must share actionable tips which can be used to create an impactful change. Process-oriented individuals will latch onto these descriptions and implement our advice in the future!

4.     Create an Impactful Closing 

By tying our presentations to their personal, professional, and cultural effects, we highlight the advantages of actively employing our techniques in the workplace. While this ending will enrapture all audience members, it specifically fuels the impact focused individuals by showing their potential for change. 

Each time I give a presentation, I keep these four groups in mind, working through my four steps to ensure that I meet the needs of each and every audience member. This advice helps to create more engaging and interesting presentations that accomplish the ultimate goal of informing and inspiring our viewers to make a change.

---

Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company. Her mission is providing guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within their organization.

Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential.

8 Tips for Managing Your Fear of Public Speaking

Imagine just as you’re about to begin your daily tasks, you hear the footsteps of your supervisor approaching you. They ask you to give an engaging presentation about a project you’ve been working on. Your face flushes and your heart begins to race as you picture yourself on a massive stage looking out into a sea of blank faces. But, what if you didn’t have to feel like this? What if you could meet the challenge of public speaking with excitement and confidence? Here are eight tips for understanding and overcoming your fear of public speaking.

1. It's all normal

The fear of public speaking affects nearly 75% of the world’s population, so it’s important to remember that this anxiety is completely normal (PSYCOM). It can be difficult to picture yourself in the same position as Barack Obama, Simon Sinek, or colleagues who seem like naturally gifted speakers; however, nearly everyone gets the jitters before delivering an important address. The first step to overcome this fear is acknowledging that our feelings are completely normal. After that, we can begin to overcome our anxieties with courageous action! In this case, practice is the key. Practice, practice, practice! Feel the fear and speak anyway. 

2. Prepare a question

If I feel particularly anxious about a presentation, I have learned to ask the audience an open-ended question at the beginning of my talk. This first step allows the audience to connect with me and activate their brains for my upcoming talking points. As they answer my question, I can take a moment to catch my breath before starting my talk. Through this method, we can overcome that initial surge of stage fright and begin to form an engaging interaction with our audience. 

3. Focus on the value

My first speaking coach shared a powerful statement with me: Your talk is not about you; it’s about the value you have to offer to your audience. This message is a constant reminder that that the purpose of a talk is the value we share with our audience. Reframing the presentation in terms of the audience’s benefit emphasizes that the presentation is not about our fears and the audience judging us. Instead, we remember that our mission is to use our voices to share impactful information and educate, inspire, or incite change in our audience. 

4. Create your own ritual

Having a routine does wonders for managing anxiety before a presentation. This may be going to bed early the night before, avoiding salty foods, or doing yoga the morning of your talk! Our ritual could be anything that makes us feel calm and confident. By focusing on these activities, we can trick our brains into thinking we are in control of the day! Implementing and following through with an uplifting ritual helps our bodies feel at ease and gives our minds the space to prosper.

5. Arrive early

The smallest changes can truly increase our comfort level at stressful events. One of my biggest tips is to arrive even earlier than you usually would! This allows ample time to explore the space, test out equipment, and begin to feel at ease. Showing up early illustrates our preparedness and also provides us with time to evaluate our space and even relax. 

6. Visualize yourself

Throughout the hours, days, or weeks before my events, I like to actively visualize myself giving my talk. To do this, I close my eyes, relax my body, and imagine the sound of my name being introduced. In the mental image, I see myself walking confidently on stage, sharing my knowledge with the audience, engaging with viewers, ending my talk, and walking back to my seat. Through this process, we ease the anxiety of the unknown! By the time we actually give the talk, it will feel like we’ve had ample preparation, calming our nerves. Each time we visualize our speech, we grow more and more comfortable with this scary process and eventually overcome our fears!

7. Do a POWER pose

It may seem silly, but I personally have found doing POWER poses being very helpful. Standing straight and tall with arms akimbo, similar to Wonder Woman, may actually increase our levels of success! The TED talk by Amy Cuddy shares the power of body positioning and how being in an open body position can boost self-confidence. Instead of closing in, we need to expand outwards! By taking up more space we can subconsciously change our inner emotions for the better!  Before giving a talk, trying out some POWER poses my give us that extra edge to overcome our fears. 

8. Square Breathing

Simple breathing techniques can help decrease anxiety and depression and even boost our immune system (Harvard).  My favorite exercise is square breathing. This technique encourages level and controlled breathing sure decrease your stress levels. To start, breath in deeply for four seconds. Hold your breath for four seconds, and then breath out slowly for another four seconds. Hold your breath for another four seconds, and then repeat the process. By engaging in deep breathing, we take control of the anxiety levels in our body and almost force ourselves to calm down! This tip is the best way to calm the butterflies in your stomach before going on stage. 

With these eight tips, we can begin to gain control of our fear of public speaking. Sharing our ideas doesn’t have do be nerve-wracking, and I hope these techniques help increase your comfort levels and self-confidence. 

---

Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company. Her mission is providing guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within their organization.

Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential.

Terrified of Public Speaking? Here is What You can do about it

Many years ago, when I first started giving speeches, I was in my hotel room in Dubai on the morning of my first keynote address at a leadership conference. My eyes opened wide before my alarm clock sounded, my body was tense with anxiety and overcome with total terror.

I got out of bed in a panic and paced the room repeating, “I cannot give this presentation, I cannot give this presentation, …”

The thought of myself standing on stage in front of 200 people with blank stares quickly escalated my anxiety. So many “what ifs” swarmed my mind: “What if I lose my breath in front of everyone? What if I forget my points? What if the audience does not like it?”

I had traveled across the world from North Carolina to Dubai just for this conference. Changing my mind at the last minute was not an option. In the taxi on the way to the conference, I closed my eyes and prayed that the taxi would get in an accident so I had an excuse not to speak. Yes, I was that terrified and was desperate for any legitimate excuse to get me out of this speech.

The good news — my prayers were not answered and the taxi made it safely to the conference. However, I was visibly trembling in fear as I heard my name announced.

I took a deep breath and said to myself, “feel the fear and give the presentation anyway.” I walked on the stage still shaking, looked at the audience and trusted my mouth would say the words that I had prepared. After few minutes, I realized that even though it was still tough, the fear somehow started to fade once I connected with the audience. I started to feel a sense of joy-filled adrenaline.

Many years have passed since that terrifying morning, and I am now regularly speaking in front of new audiences all the time — even to audiences of thousands. The fear is still present, but over the years, I learned to transform that fear into power that motivates me.

I constantly meet people who avoid public speaking due to the same fear. Many of them do not realize that they are not alone and that this stage fright and fear of judgement is common. Many end up avoiding presenting at all, which yields horrible consequences for their career advancement.

If you are one of these people, here are some tips I learned over the years to help conquer stage fright:

1. Practice, practice, practice. Trust me, you will not be able to conquer the stage fright without actually speaking in public. Volunteer every time there is an opportunity for you to give a presentation. After you volunteer, make sure to practice in front of friends or co-workers. Practicing in a safe, judgement-free environment will help you prepare your body movements, eye contact, and using your visual presentation.

2. Don’t memorize your presentation. Memorization makes you more nervous and reciting by memory is boring for the audience. When you memorize a speech word-for-word the fear of forgetting becomes more overwhelming and makes you less comfortable giving your presentation. Instead, create an outline with one word for each main point that you want to cover, and get comfortable with the flow.

3. Focus on the value that you are delivering. Your presentation is not about what people think about you. Instead, it is about the positive value that you are bringing: new ideas, innovations, and products. Once the audience senses that you have value to offer, they will connect with you. This feeling of connection will put you at ease.

4. Create a ritual to do before each presentation. Some people need to calm down, sit in a quiet place, or do breathing exercises, while others need to feel energized and do physical activities that increase their energy. Find what works for you and create your own ritual.

5. Prepare a question. The best advice I ever received was to prepare a question ahead of time to ask the audience in case you lose your breath at the beginning of the presentation. While the audience is thinking about the question and answering it, that gives you few moments to catch your breath.

6. Go to the conference room early. Before anyone arrives, stand there, feel the environment, and practice your presentation. This will allow you to feel more comfortable with your surroundings.

7. Engage the audience. Initiate a discussion, make them laugh, and encourage them to share their experiences. The more you engage the audience, the less fearful you will be since you can now gauge how they are responding to your presentation.

8. Be open to feedback. It is okay for your presentation or speaking skills to not be perfect as long as you learn from the experience and are open to input so you can continue to improve. A great way to get feedback is to join a local Toastmasters chapter. It is the best environment to practice and receive constructive feedback from individuals who practice weekly.

So, next time you get the chance, say yes to public speaking and prepare with these eight tips. Remember, you can feel the fear and give the presentation anyway! You can do this!

---

Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. In addition, she provides guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within the organization.

Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

---