End nerves with an ‘audience first’ mindset.
We don’t need to change who we are when we present.
We don’t need to change who we are when we present.
Instead, we can build on what we’ve already got going for us.
To do that authentically, there’s something we can do: embrace an ‘audience first mindset’.
An ‘audience first mindset’ focuses on three things: what’s in it for them, how they can benefit, and the easiest way to communicate it.
By doing so, we centre their needs, alleviate our insecurities, and land the message.
“It didn’t really land, Rach”, she said. “I’m sorry.”
I’d asked for feedback on a talk I’d given. And I was getting it.
All I wanted was a secret button to delete this conversation from my brain and history.
“Eughhhhhhhh”, I groaned to myself, afterwards. I was gutted, mortified and embarrassed all in one.
Why did I feel so cringe?
Rachel wasn’t presenting that day. My insecurities were. Which meant the audience didn’t get what they needed most.
What gets in the way of good intentions?
Insecurities are what gets in the way of presenting with authenticity.
In my work, I've discovered these experiences are due to three core fears. These are:
Fear of judgement: what will they think? Will they judge me?
Fear of inadequacy: what if I don’t know the answer? What will people think then?
Fear of uncertainty: what if I don’t know what to do? What will people make of that?
At the heart of it is worrying that other people will see you as incompetent.
It is estimated that 70% of people have a fear of public speaking and in some instances, would rather do anything else than present. So chances are, you might be able to relate.
Audience first mindset.
When you speak from your insecurities, you’re being human. You’re centering yourself. To be more effective presenting, try flipping the switch. Try centering the audience, first.
An ‘audience first mindset’ is centering the needs of the audience you are speaking to. At work, this audience could be your colleagues, clients, customers or peers.
This mindset focuses on meeting the audience's needs by articulating what is in it for them.
Here are the three things any audience wants to know.
When you present, any audience wants to know:
Is this message for me?
How does or could this benefit me?
As a result of actively engaging, what will that enable me to do or experience?
Is it for me, does it benefit me, what will it enable me to do? A handy checklist for any update.
Once you know the answer to these questions, putting together the actual content becomes relatively straightforward.
How do I figure out what my audience needs?
Add a step to your presentation prep where you ask them precisely what they will benefit from as a result of your update. It’s simple, but often we forget this important step.
This can be a quick call or chat, before you present, or it can be a formal meeting.
In this connection, you can simply ask:
“What would be the most valuable thing I could share?”
“What’s the #1 question you/the audience has about [my topic]?”
“As a result of this, what would you like to be able to do?”
If you’re super knowledgeable in your subject matter you can even ask right before showtime so you tailor your depth of knowledge into a succinct update and make plenty of room for questions and interactivity.
Here are a few work examples in action.
You might clarify in your pre-presentation meeting that your update is to give the CEO confidence you’re on track. It benefits the CEO to know the timing, and long term impact of your work. If they see practical steps on the journey, they’ll be more likely to evangelise to the board about this project. The audience has a benefit.
You might clarify with your boss that the intention of the update is to show employees you are doing something as a result of investing time in an engagement survey. The benefits to employees might be to see what you are doing as a result of their feedback. As a result, you and your boss will get greater buy in. Everyone has a benefit.
You might decide for yourself the intent of your meeting is for the team to understand cash flow for the next quarter. If they know where the business is at, they’ll be empowered to make decisions, instead of waiting for approvals from the boss. Benefits all around.
You’re really looking at your content with the lens of: how will this benefit them? What will it enable them to do? How can they win, as quickly as possible, knowing this?
As you can see it’s about making explicit what is and isn’t beneficial and reverse engineering from there.
Here’s a real life example.
When I MC’ed my brother's wedding I used the same principles - by getting a brief before the event. Over a coffee, I sat down with the couple to ask them what experience they wanted their guests to have. As a result I could see what they saw, and tailor my approach accordingly.
At Happiness Concierge, we do the same in our Facilitator Calls. It’s the exact same process.
For example, before any workshop, the facilitator meets with the client beforehand, to clarify what the audience's core needs are, so they can personalise their delivery. This helps them tailor the content to precisely what the audience needs. Our clients tell us it gives them a chance to reflect on the one thing they want their people to take away so they can promote that in their work, too.
If you worry about being judged, that’s normal.
The truth is, you are already being judged. But not for the reasons you might expect.
People aren’t judging you to critique you. Research suggests they are seeking to answer two questions:
Competence: do I trust this person knows what they’re talking about?
Warmth: do I trust this person's intentions? Do they want to genuinely help me?
Not ‘why are you wearing that outfit?’. Not ‘are you smart enough?’.
But, ‘do I trust this person has information that is useful to me?’. And, ‘do I trust they want to help me?’.
By applying this ‘audience mindset’ thinking, we can choose to centre our presentations from the perspective of, ‘how can I make sure the message is clear?’
When we choose to centre the audience, our brief becomes pretty simple before each presentation: what does this audience need to see to credibly consider there’s something in it for them?
In a recent workshop, I stepped through these ideas.
I asked two simple questions in this class:
If you are a ‘high warmth’ person, how can you show the audience you have their needs top of mind and are organised?
If you are a ‘highly competent’ person, how can you let the audience know you are thinking of their number one need (and want to be there)?
If you’re a mix of both, what works for you in different circumstances?
I am naturally a high warmth person. So, I have chosen to work on showing my competence. I’m not downplaying who I am, I’m just making sure the first thing the audience sees is my authentic warmth - and my competence. Instead of only seeing one over the other.
Here are tangible things I do to help my competence shine:
Introduce myself slowly so people can place me.
Outline what the benefits of the topic I’m speaking to are to them.
Show evidence-based thinking to back my key points.
Front load critique of my concepts to show I’ve critically thought about what I’m presenting.
Ask questions early to hear their reality and test my assumptions.
These are all things I’ve learned from feedback. When someone doesn’t understand, I swallow the cringe, accept it didn’t land, and, over time, play around with ideas on what I could do differently next time. See how it lands, repeat what works and ditch what doesn’t.
I’m not subservient to them; everyone is equally important.
I am simply choosing to serve them before I present to them, by centering them.
At the centre of this is showing the audience you have centred their needs and showing, come show time, that you actually want to be there.
As one audience member put it in their reflection on this topic: “I realised today I don’t need to share my stress with the audience because it doesn’t actually benefit them.”
‘It benefits the audience’ as the starting point.
Then, when we think about how we might deliver our content, we can ask, ‘how could I show my competence and warmth in my own authentic way?’
When we centre what’s in it for the audience first, then we ask ourselves how we can show both our competence and warmth, in a way that feels like ‘us’, both we and our audience are much more likely to have a positive experience.
It’s so much more authentic to build on what you’ve already got going for you. There’s less to remember as you aren’t being someone you’re not. Instead, you’re simply building on what you do best. You’re growing, improving and adding even more value when you present.
Presenting isn’t a one-way monologue: it’s the act of engaging people.
When you know what people find useful, it helps you give them more value.
You don’t need to use it exclusively in presenting, either. As a recent example, I interviewed some of my clients to help with Happiness Concierge marketing efforts in the future. I wanted to know what they most valued so I could share that with future clients who might value it too. It helped me see what they saw (as opposed to what I saw when I delivered the training).
To make the most of your time together with anyone you are hoping to deliver value to, you simply need to know what they want to know most about and what they most value.
When you know that, you can focus all your time and effort on preparing the most useful content and delivery you can.
Audience first - quick guide.
What is the simplest way for you to find out what your audience needs or wants to hear most from you?
Would it be possible to put 15 mins aside before each meeting to clarify WIIFM (‘what’s in it for me’) for your audience? If you did this a week out, would it change how people engage with what you have to say?
What is one thing you could try out this week to show your competence and or warmth?