Perhaps I've been spoiled by my TV remote, but lately I have found myself in real life situations wishing I had the ability to press the fast-forward button. Sometimes it's during a conversation, sometimes it's during a meeting, yesterday it was during a fitness class. I arrived ready to burn some calories, but for the first ten minutes of class, the instructor talked about what we were going to do during the next hour. I wanted to reach for my remote and fast forward to the actual work out. If he said, "Before we get started" one more time I was going to scream, "You HAVE started, we are ten minutes into class, we only have 50 minutes left and you are losing your audience!" But I remained calm, even while my blood pressure spiked.
Rule #1) Don't overdue the introduction
You don't want to lose your audience by talking about what you are going to talk about. Cut to the chase. This rule applies when you are presenting to a large audience, participating in a meeting, or speaking to an audience of one.
Class finally started and I was breaking a light sweat when the instructor felt the need to stop us so that he could demonstrate proper form. I am all about proper form and instruction if the exercise is complex, difficult or new. But this particular fitness group has been doing these exercises for many years; taking time to explain basic exercises was of no help whatsoever. If the instructor had looked around at his audience, he would have seen that nobody was struggling with the basic jumping jack.
Rule #2) Don't labor over the easy or obvious
Give simple instruction and take your cues from the audience by observing as to whether or not they need more instruction. Do this during meetings, while you are engaged in conversation, and when you are speaking to someone over the phone.
About half way through the class, the instructor had us stop what we were doing to clear the gym and set up an obstacle course. He informed us that it was a great workout for pre-military and law enforcement recruits. "This type of work out", he explained, "works the muscles that help you get over a wall, up a rope and over a fence." From what I could gather, we had no pre-military or law enforcement recruits in the group and none of us were planning to scale a wall anytime in the near future. This type of workout was of little to no value to the group and, once again, I wanted to reach for the fast forward button.
Rule #3) The audience wants value
Give them material that they can use, material that is practical to them. Whether you are in an informal meeting or a formal presentation - deliver what the audience wants and you will engage them, give them information that they can't relate to and you will lose them.
Knowing your audience allows you to make decisions about what information to include, how to arrange the information so that you get your biggest bang for your buck, and what kind and how supporting detail is necessary. This sets the tone and structure of the presentation and keeps your audience from looking for the fast forward button.
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