5 MANTRAS FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS OF IDEAS

(#31 on How You Communicate Your Ideas Series)

The best speaker in the world will not win over the listeners if they do not like him or her; if they do not regard him or her; and if they do not accord him or her competence in her or his areas of expertise.

Effective public speaking only occurs when the audience is in agreement with what the speaker says, accepts who the speaker is, validates the speaking content, appreciates the context, concedes to speaker’s knowledge of topic, accepts speaker’s knowledge of the self, and lastly, the speaker’s practice and delivery of the topic. Put simply, I refer to these basic requirements as the five mantras:

1. Know yourself.

2. Know the topic.

3. Know the situation.

4. Know the audience.

5. Practice speaking.

As a communications consultant, speech writer, and public communications coach, I reiterate these principles from my years as a university professor of communication studies. They are even more pertinent in the multifarious contexts of the professional world.

Every speaker needs to understand these fundamentals to effective communication as they apply most specifically to the audience.

In my previous writings I had noted the significance of the audience in the communication situation [Refers: The Audience Is The Message, posted June 01, 2017 on Medium].

Here I reiterate that importance with particular reference to the listeners as audience.

The best speaker in the world will not win over the listeners if they do not like him or her; if they do not regard him or her; and if they do not accord him or her competence in her or his areas of expertise.

The speaker is only as effective as the audience’s readiness to surrender their inhibitions and accept the competencies of the speaker.

There is a saying in the Yoruba language in West Africa that the king does not enthrone himself king, until he is chosen and enthroned by the people. The Efiks-Ibibios in Nigeria have a similar saying that the king does not rule alone, but with his councilors.

The above two aphorisms mean that the expertise and competencies we all seek and hope to elicit as public speakers and experts of any kinds, can only be accorded us by the audience. Hence my aphorism, ‘the audience is king.’

In Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, the masquerade dances, kicks and splashes through the tropical sandy soils of the village square for admiration, vocal ovations, and hand clapping from spectators. These are rewards for mastery, dexterity, agility, and above all, audience-spectators adaptation. And the more intense and louder the applause and cheers, the more creative the turning, the twisting, the gyrating, and somersaulting by the masquerade.

So, in all of our public performances, we always have the audiences behind our minds in every act.

We speak for the audience.

We write for the audience.

We model for an audience.

We perform for the applause.

We dance for the ovation.

We pitch our ideas for the audience.

We produce for consumption by the audience.

It is the audience of listeners, readers, spectators, and followers who gives us the impetus, the recognition, the motivation, and the applause in the public square.

It is imperative that we know what the audience needs; and then gauge our messages to these needs, expectations and desires.

Some may call this pandering. I call it sensitivity to the needs and expectations of the audience. It is simply, audience adaptation.

CALL TO ACTION

1. Share this read with others.

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4. Buy my books at amazon.com

5. I am available for public presentations and individual as well as corporate, business, non-profit, and for profit speaking coaching, speech writing, and general communications consulting.

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Written by

Founder Fontaineheadsbooks DBA of Foreverbloom LLC. Writer. Author. Speaker. Content Developer. Entrepreneur. Educator. Communications Consultant

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