“Know thy enemy and know yourself” ~Sun Tzu, The art of war
Introduction
A year ago, I was asked to speak at a large volunteer gathering. The crowd consisted of 60-70 individuals, covering a wide variety of genders, ages, and ethnicities. The youngest individual (female) was 12 years old, and the oldest audience member was 67 (male).
In fact, the majority of the audience were adolescents who were ‘voluntold’ to attend my talk and others. The presentation room was laid out similar to a classroom with the youth seated in a square arrangement in the middle of the room, and adults congregating near the edges.
Sitting in the center of the front row were two young women (let’s call them Alice and Aliyah) who were not interested in hearing me speak. Their body language, rather than their words, conveyed the message that they would rather be anywhere else right now. Reclined in their seats with their arms folded, each wore a similar scowl, dually asking me, “What could you possibly have to tell us about Information Technology?”
Immediately to their right sat another youth (lets call him Ron) who was clearly excited to hear my presentation — leaning forward, his knee was bouncing in anticipation and his mouth was open to ask a question as soon as I allowed.
If you’re in this situation, who do you address in your presentation? Alice and Aliyah? Or Ron?
Know thy enemy
My biggest hurdle was that I knew nothing about Alice nor Aliyah, but I was able to pick up on some clues. Based on how they’d isolated themselves (nobody ever wants to sit in the front row) and their similar body language, I’d guessed they were friends. This meant that if I gained the interest of one, it might be possible to gain the interest of the other as well.
As I began my presentation, I continued to address the crowd as a whole; too much attention to Alice and Aliyah would be detrimental, but overlooking them entirely would not be helpful either. Throughout my introduction slides, I paid slightly more attention to the expressions of the young women, particularly changes in their body language. Throughout the talk, I noticed very subtle changes in their facial expressions: the smallest hint of a smile or a slight change in their posture gave me clues on how I could slowly reel Alice and Aliyah into the conversation. Every now and then, I’d check the ever-ecstatic posture of Ron to make sure I wasn’t going going off the rails, and I would visually survey my adult audience to make sure they were still invested as well. Slowly but surely, I was able to make them sit more upright, even leaning forward a bit.
Know thyself
But how was I able to tailor my talk to Aliyah and her friend? I knew my material. Based on what I was slowly learning from changes in their posture, I was able to slightly change my examples every now and then to continue drawing them in. As long as I still hit the main points of each slide, my overall objective remained unchanged.
I’ll be honest, it was a difficult battle to gain their attention. By the end of the presentation, there were a number of hands raised wanting to know about specific topics. Interestingly, the first hand to go up was not from Ron — it was from Aliyah! Emboldened by her friend, Alice’s hand soon went up as well with a question of her own.
Conclusion
The experience I’ve detailed above may seem like a far cry from our corporate or academic lives, but I’d wager that many audiences we present to have people who are very interested, and others who are not. In a broad sense, the challenges I faced during my presentation are similar to others you will face as well: find the person who is least interested, and bring them into your world.
Professional growth isn’t easy, and presentations can be stressful. It’s up to you to show your audience why you and your content are relevant. Present Proper is willing and excited to help you make that transition.
Present clearly. Present concisely. Present Proper.