Most speakers have heard that that they should spell out what benefits they can deliver to their audience members, yet most speakers never do this. Why?
Because most speakers are selfish. They are thinking about what their message is, what their department has accomplished in the last quarter, what goals they have. Average and mediocre speakers are thinking from the perspective of me, me, me!
Bad speakers think the facts speak for themselves and that the audience is “smart” therefore the audience can deduce what the benefits are if the speaker simply lays out all of the facts.
This is total nonsense.
Audiences can do one thing at a time. I don’t care if everyone in the room has a PhD from MIT, they can only do one thing. They can either listen to your presentation or they can analysis and synthesize. They can’t do all of these things at once. Don’t make your audience work hard-spell out for them in explicit detail what benefits you bring to them.
The skilled speaker realizes that an audience never perceives a speaker to be condescending or “talking down” to an audience, simply for explaining in explicit detail how individual members of the audience can benefit from the message of the presentation. On the contrary, audiences appreciate it when you show concern for their needs and desire.
Many speakers start to explain benefits, but only in a highly abstract manner. They talked about “optimized revenue potential” instead of “Sally that means you could make an additional $35,000 this year.” The first is an abstract fact, the second is a benefit.
The trick for any skilled speaker is how to personalize data in such a way that audience members can relate to it and remember it. By pointing out what benefits that your audience members will receive if they buy in to your premises, you will make your message have its ultimate impact.
So when preparing your speech, be sure to pretend you are an audience member for one moment and ask yourself, “How can this message personally benefit me?” Then come up with a darn good answer.
