Public speaking is an art and therefore presenters must extensively study their audience to tailor a presentation that fits their needs. Notably, a speaker should gather information about the audience before the presentation. Thus, prior to presenting in the organization, it is important that I identify a specific goal and thesis statement for my presentation: “The Value of Learning Communication Skills.” My specific goal would be to help the audience learn and perfect basic communication skills. My thesis statement for the presentation would be that learning about communication skills is key to both organizational and individual success.
Relevant Demographic Information about the Audience
Demographic information includes characteristics such as ethnicity, language, culture, gender, occupation, attitudes, interests, beliefs, and values. While such demographic information is vital to understanding my audience, not all demographic information is necessary for me as I prepare for the presentation. To understand my audience, the demographic information that I need to prioritize includes age, culture, beliefs, education level, and language (Alder & Elmhorst, 2019). Knowledge of my audience’s age composition is crucial in preparing my presentation. How I would address an older and experienced audience is not the same way I would address young people in the presentation. Thus, knowing the age composition will help me tailor the presentation to appeal to young and older audiences.
The culture, beliefs, and education level of my audience would significantly affect how they receive my presentation. Different cultures have diverse beliefs about communication. Knowledge of the various cultures and beliefs would deter me from imposing my cultural understanding of communication and biases on them (Alder & Elmhorst, 2019). Awareness of the audience’s education level would be important to know how much knowledge they have about communication. For a knowledgeable audience, I would not have to worry about offering my presentation in a technical manner. However, for a less knowledgeable audience, I would have to lessen the use of technical terms in my presentation. Remarkably, language is an efficient tool to bond with my audience. Therefore, I will use familiar language to make the audience more comfortable and receptive to my presentation.
Irrelevant Demographic Information
Audience information such as economic status and gender will not be relevant for this presentation. Although gender and economic status are important features of the audience, they may have an insignificant influence on presentations to organizations (Alder & Elmhorst, 2019). Notably, my presentation is to an organization with a hierarchy, and it is expected that economic status may vary. However, the topic of my presentation surpasses economic status, and everyone in the organization is my audience. Gender would also be irrelevant as my topic is not gender-specific and is useful to both men and women. It is also expected that any organization should comprise both genders. Therefore, I would walk into the presentation prepared to cater to the needs of both genders in my presentation.
Key Points during the Presentation
During my presentation, I would outline four key points to my audience. The first point would be on the importance of the audience valuing communication skills in their daily life. Secondly, I would insist on the importance of communication to both the organization and the individuals as it builds employee satisfaction, morale, and engagement. Thirdly, I would highlight the benefits of communication skills to an organization. They promote employee positive experience and productivity (Pouragha et al., 2020). Lastly, I would sum up the presentation by informing my audience that learning communication skills is vital for every person’s future success, both in career and personal life. The four key points will guide me to cover the essential concepts on my presentation topic.
Conclusion
Communication skills are important assets in human interaction. Public speakers need communication skills to bond with and influence their audience. Part of the communication skills requires assessing the audience’s demographic characteristics before delivering their presentation. As I prepare for my presentation before the organization, I know that not all demographic information about the audience is relevant. Therefore, I must identify what demographic information fits the topic of my presentation to impact my audience and achieve the intended results.
