Targeting - Are we able to hit the side of a barn?
Author : Robert Green DTM

Date : 03-06-2005

"An old saying used to describe someone with limited accuracy is to say that they could not hit the side o­f a barn, as speakers in a communication organisation, how successful are we at hitting our target?

To someone who is new to Toastmasters and nervous about speaking in front of an audience, there is one target, being able to overcome our fear and complete the aims of the assignment, however as we grow in confidence, we should consider adding a second target, the being our audience.

Does this mean I think we should shoot the audience? Hopefully their reaction to your presentation does not deserve such a dramatic response. What I mean is that we should target our speeches at the audience to which we are speaking.

How do we do this?

Choice of language and terminology

Ensuring that if we use terms that our audience will understand, or taking the time within our presentations to explain these new terms or concepts.

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Choice of topic

Any presentation gives the audience the opportunity to get to know the speaker better, as we as speakers hopefully reveal a little of our personality, passions and past in our presentations, however a speech that is built around a topic that is of interest to us as individuals will surely capture the attention of the audience, and retain it, more effectively than a presentation about a topic that holds no real interest. For example a speech about Amway products and why I should buy them from the speaker, is much less likely to hold my interest than a speech about a topic that is of personal interest to me.

When delivering speeches in a corporate setting, such as your workplace, you have an advantage in that the audience has something in common in that they all work for XYZ corporation, however in a open toastmasters club you have a situation in which you maybe delivering a speech to a group of people from 18 to 80, all with very different and sometimes opposing interests.

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So how do we target our audience?

Within your own club environment you have an advantage in that you hopefully have developed a rapport with some if not all of your fellow club members. From listening to their presentations, you will have gained a knowledge of their background and interests and had the opportunity to observe their reactions to others presentations.

I suggest you ask yourself the question: What is the common ground? What do these people have in common?

Initially there may not appear to be any common links but there will be more and more as you consider the audience, some examples include:

• They are all interested in improving themselves

• They are interested in assisting others

• They are all residents of the same area (be that suburb, city or part of the state)

These can form the foundation for your introduction ... your audience is wanting you to succeed, but they are also wondering what is in it for me? by targeting our speech to appeal to our club members, by making our topics relevant, we capture their attention and make our task of maintaining the power of the speech easier.

Do you agree? disagree? Is their a specific assignment that is difficult to make relevant to your audience? Your constructive feedback is warmly welcomed."

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