Useful assumptions for speakers & presenters

You’ve probably heard this saying:

When you make an assumption, you ascribe meaning or truth to something before having proof — often done subconsciously.

This can be dangerous because your assumptions ultimately influence your judgments, how you communicate, and the decisions you make.

Likely, you’ve personally experienced the dangers of making assumptions.

But there are two sides to every story.

Sometimes, making (conscious) assumptions can positively influence your outcomes.

Here are five assumptions you should make when it comes to speaking or presenting to an audience:

1/ Assume your topic is the most interesting in the world.

Interest drives interest.

You must first sound interested if you want your audience to be interested.

If you believe your topic is the most interesting in the world, you’ll naturally deliver it with more conviction, a stronger presence, and more vocal variety.

The combination of these things will drive the interest of your audience.

“Enthusiasm brushes off upon those with whom you come in contact.” - John Wooden

“Real persuasion comes from putting more of you into everything you say. Words have an effect. Words loaded with emotion have a powerful effect.” - Jim Rohn

My favorite example of this assumption in action is Benjamin Zander’s TED talk on the transformative power of classical music:

2/ Assume your audience needs various forms of persuasive evidence to understand and buy into your information.

Just because you say it doesn’t mean your audience will understand it or believe it to be true. They need more.

Persuasive evidence can include facts, data, statistics, stories (fiction, non-fiction, or personal), case studies, examples, analogies, or quotes.

Here’s how I like to explain this in my workshops…

If you were to cut down a tree, you’d see rings on the trunk of the tree.

Generally speaking, a tree with more rings (like the one pictured below) is a more robust tree.

When you’re building out your talk or presentation, consider how you can add more ‘rings’ to your topic.

Maybe you start by sharing a statistic — that’s one ring.

Then you give an example — that’s another ring.

Then you cite some emerging research — …another ring.

Then you share a personal story — …another ring.

There’s no magic number for persuasive evidence, but I recommend having at least two or three for each of your main points.

Need an example?

Watch this ~3:30 minute clip of Nilofer Merchant and listen for how many pieces of persuasive evidence she uses to convince her audience to incorporate walking meetings into their work:

3/ Assume your audience needs help understanding how to apply your information.

Most people will attend your talk or presentation because they believe your information will help them improve their lives in some way, whether personal or professional.

They have a problem — which they may or may not be able to define — and believe you might have a solution to their problem.

This is great news for you! But unfortunately, I see too many speakers and presenters blow this opportunity.

They deliver great information and then stop.

They don’t provide usable guidance to their audience on how they might apply the information they’ve shared.

Here are four simple ways you can help guide your audience on how to apply your information:

1. Before your talk begins, introduce yourself to a few audience members and learn about what they do and why they’ve decided to attend. You can then incorporate this information into the body of your talk, making your information that much more relevant to your audience. You might say, “I had the opportunity to meet a few of you before my talk today. Michael - here in the front - shared that he’s a high school basketball coach. When I talk about building mental toughness through visualization practice, here’s how Michael might incorporate it with his team…”

2. At the start of your talk, ask your audience members to write down one question they have related to your topic. There are two benefits to doing this: (1) it motivates your audience to pay attention as they listen for their question to be answered during your talk, and (2) if you don’t answer their question in the body of your talk, it gives them questions to ask at the end during Q&A.

3. Pose questions to your audience throughout your talk. You might say, “I’d like to hear from three of you in the audience. How might you apply this concept in your professional work?”

4. Provide your audience with a reflection activity handout they can complete at the end of your talk. The purpose of this handout is to guide them in actively reflecting on your material and how they might practically apply it. Here’s a screenshot of the reflection activity I have participants complete at the end of my Speak Without Filler Words workshop:

4/ Assume your audience has questions.

Because they do.

So why aren’t they asking them when you open Q&A?

• They don’t want to be the first one to ask a question.

• They’re scared to pose a question in front of the group (fear of public speaking).

• They’re insecure about the quality of their question.

What can you do about it?

• You can pose the first question. Knowing that people don't always want to go first, take the pressure off by doing it yourself. I do this by saying something like, “While you think about what questions you have, let me share one or two questions I often get related to this topic.” I’ll then ask and answer my own question(s). And by the time I’m done, almost always someone in the audience will have their hand up to ask the first question.

• Cold call on someone from your audience. This works well if you’ve developed a good rapport. I’ll usually pick someone from the audience who I know has been engaged throughout my presentation. I’ll say (while gesturing toward the person), “I noticed you taking quite a few notes throughout our time together. Would you be willing to share with the group what you found most interesting today or how you plan to apply what you learned?” You might not get a question, but at the very least, you’re starting a conversation that may spark questions from other audience members.

5/ Assume your audience has somewhere important to be after your talk or presentation.

Audiences love nothing more than getting out of a presentation on time or early.

Your designated end time is a promise to your audience. How often are you keeping that promise?

I know this is easier said than done. Things come up.

Maybe you got a late start because the presenter before you ran over, because your audience was slow to get settled, or maybe you had some technical difficulties during your presentation.

Although unfortunate, they don’t change the fact that you have a promise to keep.

What risks do you run going over your designated end time?

• Attendees leaving your presentation before you’re done and missing your close (which usually includes a helpful summary of your information and an important call to action).

• Attendees becoming frustrated and/or tired. They may have been excited and energized at the start, but now their sole focus is to get out. This leaves a lasting negative impression, and they won’t willingly attend your future presentations.

• Overwhelming your attendees with information. Audiences remember very little from presentations, especially if they don’t actively engage through note-taking and conversation or question-asking. Going over time and giving them MORE information is usually counterproductive.

Here are a few strategies I give my clients to help them stay on time:

1. Know what content or slides from your presentation you can cut or skip over if you’re short on time. If I’m getting a late start to my presentation, I’ll go into my presentation and ‘hide’ those slides before I even start.

2. Don’t speed up your delivery to get through your content on time. Going faster reduces the quality of your delivery, makes you seem nervous and/or unorganized, and almost guarantees your audience won’t have the time they need to understand and connect with the information. Instead, you might say: “Since we only have X minutes left, I’m going to stop here and summarize what we’ve covered today. We’ll then talk through your questions.”

3. If the situation allows for it, set an alarm on your phone to go off 10 minutes before your end time. When your alarm goes off, you can say: “I set an alarm to let me know when we only had 10 minutes left. I’ll take the next X minutes to summarize what we covered, then we can use the remaining time to talk through your comments and questions.”

In closing…

Here are three questions for you to reflect on:

1. What’s one assumption you make before you speak or present? (Doesn’t have to be on this list)

2. How does this assumption impact your experience? Your audience’s experience? (Be specific)

3. What’s one change you plan to make as a result of reading this article? How will making this change positively impact you? Your audience? (Be specific)

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Until next time!

Jenny