by Gilda Bonanno LLC www.gildabonanno.com
One
of the attendees at my presentation skills training program shared an example
of what can go wrong if you don’t customize your material for your audience
Robby
McQueeney, a Cape Cod historian, collector and photojournalist, is known as The
Dune Tramp, because he focuses on the dune shacks on the beaches of Outer Cape
Cod, Massachusetts.
He
usually presents to audiences in or near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where people
are familiar with the dune shacks.
Earlier
this year, he did his first Dune Tramp presentation in Connecticut and here’s
what happened:
I knew going in I should alter my
explanation of Cape Cod topography, by starting in Connecticut and not on Cape
Cod.
However, it wasn’t until I was getting into
the stories of the shacks that I realized there were a lot of references that
weren’t familiar to a non-Cape audience.
So, I starting having to edit on-the-fly, and it got a little choppy.
I
had several references to the infamous Art’s Dune Tours in my talk. Everyone on
Cape Cod knows Art’s, whether they’ve taken the tour or not. When the first reference to Art’s popped up,
I asked if anyone had ever taken a tour. Silence. So, I stopped mentioning
Art’s. But they were tied explicitly to
three photos I was showing. I ended up just generalizing and moved along, a bit
awkwardly.
Also,
many times throughout my show, I referred to the National Park Service and Cape
Cod National Seashore. Again, Cape
Codders know all about the logistics of these organizations and about the 42,000
acres conveyed to the federal government in 1961. But the audience outside of
Cape Cod does not, and so in hindsight, I also should have briefly described
the logistics of the National Park Service/Cape Cod National Seashore.
My
lesson learned is to give thought, before every presentation, to the type of
audience I expect: location, age, knowledge base. (So I
can leave the dancing shoes at home!)
Moral of the story: if you change your audience, consider the
appropriateness of your material, and fix it ahead of time!
The Dune Tramp’s example can apply to you. Before your next presentation, meeting or
training program, think about your audience and how you can customize your material
so it makes sense to them. This
customization will make for a happier audience and prevent you from having to
make changes in the middle of the presentation.
Thanks to The Dune Tramp for sharing his lessons learned. What lessons have you learned about giving presentations?
Find out more about The Dune Tramp at https://www.dunetramp.com/Home_Page.php
Sign up to receive more public
speaking and networking strategies from Gilda's e-newsletter: http://www.gildabonanno.com/Pages/newsletter.aspx
Gilda Bonanno's blog www.gildabonanno.blogspot.com