Speaking to audiences means talking to people

The old way of presenting was the lecture. The monologue. The speaker preparing a speech and delivering it to the audience. The audience’s role was – in essence – to accept the delivery. (And if it didn’t get it, it was more the audience’s fault than the speaker’s).

Today, we know that a much more satisfying approach is to consider presentations and speeches as conversations. When you think of a conversation, it’s not about speaking to masses but about talking to people. To the humans in your audience.

For the best speakers, this conversation starts long before the moment they step onto the stage and doesn’t stop when they leave the stage. Great speakers – as well as great leaders – talk to people all the time. They talk to people so that they themselves can listen. Because only when you listen will you be able to attach to what’s important to the people.

Speaking really means talking to people, before, during and after the speech.