Six Minutes to the Rescue: Audience Analysis 101

For the past few weeks, I’ve been revamping my lectures in preparation for my first on campus class since November. In preparation for that, I blogged a bit about one of the areas of public speaking most often brushed over by presenters--audience analysis and audience segmentation. While students and presenters have a plethora of resources available to them, and we use Nancy Duarte’s Audience Needs Map in class as well as her audience questions in Resonate, it’s always wonderful to find succinct yet comprehensive resources that are full of practical tools and application. One of the best resources out there that fits these criteria is Six Minutes, curated, edited, and written by Andrew Dlugan. I have turned to Six Minutes for their “how to” guide on rhetoric in developing my presentations and in teaching my students how to develop theirs. Now, I can add his wonderfully practical series on audience analysis to the resources I provide to students and presenters.

Thoughtful audience analysis is one of the best habits you can develop as a speaker. It will help you understand your audience’s perspective and provide maximum value for them. If done well, your audience analysis will provide insights that will help you focus your message, select the most effective content and visuals, and tailor your delivery to suit this particular target audience. –Andrew Dlugan, Six Minutes

Dlugan begins his series with an introduction to audience analysis and follows it up with an article explaining how to conduct it. He then turns his focus to how one can use the data gathered in the audience analysis process to improve one’s speech. Through in-depth audience analysis, one can design an entire presentation that is goes beyond connection and actually reaches resonance. By creating a presentation for the audience (dress, presentation format, supporting points, vocabulary/language, etc.), speaker can move closer to true identification. As rhetorician Kenneth Burke asserted, when an audience can sense analogy or similarity with the audience, the audience is more likely to be persuaded by the speaker’s argument.

Dlugan’s latest offering in the series is an Audience Analysis Worksheet. I, like Dlugan, appreciate the worksheet, checklist, and storyboard template–anything that helps presenters delve further into those often ignored parts of our presentation. A worksheet can “help focus your energy and make a seemingly complex task simple to perform” (Dlugan 2013). So, in the case of audience analysis, which one can talk about ad nauseum but never actually practice or conduct, a worksheet can help turn a theoretical best practice of public speaking into an actionable task whose data is now easier to analyze and apply. I’ll be adding this eries to the list of resources I draw from in preparing lectures and can’t wait to engage in some audience analysis in class using Dlugan’s worksheet. Check out the entire series on audience analysis at Six Minutes!

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On a side note: I’d like to thank Andrew for giving me the opportunity to guest write for Six Minutes in 2012. Andrew is a wonderful editor and pushed me to get out of my analytical zone when writing. Thanks Andrew and thanks Six Minutes!

Don’t Worry, Be CRAPpy on Slideshare.net

In response to some requests as well as to provide an alternative, stand alone version of my recent Six Minutes article, I’ve uploaded a new deck to slideshare.net. Check it out below!

 

Featured on Six Minutes: How to Create Pro Slides in Less Time

Today, my article “How to Create Pro Slides in Less time: Don’t Worry, Be CRAPpy” is featured on Andrew Dlugan’s Six Minutes. I was introduced to the concept of CRAP via Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen, and I am happy to share this useful tool for designing and revising slides with Six Minutes readers and beyond. Check out how you can use Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity to help you create great slides or revise your decks to awesomeness!

Mediocrity’s worst enemy…

Is the superhuman (here I purposely do not use Nietzsche term superman). I began using the term superteacher after a decade of teaching showed me that there are two types of education professionals: those who teach because it is who they are and those who teach because they cannot find anything else “better” to do. To me, there is nothing besides teaching (well, I do have a cat, some plants, and an amazing ability to bake). I felt nothing but insecurity as a green teacher–I know now that I can teach anything, as long as I love teaching enough to devote only my best effort to it. I am a superteacher–apathy and ignorance are my sworn enemies, and selfhood, actualization, and pure thought are my allies.  I have met superteachers and superstudents, extraordinary people who stand out because they work, accept and tackle challenges, settle for only the absolute best, and never excuse failure.

My crusade against mediocrity, though, is nothing new. My mother taught me this word when I was in elementary school. She taught and teaches my siblings and I that hard work leads to excellence. I learned that Cs were far from “average” or acceptable. You might disagree, reader, that grades matter or that we can measure more than memorization and test taking skills via grades. To me though, each A or B was a testament to hard work, to never giving up even when the subject frustrated me or challenged me beyond what was practical. My mother carries this lesson on. She completely changed my mind about homeschooling. I marvel at my younger siblings, whose talents in academics, arts, and athletics far outshines my more cerebral approach to learning.

I share an idea the first day of class with my students. The idea is that an average presentation sucks and that most of us are painfully average presenters. Andrew Dlugan developed this idea in his Six Minutes post, “Average Speakers Suck. Don’t Be Average.” I really appreciate Dlugan’s rhetoric–he not only uses easily understandable metaphors (i.e. the average chocolate chip cookie and its connection to presenting), but integrates bell curves and concrete examples into his basic conclusion/big idea. Don’t be average–average sucks.

As I take a few months off from the classroom and I tackle new projects, I will remember this idea–be a superhuman. Don’t be average.

I will leave you with the visual resume of one of the most amazing women, students, professionals I have had the privilege to teach, Crysta Timmerman. Top that:

Tweak of the day: Andrew Dlugan and SMN

Andrew Dlugan is the author of Six Minutes, one of my absolute must-read blogs on public speaking. One of my favorite posts by Dlugan is titled “Average Speakers Suck. Don’t be Average.” I dig this post because it employs one of Dlugan’s most powerful rhetorical tools, metaphor. Dlugan points out that unlike an average chocolate chip cookie, average height, and an average golfer, an average presentation sucks. In Dlugan’s bell curve of presentation skills, “The line between being an effective communicator and an ineffective communicator is not down the middle of the chart. It’s over to the right.” This average zone according to Dlugan, “is the Death by PowerPoint abyss. This is the 15 filler words per minute zone. This is the “What the heck is this speaker talking about?” zone.  In homage to Dlugan, I am sharing with you today’s image of the day, which comes from Flickr user, SMN. I’ve paired it with one of my favorite quotes from this excellent article.

Image: SMN via Flickr

The Rhetoric of Presentation Design: Logos

I’d like to finish up this series on the rhetoric of presentation design by quoting my favorite, Vulcan, Mr. Spock.

JD Hancock

Logos at its most basic level is about evidence and the presentation of that evidence in a reasonable way. Were we all like Mr. Spock, we would only need logos–facts, evidence, logical organization, clear reasoning, and truth (or Truth). Logic sets Spock and other Vulcans apart from the rest of us humanoids, who are driven by a natural need for authority and our often irrational and destructive emotions. But, if we were all Vulcans, life would likely be pretty boring (Vulcans don’t laugh, dance, drink, or play). As it is, the fact that we are not emotionless, logic-driven alien demi-gods means that we must also ensure our use of logic is engaging, useful, relevant, and understandable.

I love reading blogs (and recently, writing them), and one of my favorites is Six Minutes. Their series on rhetoric and persuasion is practical, useful information for everyday presenters. One of my favorite resources for the practical development of logos is this article from Six Minutes. Andrew Dlugan lays out 17 ways to ensure your logos is understandable (can your audience understand all of your points?), logical (do your points make sense?), and real (is your evidence concrete?). I am going to discuss the ones that most relate to the logos of your slides.

Make your Slides Understandable

1. Use diagrams and charts.

Diagrams: Frugal Dad (Left), GOOD (Top Right), Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bottom Right)

A well-designed diagram, with a bit of help from you, can make for an awesome piece of evidence. This video from infographic masters Column Five sums up why visualizing data helps users make sense of a dense information jungle.

Check out this awesome visualization--it's a response to the current place of Wal-mart in American society and economics.

Check out Alltop’s infographics section for more awesome examples like the ones above.

2. Use progressive disclosure.

Showing only one item at a time draws attention to sequences and processes, bettering your audience's understanding of subject.

 { circle }.. (॓.॔)ﾉﾞ

Showing one element at a time, or progressive disclosure is like your presentation’s “More” button. Using progressive disclosure, as Good does in their series of infographic videos can aid you in revealing information to your audience in an understandable and clear way.

Make Your Slides Logical

1. Leverage commonplaces with a quote.

Speaking to a room full of venture capitalists?

findustrip

Leveraging the commonplaces or shared values of achievement and single-minded purpose through a quote can help show the inherent logic of your argument.

2. Drive questions with impacting visuals.

My favorite example of using an immediately recognizable image in conjunction with an excellent thought-provoking question is Michael Pollan’s 2009 PopTech talk on the Sun Food Agenda.

Ed Yourdon

Pollan shows us an image of a the now ubiquitous Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonald’s and asks the audience if they’ve ever wondered where this meal comes from, what the process is from beginning to end. He then answers the question for the audience by describing the step by step life cycle of a beef cow. He keeps the seemingly harmless image of the burger fresh in the audience’s mind as he exposes them to the reality behind this product. If you haven’t seen Pollan’s talk, it’s a must watch and a fantastic example of how slides can be used to successfully develop each of your rhetorical appeals.

Michael Pollan: Sustainable Food

Make Your Slides Real

1. Apply the picture superiority effect consistently.

Ed Yourdon

Something else Pollan does in his Pop Tech talk that engages his audience and illustrates the validity of his words is his consistent use of the picture superiority effect. Each of Pollan’s visuals features either impacting images (such as his shots of a cattle farm he dubs “Cowschwitz”) or incredibly simple and immediately recognizable pictorals, such as his comparison of how much waste 150,000 cows produce (the equivalent of the entire city of Chicago).

2. Use visuals to reinforce verbal stories.

I’d like to direct you to TOMS as an example of using visuals to reinforce stories.

katerha

The story of TOMS shoes is an impacting one; the organization is committed to its “one for one” campaign, whose effort has always been to improve the quality of life of children by providing them with a free pair of shoes.

TOMS doesn't just show you cool shoes; they show you why these shoes matter.

andysternberg

But, it’s not the shoe alone TOMS customers are drawn to–what draws TOMS’ customers is Blake’s story.