Persuading Crowds Part 4: A Crowd of Many

Hello everyone!

Christopher Peck with Speak Into Action Communications.

Welcome to the final portion of our four-week series on Crowd Persuasion inspired by T.S. Eliot's quote.

Do we all know it by heart?

"Business today consists in persuading crowds."

Part two covered a crowd of self, last week we went over a crowd of one, today we talk about persuading a crowd of many. And, you guessed it, persuading a crowd of many is about being present, transparent, and consistent.

Being Present: Looks different because with a crowd of one you want your audience to dominate the conversation. Talk less, listen more. With a crowd of many, this really isn't feasible unless you have two hours of material and eight hours of time. Conversation slows the tempo and pacing of a presentation which is why it is so important, when developing a speaking event, to plan out the timing of audience participation.

But before I get too wildly off topic, since one to many presentations almost always necessitate a speaker-driven performance, being present has to look a little different.

It becomes about non-verbal engagement, and mirroring. And not with your entire audience, you do not have to connect with your entire audience. In fact, you will not connect with your entire audience. And I think biggest mistake many presenters make is focusing on the wrong audience.

Believe it or not, like most things, there's an 80/20 rule for audiences. 80% of your audience is engaged, absorbed, and eager to hear what you have to say. 20% are somewhere else. Not feeling well. Checking an email from their kid's school. Skipped breakfast and starving. Whatever the reason, they're not there. Oh well.

What we cannot do as presenters is pivot for or try to force a connection with the 20%. They're a lost cause. Let them go. Instead focus on the 80%. Mirror their energy and enthusiasm back on them. Reward their excitement by giving them special attention. That's the audience you're persuading. Don't miss your shot in the vain attempt to please everyone.

Be Transparent: Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. Being a great performer is about finding alignment between words, actions, body language, and vocal variety. This is why we rehearse. To find and hone that alignment so when we walk into a presentation we are both masterly prepared, while also portraying the illusion of spontaneity.

Be Consistent: Script it. You can wing it but it won't be as good. When people tell me they're good enough to just wing it, all I hear is, "I don't take this presentation seriously enough to prepare."

Script it.

Rehearse it.

Memorize it.

Own it.

Then you have it forever.

Thank you for following this series the last few weeks. As promised, I have a challenge for you. Create a sixty-second video of yourself and put it on LinkedIn, Youtube, Facebook, or any other social media vessel of choice. It can be an ask, a get to know you, a quick video about a book we all need to read, but post it and put yourself out there.

The first five people who post their video and share with me a link to view, I'll send you feedback on what works really well about your video presence along with a couple of quick tips to make your videos even better.

Thanks everyone for reading, this is Christopher Peck with Speak Into Action Communications: helping businesses perform better by training better performers.

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