By Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE

Two hundred doctors had assembled for the event. It was a leadership conference at the LA Biltmore Hotel for hospital chiefs of staff. As I sat in the audience, I saw one physician after another “present his papers.” These were the dullest speeches I’d ever heard! The audience was half asleep and some were even snoring.

?The information being presented was vitally important. It dealt with life and death issues. Those who learned from it would be better equipped to save lives. Those who didn’t…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be one of their patients. The tragedy of the situation was that the messages and messengers were just right, but their speaking and platform skills were abysmal. So, the doctors didn’t get the message.

?I was on next. When they introduced me, the doctors rolled their eyes in skepticism over what possible value I could bring to them. At the time, I was still in my thirties. Here is how I opened my talk.

I walked to the stage and stepped forward from behind the lectern. This got their attention. Then I asked them to go back in their minds to medical school and to one of the classes they had on leadership and managing people. They appeared confused. I asked, “How many of you had a class on leadership in medical school?” None replied.

?I then said, “Do you realize what this means? It means that I am the expert and you guys had better take notes!” (I said with a smile).

They burst into applause. Everyone stayed alert, learned what I was teaching, and they rated me 5 out of 5 for excellence. The meeting planner hired me again on the spot.

?What made the difference was that I dealt with the “elephant in the room” issue: I was not a doctor and most of them were older than me. (So, what possible value could I bring them?) But I knew a subject that they didn’t know.

That’s just one of many ways to customize your message.

?Next time you have an important message to deliver, consider customizing your message for more impact. Look at the environment, the other presenters on the program, the mood and comfort of the audience, the ways in which you structure your material, the style of your presentation, the memory hooks you add to your key points, and more. Let the experience of the thousands of professional speakers before you add to your wisdom and reduce your challenges. Study speakers and the art of speaking. Read this publication and others like it regularly. The message you deliver could make a big difference…if it really reaches your audience.

Customize Your Presentation for Increased Impact.

The key benefits that you get from customizing are as follows:

?1) It overcomes skepticism and hostility. Audience members feel that you understand them.

?2) It builds your confidence. The quickest way in the world to get the butterflies out of your stomach is to learn more about how your ideas apply to your audience.

?3) The ideas hit home a lot more quickly when you customize. If you can use your ideas in examples, stories or illustrations from that audience’s world, no one has to translate.

?4) Your humor works better. Some of your humor can come from their experiences! You might not even fully understand why something is funny to them.

?5) Cooperation is more likely. People, once they know you care about them, will cooperate more because the trust level is higher.

?6) It generates glowing referrals and repeat business. You, the speaker, are an expert on your subject. They, the audience, are experts on their own situation, interests and needs. And unless the two of you exchange information, you’re forced to talk about the only thing you know about, your topic — not how it relates to them.

How Do You Customize a Talk?

?There’s one universal answer to all questions concerning how to customize a talk, “It depends.” There are six critical elements of a speech that can be customized. There are also five levels of customization. How you combine the elements and levels depends on your goals for the speech and the amount of energy you can devote to customizing it.

Critical Elements in Customization

?1. The event itself can often be altered to create a desired effect, such as making the presentation longer to permit more audience involvement, or changing the theme of the meeting to better match your desired message or changing your message to match their theme.

?2. The people. You can invite different participants depending on your desired outcome. Or you can refer to and involve certain individuals to help make a point.

?3. The time. Refer to the time, date, holiday, or significance of this time for this message. Or change the timing of your speech to occur strategically before or after some key event.

?4. The place. Use the location or its attributes to drive home your point or to establish a common reference with the group. Or shift the speech to a location which would have a more useful effect on the message.

?5. The circumstances. If it is hot or cold, crowded or wide open, use that in your speech. Note any news item which is on everybody’s mind and use it.

?6. The speaker or message. Use something unique about you as a point of reference. Or show how your message itself is vitally important to them.

All of these items lend themselves to adaptation within your speech. How and where you use them depends on how well they fit your purpose.

?Platform skills separate good leaders from great ones. The better you get at reaching many people at once, the greater the impact you can have on the world.

Author: Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE, Cathcart.com, is past president of the National Speakers Association and a veteran of over 3,500 paid speeches. He has served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, authored 27 books including The Acorn Principle™ and is founder of the Professional Experts Academy. Cathcart is the person who crafted NSA’s Professional Competencies.