Questions Your Audience is Asking

Inspiration, Information, Interaction, and Invitation

If you have ever stood in front of a crowd and presented to them, you know the look on the faces of those dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands of people. They have their own perspectives and their own ideas going on in their minds as you begin to speak. From the moment you open your mouth, they have questions. An earnest communicator is seeking, in some way, to answer those questions even if they remain unverbalized.

The questions they have in mind might be random and simplistic, such as, "How long is this going to be?" or even, "Who is this person talking next, anyway?" However, while you are on stage, knowing the most important questions they are asking can shape what you say, ensuring effectiveness and helping you prioritize your communication.

From my experience as a listener I’ve discerned four questions audiences are asking that are of the utmost importance. I’ve been asked, through the years, to give critique to others in their presentations, speeches, and sermons, which has informed this as well. Most of all, this is a system of preparation I have used in my communication, which has become a useful tool in not only discerning the main questions my audience is asking, but also how I might deftly answer those questions, which are:

Should I care?

The first thing your audience asks, and why so many find it best to share a story or experience that connects to an audience more personally, is "Should I care?"

Inside, most of your audience is wondering: Am I emotionally connected to this? If they do not get emotionally connected, they start to distance themselves from your content and look elsewhere for connection.

The felt need an audience wants to experience is new inspiration.

If you can find something that inspires them, you can move their hearts and thus move your audience.

Without this new inspiration, it will sound cold and clinical at worst, businesslike at best. If you need a content prompt to prepare for this as you get your notes ready, ask yourself this: What is the story I have to tell?

Am I learning?

The next thing your audience asks, and why it is so crucial to prepare the content of your talk with care and precision, is "Am I learning?"

Inside, most of your audience is wondering: Am I hearing anything new? If they do not learn something that seems new or different to them, they start to think about other things that are more compelling. 

The felt need an audience wants to experience is new information.

If you can communicate clear ideas that strike them in a new way you can move their minds and thus move your audience.

Without this new information, it will sound like the same things they have heard before—”same old, same old.” If you need a content prompt to prepare for this as you get your notes ready, ask yourself this: What is the idea I have to share?

Am I engaged?*

The third thing your audience asks, and why so many work hard to incorporate creative engagement in their talks these days, is "Am I engaged?"

Inside, most of your audience is wondering: Am I able to contribute to this?  If they don't find a way to add their experiences, opinions, or ideas, they start to consider other distractions more relevant to them.

The felt need an audience wants to experience is new interaction.

If you can find a way to get them talking or, at minimum, reflecting on their own experiences and perspectives, then you can move their mouths and thus move your audience.

Without this new interaction, it will sound completed & uneditable, and thus unowned by them, because they have nothing to add, or no opportunity to add what they want to add. If you need a content prompt to prepare for this as you get your notes ready, ask yourself this: What is the dialog I want to start?

*Additional note on this challenging question found at the end

Will this change me?

The final thing your audience asks, and why so many ensure the ending of their talk is very clear and compelling on this front, is "Will this change me?"

Inside, most of your audience is wondering, even from the start: What are they asking me to do? If they don't hear a specific and clear ask, they may mentally assent to your points, but they won’t plan to do anything differently because of them.

The felt need an audience wants to experience is new invitation.

If you can make a specific call to action that seems meaningful, attractive, and doable, then you can move their feet and thus move your audience.

Without this new invitation, it will sound good, but no change or action is required in response. If you need a content prompt to prepare for this as you get your notes ready, ask yourself this: What is the behavior I want to spark?

Practical next steps for communicators:

There are a few ways to use this in your preparation for the next audience you speak to: 

• Use the content prompts to guide the main thrust and tone of your presentation in your first draft:

  • What is the story I have to tell?

  • What is the idea I have to share?

  • What is the dialog I want to start?

  • What is the behavior I want to spark?

• Go through existing notes and add "inspiration, information, interaction, or invitation" as a kind of tag on each section just to help you.

• If you're an emoji-kind-of-person, use those. It can be a helpful way to shape the tone and feel of that section in the notes you use on the platform as well since you just need a symbol to catch your intent. See below…

• Examples:

  ❤️ inspiration

  💡 information

  💬 interaction

  🧎🏼‍♀️ invitation

• other options…

  😆 inspiration

  🧐 information

  👍 interaction

  🙏 invitation

• From the beginning of writing up your content, think of the flow of the entire talk, message, or presentation, and consider what you want to start with (usually information or inspiration). Then think of when an interaction might present itself, and how soon you want to "spill the beans" on what you're inviting them to do differently in the future.

It can also be helpful to use this as a rubric for soliciting feedback from others or giving it when requested.

Some questions to reflect on this that we can discuss in the comments or by replying:

1. Which of the four questions are you already most confident in answering in your communication?

2. Which of the four questions do you answer with the least confidence? (So you know, for my first 5-6 years communicating the “new invitation” question was my weak point. I would talk effectively for the appointed time but nobody got a sense of what I wanted them to do about it. Feedback from other communicators let me know I left them with this vague sense: "Okay, now go think about that.")

3. What is an aspect of one of these questions that you want to echo and share more about?

4. What other questions do you think your audience is asking that might not fit into the domains of these questions?

5. How might you be able to use these four questions in your preparation? 

6. How might you use them in evaluating and gaining feedback?

7. What's your next chance to speak to an audience and how does this help you prepare?

*Additional note on “Am I engaged?” - I believe this question of the four is a newer development and may not have been a top four question 50 years ago. I suspect there has been a development in human psychology, influenced no doubt by our use of technology and the internet, that has accelerated the need most humans have to directly engage on a subject with their own opinions and experiences. This is a great challenge, of the four, for a speaker, since the format of speaking (and the rooms in which one speaks) is not inclined to facilitate interaction, nor does most content on speaking/presenting give assistance on this point. For more on this question when it comes to leadership challenges, see Charlene Li, 2010. Open Leadership : How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.‌