A catalyst walks into a bar…

Does the headline make you smile? If so, you probably have more than just a passing knowledge of chemistry.

If not, that in itself illustrates the point of this article: context and audience are everything when it comes to communication.

A joke that makes chemistry enthusiasts laugh won’t necessarily strike a chord with a group of marketing professionals, who might appreciate a joke about algorithms and target audiences more.

(And yes, even the biggest chemistry fan is allowed not to laugh at an old dad joke. But still.)

When you’re communicating your specialist knowledge, exactly the same thing can happen: you risk missing the mark because you don’t tailor your message to your audience. Whether you’re standing in front of a group of colleagues, senior management or a wider audience, they’ll respond much better if you understand their background, interests and level of knowledge.

Know your audience – and their frame of reference

Imagine you have to explain a complex technical topic. For a group of experts, you can easily use specialised technical terms and delve into detailed analyses. But if your audience doesn’t share the same expertise, they’ll lose the thread.

Similarly, trying to simplify things too much can make you come across as patronising or unprepared.

Knowing your audience is about more than just knowing who they are. It’s about understanding what they hope to gain from your presentation:

• What is their prior knowledge? Do you need to build the foundation from scratch, or can you build on what they already know?
• What motivates them? Are they interested in practical applications, strategic implications, or do they simply want to understand the basic principles?
• How do they prefer to receive information? Is it through graphs, examples, storytelling, or perhaps something else entirely?

The pitfalls of not knowing your audience

It may sound like the icing on the cake, but it’s actually more important than that. When you don’t tailor your message, you risk:

1. losing your audience. If they don’t understand what you’re saying, they’ll simply stop listening.
2. coming across as irrelevant. If your message doesn’t relate to their needs or interests, well, you’ll lose their attention too.
3. wasting time – yours and theirs. A presentation that fails to make an impact is a missed opportunity.

How to tailor your presentation in 3 steps

To avoid talking to thin air and wasting everyone’s time, it can be a really good idea to familiarise yourself with who you’ll be speaking to – ideally before you stand in front of them. It takes a bit of time, yes, but in the vast majority of cases, that time will be very well spent.

You can also gauge your audience once you’re standing in front of them:

1. Ask questions: Start your presentation or speech by asking the audience questions so you know what’s relevant to them. This could be what they hope to gain from the presentation or what their needs are in this context.
2. Keep an eye on body language and reactions – are they following you, or do they look confused? If in doubt, ask: Is this relevant to you? Is there anything that needs explaining?
3. Adjust as you go along. If you lose your audience, you can change tack mid-presentation by simplifying or explaining things in new ways.

If you find yourself feeling that it’s a shame to have to ‘downgrade’ your knowledge, remember that no matter how extensive and complex your specialist knowledge is, it only becomes truly valuable when it is understood and applied by others.

So next time you step up in front of an audience, consider: Who are they, and how can I meet them where they are?

And remember: A good joke – or a presentation – only works if it lands with the right audience.

PS...

If you didn’t know the joke from the headline, here it is (and hold on tight):

A catalyst walks into a bar, but the doorman refuses to let it in: ‘Last time you were here, you started all sorts of things.’