persuasion managmement

Persuasion Management

When making a presentation or a speech to a n audience, there are bound to be different types of audiences since not any two presentations will have the same type of audiences. By knowing the type of audience that one is handling, he will be able to adjust the presentation accordingly hence giving a credible presentation at the end of it all. The varying types of audience are categorized as;

Hostile audience- they generally disagree with the presenter and may not like you or what you are presenting. In this case the presenter will have to give extra effort, carefully put together the presentation, challenge the audience, use reliable and credible references include humor and showing them what does not work.

Critical audience- this kind of audience feels more educated than the presenter and would even pick on the holes in the presentation of the audience. The presenter will therefore have to use high level references and credible information, never exaggerate anything, avoid fallacies at all costs and use rational arguments instead, argue a case on both sides, the presenter must be fair and reasonable and handle the criticism evenly. This way you can handle such a crowd.

Uninformed audience - this audience do not have facts about the topic though could still be open to argument. This audience can still be open to arguments hence cannot be underestimated. The presenter should therefore question them in order to understand what they know and what they don't. Present basic facts to inform them, use rational argument here to for the logic to be understood and reliable and credible resources should also be used.

Sympathetic audience - they have an emotional attachment to the presenter and they are the easiest to convince and persuade. The presenter should build a bond to find a common ground between him and the audience, bys asking for their help you will be making personal appeals, the presenter should also trigger their emotions and try to always have them on your side in a group argument (Changing Minds, 2012).

Once the presenter has understood the type of audience that is before him, he will be able to effectively handle the entire audience and make the presentation a success.

There is however the aspect of tension that is always experienced in most presentations. This comes even after the presenter has well understood his audience as mentioned above. There are four basic sources of tension in a presentation that if well understood and dealt with can leave room for a good presentation.