Techniques for making presentations to a person

When we think of a speaker, we imagine a person in front of a theater full of people listening to an emotional talk. The truth is that this perception of public speaking is not always accurate. On many occasions a presentation will be limited to a small group of people or even a single person. When we have a meeting with one person, the scenario is totally different from speaking to a large audience. The atmosphere of intimacy and complicity takes over the scene, requiring a more personalized language adapted to a particular individual.

With the development of this session, we intend to address some of the basic elements that you should take into account when having a talk addressed to a specific individual. To do so, we will look at concepts such as tailoring the message and personalizing the language.

Tailoring the message: When we speak to a large audience, we convey a message that can be perceived with greater or lesser intensity, depending on each listener. As a speaker who intends to reach a large audience, we must understand that it is not possible to craft a message that will be equally effective for every individual in the room. People have their own characteristics, language, level of preparation, tastes, interests and values.

Making a presentation to a single individual allows us to eliminate all the barriers we have mentioned above. In this case, we can know in advance who we are addressing. The first task before preparing a personalized presentation is to find out as much as we can about our listener: what interests him, what motivates him, what his level of preparation is, or simply why he has decided to come to your talk. These will be essential elements to tailor your message and make it more effective.

With this in mind, you will be able to make a presentation on climate change, health, nutrition, finance, etc., of great interest to your target audience.

Personalize language: Language is part of our personality and reflects to a large extent our level of preparedness. Many speakers assume that the more formal or elaborate their language is, the more serious or powerful their message will be. The truth is that if you don't know what kind of language your listener uses, it will be difficult to maintain a fluid and understandable communication.

Let's suppose you have a meeting with a client of your company. This client wants to invest a sum of money in your company that produces lithium batteries. Once you have studied the client's profile, you know that he does not have a technical profile and does not master the general aspects related to this type of product.

Having this information, you should not start the presentation talking about the amperage, technology or technical characteristics of your batteries. Surely, if you use stilted language, your customer will not understand what you are saying and will nod in embarrassment. This will result in the loss of a capital investment due to communication problems.

Try instead, using simpler language under the following assumptions from the previous example:

• The batteries last 50 kilometers longer than the average.

• The price of the product is lower than that of competitors.

• The quality of the product is excellent, as is the quality-price ratio for the consumer.

• Convince the customer that doing business with your company is their best option.

By personalizing the language and adapting the message you will achieve your final goal to sustain an understandable communication and that your listener leaves with clear and concise information.