If you’ve ever experienced love-at-first-sight, you’ll understand the sister concept in the presentation world, “trust-at-first-sight”. People often grant presenters the benefit of the doubt–everything about the scenario suggests that they should. You’re standing, they’re sitting. You’re speaking, they’re listening. You’ve been invited, requested, or tapped for your insights and experience; they’re present to learn.
Many presenters spend hours and hours fussing due to a fear of the audience. It’s easy to feel like you don’t have enough to give, or like you’re not sure whether you can deliver. But the truth is that most of the time, the audience is already on your side. They’re already expecting you to deliver. They already assume you’re knowledgeable and confident and unique in the world. You have them at hello, which means they’re yours to lose. Hopefully, that’s good news!
Most presentations boil down to trust. They either trust you, or they don’t. But if you start out with trust, how would you approach the rest of the presentation? What kind of energy and enthusiasm would you pour into a presentation if you knew they were on your side to start with and would follow you even more if you held onto that trust?
There are a few surefire ways to break that trust at the outset. Failing to appreciate the audience’s time, speaking too much or too highly about yourself, or underestimating their knowledge and strength in a particular subject matter are some ideas if you want to try it out. But while you can offend someone in a lot of ways, you can maintain their trust in one very simple way: give them respect. If you approach your next presentation with that in mind, everything is going to go great!