You can always tell a good public speaker. You can tell when they are comfortable with people. When they like people. When they enjoy talking to people. It’s obvious.

They are the speakers who mingle with the audience before the speech. Talk and chat. Meet people and ask who they are and what they are about.

It’s all about focusing on the audience.

But why is audience focus so important to a public speaker? Why should they spend so much time getting to know and understanding their audience before getting up to speak? After all, the audience is there to listen, isn’t it? Is it the speaker who directs the process and does all the work?

Well not really. In this article, I’m going to share four reasons why you need to be audience-focused if you want to be a good public speaker.

one. People judge content by its relevance to themselves.. When you get up to talk to people, they are willing to listen because they think they can learn something. That is why they appear in the first place. But that also means they don’t have enough information to judge your content. If they had enough information, they wouldn’t need to be there. But they need to judge your content. To do that, they actually judge based on its relevance to themselves. Therefore, you need to understand who they are and what their interests are in order to be relevant to them.

two. People judge your ability to speak by your ability to convince them that you care.. People judge your speech intellectually by the three qualities you can control: content, organization, and presentation. But buried in the delivery is an emotional component. Do you care about them? A bratty orator who doesn’t care will always be judged harshly. But a person who really cares, and shows the audience that he cares, will always be supported. They will support you and forgive any mistakes you may make.

3. The extreme reactions of the audience flow from their understanding of the audience.. Has someone in the audience ever bothered you? Have you ever received a standing ovation? Both extremes are directly related to how well you understand your audience. Get it right and those who interrupt will find themselves isolated. Your attempt to stand out will backfire. Get it right and you will make friends in the audience. And the audience will show their appreciation.

Four. Your confidence will be affected by your focus.. Extreme reactions, positive or negative, may not be that common. But the less extreme reactions, the applause, for example, are. And each time you are successful, your confidence will improve. Every time you fail, your confidence will decrease. Doesn’t it make sense to understand the judges who have so much control over your confidence?