Presentation Skills: 4 Tips to Handle Mixed Audiences Part 1 of 2 by Dianna Booher

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Executive Communication Expert Dianna Booher

Mixed Audiences—Technical & Nontechnical, Beginners & Advanced, Amateurs and Professionals

As a savvy presenter, you find out as much as possible about your audience members before you address them. What do they already know about the topic? What do they need to know? What do they want to know? Will they be receptive or reluctant to hear what you have to say? You plan accordingly.
But almost nothing calls for more planning than a mixed audience—both technical and nontechnical decision makers, beginners and advanced learners, or groups of amateurs peppered with professionals. Consider the following tips when you present to such diverse groups.
1. Engage the advanced without insulting the less knowledgeable. Make it your goal to aim for the higher end of the spectrum. That is, plan content to interest the seasoned audience members. Their engagement and participation will interest the less knowledgeable because those audience members have even more to learn. The beginners don't yet know what they don't know; therefore, almost all topics and discussion interests them. They are like the proverbial sponge soaking up all that transpires. Yet, take care that you don't insult beginners and amateurs by locking them out of the presentation with jargon and references to other resources, tools, and processes with which they're unfamiliar. So how do you do that? Next tip ...