Have you ever sat in a meeting with someone who gives you a presentation that has clearly been given to other audiences before? CEO and Co-Founder of the Latimer Corporation Dean Brenner explains some telltale signs: "A generic set of benefits, little anticipation of objections, a lack of details that speak to your specific situation.

Chances are that you tuned out somewhere along the way because you didn't feel connected to what that presenter was telling you. Connecting with your audience is a key part of persuading them."

So, how do you connect with your audiences and create an impactful delivery? The first step to writing an impactful document, composing a productive email, or delivering a successful presentation is to understand your audience. Who are they? What do they need to know? How will the information make them feel? What should they do after they read a report, open an email, or watch a presentation?

who is my audience?

When planning your communication, avoid the it's-all-about-me syndrome. Professional communication is never about you. It’s about your audience.

Think of a time when you asked a friend for a restaurant recommendation and they started listing nothing but local pizza joints . . . but you’d had pizza four times in the last week. Your friend’s unconscious assumption was that you'd like whatever they like.

Psychologists call this phenomenon the  false consensus effect. We assume other people see the world the way we see it and have preferences like ours. This thinking gets us into trouble, especially when communicating.

To avoid this audience-alienating consequence, before you send an email, write a report, or deliver a presentation, get to know your audiences—primary and secondary.

A minimum of two people are involved in all communication: a sender (you) and a receiver (your audience). Communication experts refer to these parties as the encoder, who crafts thoughts and feelings into visual, written, or spoken language; and the decoder, who sees or hears the message and makes sense of it. The process is diagrammed below.

The drawback of this model is that it illustrates communication as a linear, one-way process. It implies a clear-cut start and finish to the communication process in which the roles of the encoder and decoder are clearly defined.

While the model is useful as you consider communicating with one person, consider that in the digital age, your communication can spread far and wide, beyond the boundaries of a one-on-one conversation. You can have virtual, simultaneous, and nebulous audiences, so carefully consider who might see or hear your message and how they might interpret it.

primary and secondary audiences

Focus on the primary audience, the main audience—that probably includes a decision maker—intended to read or hear your message.

However, keep in mind that myriad secondary audiences will interpret your message—unsending, retracting, and deleting are difficult in the digital age. You cannot shred electronic documents or recorded presentations.

Be aware that ANYONE might read your business documents or see your business presentations. Plan carefully and craft consciously.

To encode your message for your primary audience, thoroughly analyze them so you can tailor the content of your message to their wants, needs, and level of understanding. Avoid the natural tendency to share only the material you care about and think is interesting.

Second, encoding your knowledge into a clear message requires attention to style and format. Don’t be lazy; planning your message means organizing your thoughts, telling a relevant story, repeating key points, and minimizing distractions. Your audience should decode, but that does not mean decipher. The message should be easy for your audience to understand.

Get to know your audience

Before composing any document, email, or presentation, find out what your audience needs to know, how your audience should feel, and what your audience should do. Ask what your audience needs to know, feel, and do.

What does my audience know?

What does my audience already know about my subject? Is my audience an expert or a novice? Is my audience a superior, peer, or subordinate? Do they know my qualifications?

Answering these questions can help you craft a message tailored to that audience. For example, if your audience is a subject-matter expert in your field, feel free to use acronyms and industry jargon. However, never use words in an attempt to impress. Even highly sophisticated audiences appreciate a simple message, which is not dumbed down but stripped to its core parts.

If you are writing or presenting to superiors, the atmosphere might be more formal, so you should probably avoid slang and stick with more formal language. However, if you are reporting to a team of peers with whom you are comfortable, you can probably use more conversational language.

The less you know about your audience—the higher the level of formality should be. Never choose slang, idiom, cliché, or jargon with unknown external audiences.

How does my audience feel?

Will my audience have positive, negative, or neutral feelings about my message? How should I address those feelings? Understanding audience predisposition or skepticism can help you tailor a more successful email, report, or presentation.

If you know your audience will not agree with you, establish common ground. Find commonalities between your message and the audience’s interests or values.

Anticipate and address potential objections. By acknowledging their doubts and providing compelling counterarguments, you will build credibility, thereby increasing your chances for success.

Avoid jargon, technical terms, or complex language that may confuse or further alienate the audience. Simple, straightforward language is universally appreciated.

Be open to addressing your audience’s concerns. After delivering an email, report, or presentation, express your willingness to further engage with your audience by addressing their objections or questions. Always close your correspondence, reports, and presentations on a forward-looking note that implies further communication.

What should my audience do?

What action should my audience take based on my message? How will I motivate them to take that action? Clearly articulate the desired action. Do not be coy or surreptitious. The audience should clearly understand what to DO.

Create a sense of urgency that communicates time-sensitive deadlines or that highlights the risks of inaction. Provide clear instructions. Make action easy by removing potential barriers to action. The easier the process, the more likely audiences are to follow through.

Motivating your audience to act requires aligning your message—email, report, or presentation—with their needs and interests, not yours. This alignment will create a compelling case for action and increase the chances of inspiring action and achieving your desired outcomes.

For a more detailed set of audience-analysis questions that are tailored to oral presentations, see presentation guru Nancy Duarte’s Audience Needs Map. These principles are repeated in future chapters of this book. For now, remember this: Never make your audience do work that you should do for them.

does the message work?

Polished communicators strive to supply information at their audience’s level of knowledge and experience. What might be obvious to you because of your background, education, and training might not be obvious to your audience. Economists label this phenomenon The Curse of Knowledge,  illustrated in a 1990 experiment by Elizabeth Newton, a Stanford grad student.

Newton's research shows that we all carry information in our brain that automatically provides context and fills gaps in what we write or say. As a result, our communication makes perfect sense to us. Our audience doesn’t inhabit our brain (thank heavens). Inevitably, they experience the gaps as missing information and thus feel confused.

Ask yourself, “Does my audience understand the terms I’m using? Can they make the connections I’m making?” Here’s an easy test: Ask someone whose background and knowledge are similar to your audience’s to read or listen to your message. If they say, “I can’t follow what you’re saying,” chances are you’re a victim of the curse of knowledge.

In Conclusion

Crafting professional messages requires work, but the process is worth it. Being aware of your  audience as you plan your work will turn potentially mushy, untidy, and costly messages into sharp and effective ones.

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