Where does communication with an audience begin?

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It is with the most important audience member of them all, you.

Recently I was out for my Sunday morning run and came across three very distinctly different situations for me to communicate. Yet there was a commonality in each one. It is this piece of “public speaking” that perhaps we should focus on more than anything else. The reason is that
if we can not convince this person that what we are saying is true to who we are then no one else will believe nor even care about what wesay.

The most extreme situation is when we get on the comedy stage. I havelearned that when doing stand up comedy the most important part of the routine is the delivery. Any doubt that you have on your delivery or material will come through and the audience will not laugh. When taking the comedy stage or in any other situation before you even begin to say
a word your body will speak to the audience.

What does this have to do with my run?

1) The first communication was with a few deer that I came upon. We made eye
contact and all of us stopped running. Too loud and they would have run off, too soft and they would never have noticed. Call it the Goldilocks volume, it was just right for the moment.

2) The second communication was with a fellow runner, with whom I barely made eye
contact and with whom my “good morning” was not heard. Deep down, I was questioning
whether or not I should say hello. This was obviously “seen” by the other runner and there was no connection at all.

3) The third was with a car that decided to make a right hand turn without signaling, total lack of communication on both of our parts. They did not signal, but I also did not communicate my intentions either.

If you speak with confidence you can connect with anyone whether or not they speak your language. But it is also important to read their body language so you can adjust yours. The more you practice speaking in different situations the faster you will be able to process your own thoughts and the more effective your conversations will be.

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