Use the 3 Whats Technique to Resonate With Your Audience

A Framework to Build Trust, Raise Interest, and Evoke Emotions

Presenting can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you're trying to get your message across to a room full of experts. In this blog post, I'll share my own experience and give you tips on how to fine-tune your presentation to your audience.

Understanding Your Audience

I once had the opportunity to present at a meetup on educational design about using narrative structures in education and digital training. The content was good, I spent hours in preparation, making it fun and informative, with videos, quizzes, one-on-one breakout rooms… but when the time came, it fell on its nose. People were not engaged, I felt as if they didn’t trust me, found me boring, and my framework too rudimentary. The more I talked, the more my old imposter syndrome was creeping in. Needless to say, I felt terrible.

In the end, even if the content and delivery were solid, they simply were not the right audience. Or, more precisely, my content was not adapted to them.

You see, of all the people who signed up for the event, 90% were university professors or Ph.D. students. I thought the audience would be more diverse, but instead, it was made up of researchers and super-experts in the field. My presentation was designed for a lower level of expertise, and I committed one of the cardinal sins of presenting: failing to fine-tune my talk to the audience. This resulted in lower trust, interest, and emotional response to my intervention.

To avoid making the same oversight, it's essential to understand your audience. A successful presentation will address every part of the brain: the neo-cortex, which is in charge of complex reasoning, and the limbic brain, which regulates emotions and fears. As David JP Philipps points out, to connect with your audience, you need to know what they trust, what they find interesting, and what makes them feel strong emotions.

What Do They Find Credible or Trustworthy?

The first step in connecting with your audience is to answer the question: “Will I benefit from listening to this person?” and “Why should I trust what the speaker says?”

Consider your resume, connections, and hands-on experience to frame yourself as appealing. For example, if they are sensitive to peer recognition or fame, you could tell a story that includes celebrities, brands, or one of their peers. If they value intellect, show them your education or a complex problem you solved. If they trust hard numbers or research-based facts, include some figures in your talk…

Additionally, you can build a direct connection with your audience by being open and listening to them. This will release oxytocin in their body, which increases their feeling of connection and closeness to you. 

For academics, it's a cocktail of education credits and experience, with a hint of respect shown to them. Show them that you're knowledgeable and experienced in your field, but also that you acknowledge their expertise and are willing to learn from them.

What raises their interest or triggers their intellect?

The next step is to answer the question: “Does it trigger my curiosity or interest?”

To connect with your audience, you need to know what themes or topics they're passionate about and what will pique their curiosity. Next, you can research their community to understand their interests and find a way to link your presentation to those topics. This will pick their curiosity and release dopamine in their body, raising their attention and engagement.

Academics are usually interested in theories and abstract knowledge, in their field primarily but also in general. They love discussing models of reality and comparing views on the same problem. So, include parts of your presentation that allow them to show off their knowledge to others.

What Makes Them Feel or Trigger Their Emotions?

The final step is to answer the question: "Am I excited to be here, or should I just half-listen and expect to be bored?" To connect with your audience, you need to know what raises their interest and what they think is super cool.

You must understand your audience's passions, interests, and what makes them proud. By doing so, you'll induce a release of serotonin in their body, which increases focus.

So, what are the things that make academics excited or proud? For most academics, it's discovering new theories or a new point of view on established models. They love discussing things and showing their knowledge to others. To make your presentation a success, you need to include parts where they can show their knowledge to others. 

Here are a few ways to do this:

• Create interactive sections where they can engage with the material. For instance, ask questions that require them to think and provide answers.

• Provide opportunities for them to share their opinions and knowledge with the rest of the group. You can do this by having a discussion or debate session.

• Offer something new or surprising that they haven't seen before. This could be a new theory, a unique perspective, or an innovative solution to a problem.

In addition to these tips, you need to know your audience and research their community to find answers to these questions. This might seem like a hassle to go through all these steps, but the return on time invested is immense. 

By "simply" tweaking some examples, linking your arguments to themes close to your audience's heart, and evoking strong emotions, you will create a strong link with them, a high sense of value, and a long-lasting memory of your presentation.