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                                ASSESSING YOUR AUDIENCE
                      CHAPTER 7
                      FIGURE 7-1 Overcoming Objections within the Presentation
                                      Determine the                                103
                                       Objection
                                      Acknowledge
                                      Empathize
                                      Share Experience
                                      Deliver Message
                                      Open Door for Compromise
                      CREATE A RELATIONSHIP
                      If you get beyond the objection, you generate an opportunity for a relation-
                      ship. The relationship may last only as long as the presentation, or it may last
                      far longer. Relationships emerge from a community of understanding and a
                      sense  of  trust.  To  use  a  gardening  analogy,  relationships  do  not  bloom
                      overnight, but they can emerge over time if the ground is made fertile and ade-
                      quately watered. Oprah has taken the relationship with an audience to an
                      all-time level; over the decades she has been on the air, she has forged a bond
                      with her audience, which has come to understand her as someone who reflects
                      its issues and seeks to make the world better for it.
                          Both the success of your leadership presentation and your personal credi-
                      bility depend upon assessing audience expectations. You can establish a rela-
                      tionship  only  if  you  demonstrate  that  you  understand  and  acknowledge
                      audience issues.


                                        Communications Planner:
                                      Structuring the Presentation

                         Audiences have expectations. It is up to the presenter to determine those
                         expectations prior to the presentation or upon its delivery. Understand-
                         ing audience expectations can make the difference between a forgettable
                         nonevent and a memorable event.
                           1.   Identify a key information resource.
                           2.   Create a five-question survey. Mail it to key informants. Col-
                                late the data.
                           3.   Ask what is on people’s minds— e.g., “What issues related to
                                what I will say should I be aware of ?”
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