Sean D'Souza: Advance notice encourages audience to sing to your tune

Most speakers simply show up to an event.

This may be a speaking event. It may be a workshop or teleconference. It may even be your own teleclass or consulting session. And just showing up and going blah-blah is a mistake.

The moment the speaker shows up he or she is fighting an uphill battle. The battle is simply one of perception.

Imagine a musician showed up to your town - someone as well known as Sting.

Let's assume you're a Sting fan. What would you expect him to sing? You'd expect Every Breath You Take. Maybe Roxanne. And then you'd expect him to sing some newer songs.

But imagine Sting showing up and singing all brand new songs. There you are with your $150 ticket and you don't know the tune to one song; can't sing along to any of the lyrics.

Sure it's a great event, but it's all shock and awe. And that's what most speakers do. They show up, and the audience has no agenda. They start talking and the audience has no "lyrics". They start doling out concepts and the audience isn't "tuned" in at all.

But imagine you did some groundwork instead, such as:

* Preliminary sessions. This could be a tiny document of three to five pages, and soundbites of, say, three to five minutes. Or video of two to three minutes. Or even a longer session of 20 minutes to an hour. Obviously this would be on the topic you're going to cover, or some related topic of extreme value to the audience.

* Sending out an agenda of what you were going to cover. This would show you were prepared, and, in a way, give the audience bullet points. People read bullet points. Plus, bullet points are mini-teasers. They cause the attendees to get all curious about what will be covered at the event, while giving them a decent outline of what to expect. This not only reduces the intimidation but also increases the eagerness to attend.

* Giving the client a "must read" document before the event. This can't be your ego on paper. This document should be the equivalent of a report (about four to six pages at most). It must have graphics and text - not text alone. And the document needs to have a decent chunk of what you're going to speak about.

But if you give them all of these things in advance, why would they show up to hear you speak?

Here's the answer. You have a very clear understanding of your material. Your audience doesn't know it as well as you think they do. In fact, in many cases they're looking for you to bring that clarity in your presentation.

When they read all the information, it rarely clarifies things in great detail. When they see a video, read the text, read the must-read information, all they're really doing is building layers in their brain. They're getting a much better understanding of what you are trying to get across, and are then looking for you to clarify the concepts even further.

Of course some speakers do the complete opposite. They seek to confuse. So they speak fast. They reveal nothing. They pepper their speeches with lots of bullet points to create the factor of uncertainty and therefore a need for their products and services.

But just as confusion causes increase in sales, so does consumption. The more you listen to Sting's songs, the more you'll want him to do another rendition of Roxanne or Every Breath You Take. The more you're familiar with his work, the more you're relaxed and it's actually easy for Sting to sell you different versions, even a new album altogether.

I create "advance material" for every event I possibly can.

When I speak at big events, I make sure that they get an audio or two, notes, and also a must-read document. If we're doing a workshop or course, I now make sure all the attendees get all (yes, all) the notes and audio well in advance. When we have teleconference calls, every call is preceded by a clear agenda in the notes and the audio.

No matter what we do, we always get the audience to learn the "tunes", the "lyrics" or at least be able to hum the song. And contrary to what you may believe, this consumption policy boosts your credibility beyond your wildest imagination. And if you're only looking for profit, there's good news for you too. You will sell far more if you use this method than just using the shock and awe method of showing up and presenting.

So right away, you need to:

* Send out preliminary goodies in the form of audio/text/video.

* Send out the agenda for the event, with bullet points and detail.

* Send out a "must-read" document of less than 10 pages.

This alone will make your presentation far better than most, and will make your events highly sought after.

And the proof? Better sales, better rapport with the audience, better respect between audience and speaker.

And as you look to the front you'll see the sight that every top artist knows so well: you'll see a sea of cigarette lighters glowing as the audience sings along to your "song" in chorus.
Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and an international author and trainer.
www.psychotactics.com