How to Give the Audience Advice
Public speaking isn’t only about how you deliver the message, it’s also about the content.
One type of content is advice.
Your audience is in a certain spot in their life right now.
Let’s say they are unsuccessful.
Their desire is to be successful.
They perceive you to be a successful person.
How can you create a bridge between where they are and where they need to go?
- Unsuccessful -> successful.
That’s all advice is about.
We are in the game of creating bridges.
However, many public speakers make a cardinal sin.
They don’t assess where the audience is.
When you have no clue where the audience is, then you will come off as preachy.
The Purpose of Advice
The purpose of advice is to give someone clarity.
That’s not how most people give advice though.
They give advice with the purpose of hearing themselves talk.
Many people have the “recruiter” mindset.
Where they advise others to recruit them to their line of thinking, rather than trying to improve the other person’s life.
Just because a speaker started a business doesn’t automatically mean the audience should too.
You need to see where someone is in their life so you can give them clarity.
It’s important to understand this step.
See where your audience is!
How to Understand the Audience
A lot of times, people will tell you where they are in their lives.
During public speaking, the host will tell you about the audience.
They’ll say:
‘The audience is in an uncertain stage of their life. They want to start a business, but are unsure, unconfident, and don’t know how to take the next steps.’’
The more clarity you have of what they want, the more clarity you can give them.
Take some time to see where they are in their life.
This step will save you tons of time and will influence your tonality.
Rather than coming off as preachy, you will come off as caring.
Where Does the Audience Want to Go?
You don’t just want to stop at finding out where the audience is.
They came to you for a reason!
You also want to see where they want to go.
Let’s use your little brother as an example.
He comes to you for girlfriend advice.
He thinks that his girlfriend may be the one, but he’s not sure.
So, you currently see his state:
- Confusion about his girlfriend.
To properly give him advice, you need to know what he really wants.
So, you ask:
‘Are you trying to settle down or are you trying to experiment around?’
After much talking, he says:
‘I’m only 21, I don’t know if I can commit right now.’
It’s clear this guy is too young to be in a long-term relationship and get married.
Maybe he’ll decide to get married anyway.
However, your advice is:
‘If you’re not sure about settling down, then you need to be clear about that. Because by the way you’re describing your girl, she thinks she’s about to get married. You need to let her know now is not the time, so you don’t waste her time. End it.’
On the other hand, if your little brother confidently told you that he wants a long-term relationship, and that he hates fooling around, then your advice would have been drastically different.
It would’ve been:
‘Settle down, kiddo.’
This section isn’t meant to tell you what advice to give.
It’s simply to show you that giving advice isn’t only about seeing where someone is.
It’s also about assessing where someone wants to go.
Their ideal destination will drastically alter the advice you give them.
What Do They Know Anyways?
After reading the last section, you may think:
‘I’m not going to tell my brother to dump his girlfriend. I don’t care if he’s coming off as unsure about settling down at age 21. I’m just going to tell him to settle down. What does he know anyways??’
Plenty of times, when we are giving advice, we have so much conviction about the topic, that we don’t care where the other person wants to go.
We view them as ignorant in this field and we will give our advice anyway.
A lot of consultants are like this.
You may take this route with certain topics.
As a speaker, it’s a judgment call on when you want to take a strong stance on a topic.
You know your audience is doubtful about a particular destination, but you proceed forward with that destination anyway.
You go from simply giving them advice to also shaking the doubt from their minds.
Are you someone who factors in the audience or not?
Recap on How to Give the Audience Advice
Here’s a recap of what we discussed.
Traditional Path:
- Assess where the audience currently is.
- See where they want to go.
- Give them advice to take them from 1 to 2.
Rogue Path:
- Assess where the audience currently is.
- Tell them where to go.
The first path is the gentle path.
You’re listening, absorbing, calculating, then advising
The second path is the rogue path.
You’re listening, then advising with force.
Depending on the subject, you may take path 1 or 2.
Advising the Crowd
Public speaking is potent because you speak at scale.
A lot of times, you will create a talk that alters someone’s life forever.
Advice comes in all shapes and sizes.
- Relationship advice.
- Business advice.
- Money management advice.
You have knowledge.
Your audience is confused.
The purpose of your advice is to use your knowledge to remove their confusion.
Look out of the audience rather than only wanting to hear yourself talk.
A lot of people aren’t giving advice, they are recruiting.
Their thought process is:
‘I did it, so you must too!’
While someone who gives great advice, thinks:
‘I did it, but I’m not sure yet if this this the perfect path for you. Let me find out more about you.’
For more insights into public speaking, check out the Speaking Wizard eBook
– ArmaniTalks 
