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UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE
“It is not about impressing your audience, it’s about connecting with them.”
– John C. Maxwell
In 350BC, after a period of observation of the very best speakers (the naturally eloquent) around at the time, Aristotle identified the three key elements of successful communication.
He said that the three most important elements were the character of the speaker, the logic of the argument, and the emotional receptivity of the audience. He referred to them as ETHOS, LOGOS and PATHOS.
They are more easily understood as the Messenger, the Message, and the Audience.
All three of these are key, but the most important of the three by far is the audience. It is the audience who decides whether your attempt at influence has been successful or not.
Unfortunately, most people never get around to thinking about the audience and what they might need, where their pain points are, what problems they face, or what goals they strive for. They never think about these things because they are too busy thinking about whether the audience will like them or not. They are too busy thinking about how to impress the audience.
ARISTOTLE IDENTIFIED THE 3 KEY ASPECTS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
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