Are you addressing the unasked questions?
What’s that? Those are the questions within the mind of your listener, (assuming they are listening).
You might say, “If they have a question, they should ask me, and I’ll answer it.” That’s not good enough. You must address the unasked questions if you want them to listen, believe and act accordingly.
The questions vary depending on the relationship with your listener and the purpose of your presentation.
Here is one of the most common questions. This question usually arises when you’ve delivered information. That includes data, numbers, and other facts.
The question is, “So what?”.
Consider this question an automatic response. More than facts. our brain is searching for meaning and relevance. So, what is your point? So, what does that mean? So what?
You might believe that your audience only wants to hear the facts. They only want to hear facts that are relevant and they want to know the relevance.
If you don’t explain the relevance of the facts, they might ignore the facts or create their own meaning, which might not match your intended meaning.
Sometimes, the meaning is obvious, or you want them to reach their own meaning. If you announce, it’s started raining, they might be thinking, “Did I close my car windows?” “Where is my umbrella?” “Maybe the rain will stop by the end of this meeting.” In this case you don’t need to explain the relevance.
If the meaning is critical to the purpose of your presentation, don’t assume that they will reach your desired meaning.
Here are phrases you might use to connect the meaning to the fact:
What that means to you is…
The reason I tell you that is…
The significance of that is…
Or you might voice a rhetorical question before you provide meaning:
Why is that important to you?
How can you use that?
How might this work for you?
Examine your messages and test them with the question, “So what?” Then answer that question for your audience.
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