Your audience is not just a list of job titles

Go beyond the org chart!

A meeting brief that describes the audience as N-2, LT, senior managers, affiliates, or HCPs is useful. But it's not enough.

Designing a meeting or presentation without your audience in mind is like addressing a love letter:

"To whom it may concern"

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It might be technically correct and reach the right inbox, but it is unlikely to make anyone feel that the event's content was meant for them.

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Too often, the brief describes the audience like an org chart!

Useful? Yes

Enough? No

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A job title doesn't tell you how someone will show up. Do they arrive curious, sceptical, energetic, tired, bored? All our valid emotions. Do we consider what they need to understand, what they are worried about, what they already know, or what they are expected to do afterwards?

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This is where event design begins:

/ Who matters most?

/ What does their world look like now?

/ What do they need to take away?

/ Who will carry the message afterwards?

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Delete the "To whom it may concern" approach, and start thinking "Dear...."

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Designing events for real people is what turns a meeting into engagement, influence and impact.

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