When I do speaking gigs, I open with a few questions to get to know the audience. I’m looking for a couple of key demographic numbers to gauge how much to focus on and tune different themes in any given talk. I ask
How many are self-identified Apple people? (Typography jokes = ok.)
How many are engineers? (Programming jokes = ok.)
How many MBAs are in the audience? (Spreadsheet ridicule = ok.)
Lastly, if the talk has anything to do with leadership, I ask, “How many of you are managers?” Hands raised Then I ask, “How many of you are leaders?” Confused looks… and some of the same folks ...
