Persuasive speaking begins with knowing your audience. Ask the right questions from the beginning of your research, and you will know how to attract and keep your audience.

1. What are they like?
Demographics and psychographics are a great start, but connecting with your audience means understanding them on a personal level. Take a survey, or just sit and chat with someone who is like your audience. This will be vital to the way you develop your presentation.

Take a walk in their shoes and describe what their life looks like each day.

2. Why are they here?
What do they think they’re going to get out of this presentation? Why did they come to hear you? 
Did they have to come and hear what you have to say? Even so, they might not listen unless you give a compelling story or cause. This is your opportunity.

Are they willing participants or mandatory attendees? This is also a bit of a situation analysis.

3. What keeps them up at night?
Everyone has a fear, a pain point, a thorn in the side. Let your audience know you empathize—and offer a solution. Let them know that you need them with you in this cause or campaign. This is their only alternative. Convince them. This is your job.

4. How can you solve their problem?
What’s in it for the audience? How are you going to make their lives better? Persuasion is always about making a better world...keeping the bad guys down. The good guys have to win.

5. What do you want them to do?
Answer the question “so what?" Make sure there’s clear action for your audience to take. If you don't tell them what you expect them to do, then they won't do anything.

6. How can you best reach them?
No, you don't have to serve beer. Ha. You have to anticipate how people are going to react, and reach them where they are.

People vary in how they receive information. This can include the ambiance of the room to the availability 
of materials after the presentation. Give the audience what they want, how they want it.

7. How might they resist?
What will keep them from adopting your message and carrying out your call to action? We must always consider that there may be some if not a lot of resistance. Write down the obstacles.