How to Engage Any Audience From Any “Stage” with David Doerrier |

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“All the world is a stage” is very true, especially in the business world. By becoming an engaging presenter you can succeed from sales meetings to training presentations to speeches. I discuss how to do that in this episode.

Today, we have a game-changer in the world of communication—David D. Doerrier. With a background spanning radio broadcasting, stage acting, corporate training, and even playing Santa Claus, David specializes in helping subject matter experts, business leaders, and sales professionals transform their technical expertise into engaging, high-impact presentations.

He had to learn how to get his information to stick with his audiences, which he has done successfully.

David also comes from being very shy and introverted to becoming comfortable and gregarious on stage. He discovered that one way to do that is by making it more about the audience and less about him. That’s a perspective shift from many speakers’ viewpoints.

It’s Not About You; It IS All About Your Audience

The first thing you have to do is start with your objectives in mind. Let’s use a training session as an example. Ask yourself, “At the end of this training session what are the things that my audience needs to walk away with and understand better?” Not only understanding it better but at what level do they need to understand it? Do they need to be an expert when they leave the training? Do they just need to have some knowledge when they leave the training?

So first it’s understanding what the objectives are that you need to achieve. So, now again, that’s all about them. It has nothing to do with you or your background or what you think you need to teach. It’s first understanding what it is that they need and what it is that they want to get out of your training.

Your “Stage” Could be Anywhere

Many people think they don’t “do” any public speaking because they don’t get up in front of a room on a stage. When David says “engage from any stage” what he means by “any stage” is it could be anywhere. It could be on a Zoom call, on a podcast, it could be a sales call, it could be a workshop, a physical stage in front of a room full of people and more.

What platform or what process are you using to communicate with your audience? Are you mentoring someone? Are you training someone? Are you selling to people? The techniques that David talks about can be used in any of those situations, when you’re talking to one person or hundreds of people.

Sales Blends with Training

A caveat here is that David is not a sales coach. However, what he does applies to sales people to connect better with their audiences. The processes that he has come from his background as an instructional designer. How can you create material that is going to stick in the mind of your audience?

The more he worked with it, the more he saw that anybody (including salespeople) could benefit from those types of principles. In some ways there is an overlap with training and sales. Because as a salesperson you must educate your audience enough for them to say “Yes!” to purchasing your offering. Whereas if you’re training a group of people you’ve got to educate them enough, so they say “Okay, I see how I can use these new strategies”.

The sales process is first understanding your audience, the same thing as with training. You first must understand who your audience is. What is their learning style? What is their buying style? And then adjusting to that scenario.

Preparing for Your Presentations

It’s a mix of interviews before you give the presentation and figuring it out on the fly during your presentation. There are questionnaires that can go out beforehand to help you evaluate your audience. Let’s use a training example, certainly in that situation. You can reach out to the organizer and get an idea of the make-up of the group and try to get as much information about them as possible beforehand. In a sales situation, just like in a training situation, you must ask questions up front. What brings you in today? What about this product or topic attracted you here today? And so on.

He does the same thing in training; he asks a lot of questions up front. One question David asks up front is “Why are we here?” What purpose, what objective, what problem are we here to solve? All of you received an invitation that attracted you enough to say “Ok, I’ll show up”. So, now that you’ve shown up what was it that you read that made you show up?

It’s all about learning about your audience and giving them what they believe they need.

We also dive into topics such as:

How to plan for a successful presentation when you can’t poll the audience ahead of time.
Why you need to start with your key objective in mind.
How to be flexible enough in your presentation to change focus if you start to lose your audience’s attention to get to your ultimate objective.
Examples of how to set objectives for sales presentations and training sessions ahead of time.
Why your audience wants you to be successful.
How to deal with anxiety when you’re on your “stage”.
Tips for mentally preparing yourself for presentations.
The “A.B.C.’s” of the foundation you need to build to be successful at public speaking.
How to respond to and rebound from mistakes on the stage.
The five core communication skills and how to best embrace them.
The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to engage any audience from any “stage”.

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

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About My Guest

David D. Doerrier is a seasoned presentation skills coach and communication strategist who helps business leaders, technical professionals, and sales teams transform complex ideas into engaging, audience-friendly presentations. With a background in radio broadcasting, stage acting, corporate training, instructional design, and even portraying Santa Claus, David brings a unique blend of storytelling, performance, and engagement techniques to every session. His approach is rooted in the 8 Principles of Engagement, ensuring that every presentation captivates, connects, and drives action.

Whether you’re a subject matter expert struggling to simplify your message, a sales professional looking to boost conversions, or a leader aiming to inspire, David provides practical, results-driven coaching that elevates confidence and impact. He knows he’s not the cheapest coach out there—but he’s also not the most expensive. What he offers is a premium experience tailored to professionals who are ready to level up their communication skills and make every word count.