Donald Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (Harper Collins Leadership, 2025), discusses making your client the hero of your interaction. You are the guide who leads them to the solution to their challenge.

This is directly applicable when you speak to your audience. Do you know their challenges, and do you lead them to the solution to their challenges through your speaking?

This article outlines three ways to make your audience the hero.

Frame Your Presentation Around Your Audience’s Journey

You identify your audience’s current state, challenges, and goals.

The message is structured not as a monologue of expertise but as a journey your audience is invited to embark on. You become the catalyst for your audience’s transformation, not the center of attention.

Below are some tactics you can use to frame your reference around your audience’s journey:

• Start with your audience’s pain point or aspiration. This could be a pain point (frustration, inefficiency, confusion) or an aspiration (growth, success, mastery).

• Some examples are: “You’re overwhelmed by complex data and unsure how to communicate it clearly.” and “You want to be a more confident speaker and lead technical discussions with ease.”

• Use second-person language (“you,” “your journey,” “your success”). Describe their current challenge, desire, or goal — not your expertise. Paint the stages they are experiencing (or will experience).

• Structure your language around their progression: “First, you might feel stuck…” “Then you discover…” “Finally, you achieve…” When you offer strategies, lessons, or advice, phrase it as if they are doing the action: “You can apply this by…” “When you take this step…” “You’ll notice the difference when…”

• End with a call to action that invites your audience to take the next step. Briefly summarize the transformation or insight your audience has gained during your presentation.

• Emphasize how far they have come on their journey, using second-person language (“You’ve seen how…”, “You’ve learned that…”). Present the Next Step as Their Opportunity

• Frame the call to action as a natural continuation of their journey, not just a task. Make it invitational, not demanding — position it as their chance to succeed.

So, framing your presentation around your audience’s journey will make your audience the hero.

Acting as a guide, not the star will also.

Act as a Guide, Not the Star

You will foster trust, relatability, and inspiration if you position yourself as a helpful guide (rather than a flawless expert).

Drawing on Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” framework, the speaker’s role mirrors the mentor archetype—like Gandalf to Frodo or Yoda to Luke—equipping the hero (your audience) for their journey.

Below are some tactics you can use to act like the guide, not the star:

• Share lessons from failures or past mistakes to build a connection. Be genuine and modest when talking about mistakes. Emphasize the struggle and the learning, not a “look how great I am now” ending.

• Show vulnerability — it signals authenticity and makes you relatable, not untouchable.

• Emphasize learning and encouragement over instruction. Invite discovery; don’t dictate solutions.

• Instead of telling your audience exactly what to do, frame ideas as discoveries they can make. Use language like “Consider trying…” or “One thing you might explore is…”

• Focus on curiosity and growth, not perfection. Position mistakes, questions, and experimentation as signs of strength, not weakness. Cheer on their efforts, not just their outcomes—show that progress matters more than getting it “right” the first time.

• Provide frameworks, tools, or roadmaps that your audience can apply. Offer simple, actionable frameworks. Instead of being overwhelmed by advice, give your audience a clear framework—something memorable and usable.

• Break complex ideas into steps, stages, or pillars that they can immediately apply. Position the tools as “their” resources, not “your” genius. Present your tool or roadmap as something designed for them to own, not just admire.

• Use inclusive language like “This is for you to shape your success.” or “You can adapt this to fit your journey.” Map the road, but let them drive. Show the pathway clearly, but emphasize that they are the ones steering. Create a sense of empowerment and choice, not dependency.

So, framing your presentation around your audience’s journey and acting as the guide, not the star, will make your audience the hero.

Acknowledging and celebrating your audience’s strengths and potential will also make your audience the hero.

Acknowledge and Celebrate Audience Strengths and Potential

Recognizing your audience’s achievements, skills, or potential reinforces their role as capable heroes. This builds confidence and a sense of purpose.

Great speakers reflect their audience’s greatness, helping them believe they can do more.

Below are some tactics you can use to acknowledge and celebrate audience strengths and potential:

• Include stories or examples of past audiences’ successes. Highlight examples of past audience members, clients, or peers who faced similar challenges and succeeded. Emphasize that the success came from their actions, persistence, or qualities, not just from following advice.

• Focus your storytelling on qualities your audience shares, such as courage, resilience, creativity, or leadership. Reinforce that they already possess the seeds of success.

• Use second-person language: “You have that same drive.” or “Just like them, you have everything you need to start.” Create a future-oriented bridge: “Imagine what you could achieve with that same commitment.”

• Ask questions that highlight their capabilities or progress. Ask reflective questions about their growth. Prompt them to recognize how much they already know, have learned, or have accomplished. This builds confidence and validates their effort. Use affirming language: “You already have what it takes…”

So, the following three items will make your audience the hero: (1) frame your presentation around your audience’s journey, (2) act as the guide, not the star, and (3) acknowledge and celebrate your audience’s strengths and potential.

Make your audience the hero, and you will be a hit.

Assume the hero role with your audience, and you will “crash and burn.”

Call to Action

• Become the catalyst for your audience’s transformation, not the center of attention

• Act as the guide with your audience, and you win. Act as the hero with your audience, and you lose

• Focus your storytelling on qualities your audience shares — such as courage, resilience, creativity, or leadership

References

• Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte (John Wiley & Sons, 2010)

• Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, by Donald Miller (Harper Collins Business, 2025)

• Connect, Then Lead, Harvard Business Review article (Cuddy, Kohut, Neffinger, 2013) shows that warmth, affirmation, and empowerment foster a stronger speaker-audience connection:

  
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