Quick Toolkit to Engage Your Audience
Let's face it.
People's minds wander.
With all of the electronic gadgetry and social media out there now, many of us are developing the attention spans of fleas, myself not excluded.
So if you're giving a talk that lasts more than 20 or 30 minutes, how do you keep your audience's attention on you? Yes, the topic has to be relevant to them.
Yes, you must pepper your content with engaging stories and anecdotes.
Yes, you must move on to a new subtopic, story, or activity every 10 minutes or less.
If you've been subscribed to my newsletter awhile, you should have that all drummed into your head by now.
That being said and done, sometimes you'll still have distracted people in your audience, especially if you're giving a longer talk, teleseminar, or workshop.
What then? How do you reel them back in? Well, here's a quick toolkit to bring audience members back to attention in a just a few seconds.
(To clarify, the content below is not a repeat of my special report offered on the top right corner of this page.
That reveals how to handle disruptive audience members without losing your cool, or as we'd say at the dojo, without losing your center.
) The "toolkit" below will bring the attention of quietly distracted people back to you, the speaker.
They've come in very handy for me during my 10 years in the classroom, and they can do the same for you.
Learn some audience member's names and use them.
If you're in a smaller room, ask your audience to wear sticky nametags that you can read when you're standing at the front of the room.
If nametags aren't available, introduce yourself to people in the room before your talk and remember their names.
This also works well for building rapport.
Put people's names into your presentation periodically, for example, when you're making a point.
"Have you ever seen a speaker simply read Powerpoint bullets off the screen the entire time? How about you David? [David answers.
] How about you, Sandy?" Note: If you use this tactic, be sure to call on people throughout the room.
First go for the sections of the room where there appears to be someone who needs to be pulled back in, but be sure that you eventually call on all sections of the room.
Otherwise, one section of the room may feel like they're being singled out and the others ignored.
For example, when I was in training, we were instructed to keep a tally of who we called upon how many times and to make sure we didn't call on more boys than girls.
In fact, I'd lose points on evaluations if I called on too many boys during a presentation or called on only a few people multiple times.
Maintaining an awareness of my individual audience interactions and their locations around the room while presenting was a powerful way to ensure whole audience engagement.
An additional note: if someone appears completely distracted to the point where calling on them might be completely embarrassing, call on the person sitting beside them.
Give your audience a "get with it" message.
This doesn't have to be negative, and they come in quite handy with longer presentations.
For example, "Ok, everybody.
Let's get some energy pumping," or, "Come on, I feel you fading here.
Let's go.
Take a deep breath, stand up, move, then sit down and let's do it.
" Circulate around the room.
Play with your proximity to your audience.
If the space allows and your audience will still be able to see you, walk around the room while you're speaking at some time during your presentation.
This will perk up a drowsy audience quickly and bring them to attention like nobody's business as they see you approaching.
Use vocal variety not only to make an important point, but to bring them back fully.
This is especially useful in teleseminars, where physical movement isn't an option.
Quiet down, use a pregnant pause, raise your voice in excitement (not to the point where you're hurting their ears).
Try experimenting with this a few times during your next presentation.
Think about expanding your voice throughout the entire room to grab them, then retracting it so that they'll be on the edge of their seats, straining to hear what you say.
If you do quiet down when making an important point, make sure you repeat it so that everyone can hear you.
Note: for teleseminars, employ keep listening phrases whenever you reasonably can.
Body language, body language.
Again, movement while you're speaking grabs your audience's attention as well.
Constant pacing back and forth across the stage or the front of the room will become a distraction, but feel free to take a few steps and release some energy while presenting.
Use your hands and arms to make a point.
One more thing to remember when trying out these tools on your audience: have fun with them! All of the tactics described above can be received in a positive, playful way by your audience, or they can be received as a reprimand if you deliver them defensively, or with negativity.
Never underestimate the importance of your TONE, which is wholly in your control and sets the mood for the entire room.
People's minds wander.
With all of the electronic gadgetry and social media out there now, many of us are developing the attention spans of fleas, myself not excluded.
So if you're giving a talk that lasts more than 20 or 30 minutes, how do you keep your audience's attention on you? Yes, the topic has to be relevant to them.
Yes, you must pepper your content with engaging stories and anecdotes.
Yes, you must move on to a new subtopic, story, or activity every 10 minutes or less.
If you've been subscribed to my newsletter awhile, you should have that all drummed into your head by now.
That being said and done, sometimes you'll still have distracted people in your audience, especially if you're giving a longer talk, teleseminar, or workshop.
What then? How do you reel them back in? Well, here's a quick toolkit to bring audience members back to attention in a just a few seconds.
(To clarify, the content below is not a repeat of my special report offered on the top right corner of this page.
That reveals how to handle disruptive audience members without losing your cool, or as we'd say at the dojo, without losing your center.
) The "toolkit" below will bring the attention of quietly distracted people back to you, the speaker.
They've come in very handy for me during my 10 years in the classroom, and they can do the same for you.
Learn some audience member's names and use them.
If you're in a smaller room, ask your audience to wear sticky nametags that you can read when you're standing at the front of the room.
If nametags aren't available, introduce yourself to people in the room before your talk and remember their names.
This also works well for building rapport.
Put people's names into your presentation periodically, for example, when you're making a point.
"Have you ever seen a speaker simply read Powerpoint bullets off the screen the entire time? How about you David? [David answers.
] How about you, Sandy?" Note: If you use this tactic, be sure to call on people throughout the room.
First go for the sections of the room where there appears to be someone who needs to be pulled back in, but be sure that you eventually call on all sections of the room.
Otherwise, one section of the room may feel like they're being singled out and the others ignored.
For example, when I was in training, we were instructed to keep a tally of who we called upon how many times and to make sure we didn't call on more boys than girls.
In fact, I'd lose points on evaluations if I called on too many boys during a presentation or called on only a few people multiple times.
Maintaining an awareness of my individual audience interactions and their locations around the room while presenting was a powerful way to ensure whole audience engagement.
An additional note: if someone appears completely distracted to the point where calling on them might be completely embarrassing, call on the person sitting beside them.
Give your audience a "get with it" message.
This doesn't have to be negative, and they come in quite handy with longer presentations.
For example, "Ok, everybody.
Let's get some energy pumping," or, "Come on, I feel you fading here.
Let's go.
Take a deep breath, stand up, move, then sit down and let's do it.
" Circulate around the room.
Play with your proximity to your audience.
If the space allows and your audience will still be able to see you, walk around the room while you're speaking at some time during your presentation.
This will perk up a drowsy audience quickly and bring them to attention like nobody's business as they see you approaching.
Use vocal variety not only to make an important point, but to bring them back fully.
This is especially useful in teleseminars, where physical movement isn't an option.
Quiet down, use a pregnant pause, raise your voice in excitement (not to the point where you're hurting their ears).
Try experimenting with this a few times during your next presentation.
Think about expanding your voice throughout the entire room to grab them, then retracting it so that they'll be on the edge of their seats, straining to hear what you say.
If you do quiet down when making an important point, make sure you repeat it so that everyone can hear you.
Note: for teleseminars, employ keep listening phrases whenever you reasonably can.
Body language, body language.
Again, movement while you're speaking grabs your audience's attention as well.
Constant pacing back and forth across the stage or the front of the room will become a distraction, but feel free to take a few steps and release some energy while presenting.
Use your hands and arms to make a point.
One more thing to remember when trying out these tools on your audience: have fun with them! All of the tactics described above can be received in a positive, playful way by your audience, or they can be received as a reprimand if you deliver them defensively, or with negativity.
Never underestimate the importance of your TONE, which is wholly in your control and sets the mood for the entire room.