Ever feel you’re losing your audience? Or have you ever seen a speaker who is merrily going through their presentation without realising that the audience is a little bored or disconnected?
I believe the solution is to really engage them by trying to notice your audience’s activity and behaviour, and responding to it.
As a stand-up comic, I feel I developed this skill (or indulged this ‘busy’ part of my brain) at every gig; I had my material, but I knew – as every comic does – that finding something in the audience could be the magic, spontaneous moment that really lights up everyone’s imagination, including mine.
I confess to sometimes being easily distracted, but it is in fact being in an alert, ‘noticing’ mode that lends my interactions a far greater level of engagement.
However, there is an important caveat here: noticing someone who looks bored can throw you off, confirming an illogical fear that the whole audience isn’t interested. As soon as you see something like this, check if it’s isolated (if it is, they may be safe to ignore). If there is more than one person who seems bored, then jump right in and ask for their thoughts on what you’re talking about. If you’re bold like me, then you might point out – without ego or judgement – that they seem a little disinterested. You may find that actually it’s OK, and that they’re just shattered from <relatable experience> which you can leverage to create a connection, or they have a <genuine, unbiased objection> that you can address there and then, to reinforce your credibility.
This awareness is simply being ‘present’, or ‘being in the moment’. I posted recently about being in the moment for your own calmness and mental health, but doing it while speaking lends you this fantastic additional benefit of enabling significant, spontaneous engagement, with any audience, of any size.
As will all the exciting speaking tips I post here, I think the best way to implement and strengthen this skill is to practise it as often as possible!
Related post: (https://lnkd.in/eyEjWbi3)
(photo by Jason Leung on unsplash – incidentally, this image looks like it’s on the High Line in Manhattan; I’ve been there and it’s amazing – LOTS of people to notice)