When interacting with the audience during a presentation you need to be able to?

You can tell when an audience has stopped listening to you during a presentation. Phones come out, and attendees surreptitiously text underneath the table. Instead of leaning forward and nodding along with your points, they begin slouching or tapping their feet. The more brazen may even start whispering to one another.

As a speaker, it’s dispiriting when you feel you’re trying to convey important information and your audience has obviously lost interest. But your only chance at being heard is finding a way —somehow — to re-engage them.

As a professional speaker who has given more than 300 talks over the past half-decade, I’ve addressed plenty of audiences under adverse conditions, from the serious (employees smarting from news of an impending reorg) to the banal (fighting to be heard over the clank of silverware during a lunchtime speaking slot). Here are four strategies that have helped me regain control of the room.

First, one of my favorite techniques for reclaiming attention is to move to a different part of the stage. Many presenters — hemmed in by the standard stage setup — default to delivering their remarks from behind a podium. This often feels safer to novice speakers because they have a place to stash their notes and don’t feel as exposed. But it means missing out on a huge opportunity to leverage your physical presence.

If you’ve been planted in one spot, in front of one part of the audience, you can reengage the rest of the group by moving to the opposite side of the stage. (Whether out of surprise or politeness, your sudden proximity will force attendees to focus on you.) If you’re not on a stage, you can take this even further and walk around the room. You don’t want to overdo this maneuver, but used judiciously it keeps audience members guessing where you’ll go next, which means their eyes are trained on you.

Another strategy is to speed up — or slow down — the pace of your remarks. Everyone knows that speaking in a monotone voice is deadly. But a corollary mistake is that, even if your voice has plenty of range, speakers often use the same rate of speech all the time.

Fast speakers barrage their audiences, slow speakers keep drawling, and audience members — confident they know what to expect — starts to fidget. But when you deliberately change speed, they take note: What’s different here? Why does this part sound distinct? And they’ll once again focus on your content.

Lowering your voice or pausing can have the same effect. When I want an audience to focus on a key point, I’ll deliberately lower my voice to a near-whisper, so they need to focus intently in order to understand what’s going on. I may even pause in silence for several beats, to the point where they’re itching to hear the conclusion. This is especially effective if you stop after a rhetorical question. “Winning 40% market share might sound unattainable,” you could say. “So how do we do it?” A well-timed pause adds just enough suspense that your listeners can’t help but anticipate your answer.

So far, we’ve discussed physical techniques for snapping the audience back to attention. But these will only have a limited effect if they’re zoning out because your material is too dry or technical. The same presentation that’s perfect for the engineering department may be way too detailed for the broader leadership team, for instance. Thus, a final technique is to reconnect with the crowd by introducing a story or analogy that illustrates your point.

Even if your audience isn’t versed in particular technical specifications, they can still understand the difference between, say, a regional Amtrak versus a high-speed train. Citing a real-world parallel will help you make your point in a way everyone grasps (if investing an additional $1 million in R&D will get you “high-speed” performance, that may well be a compelling proposition).

Effective speakers ensure that audiences are actually paying attention to their remarks. If you truly want to inform, educate, or inspire people, you must to learn how to capture their attention and re-engage it when necessary. By following these strategies, you can recover more quickly from interruptions or distractions and ensure your message is far more likely to be heard.

Picture this. You are immersed in your presentation, delivering every line of your script with precision and accuracy, when you notice someone in the front row yawning. You spot another member of the audience lazily scrolling through his phone as you go through your presentation. The nerves start to set in as you ask yourself – how do I re-capture their attention?

We will share the good news first. You don’t need to aim to secure a 100% attention rate through every single second of your presentation. Your audience members will likely, at times, be distracted by various factors (e.g. an urgent phone call) in any case. The challenge instead is to be aware of these changes in your audience’s focus and use the information to manage your presentation style throughout the presentation itself.

To help you along, let us share three techniques on how you can become that active presenter and build a dynamic and engaging style!

Technique #1: Audience Analysis – Information Gathering

Before placing yourself in the situation of having to adjust your presentation style during the presentation itself, one efficient method is to conduct an Audience Analysis before your presentation itself. Find out the background, taste or interest of your audience members to tailor your presentation content. While your audience is unlikely to consist of one homogenous group, you may still want to ensure that your presentation content is relevant to them.

Audience Analysis may not necessarily have to involve checking in with your audience directly before the presentation (e.g. through a survey or e-mail). Instead, the exercise can be achieved by putting yourself in the shoes of your audience members and tailoring your content accordingly. Ask yourself a fundamental starting question – what would I want to listen to if I am part of this audience? By starting with this mindset, you will ensure that you will have your audience’s interest in mind!

Technique #2: Audience Interaction – Keep Gathering!

The information-gathering process does not stop once your presentation starts. Instead, the Audience Analysis phase continues well into your presentation, as your audience reacts to your presentation content and delivery. While pre-emptive analysis is always preferred, it is never too late to salvage your presentation and tailor it based on your audience reaction. We shall refer to this as the Audience Interaction phase.

Audience Interaction is often talked about from the angle of its body language / engaging effects. Most communicators neglect the information-gathering aspect of audience interaction. By interacting with and being aware of your audience, you will continue to keep them as the centre of your attention (instead of a selfish fixation on your content or your presentation!). Some methods of Audience Interaction include conducting check-in points (e.g. asking questions to see if your audience is following you) or including discussion elements that would allow you to move around and interact directly with individual members of the audience.

Technique #3: Fluid Flow – How do I Change?

How should I change then? What if the audience notices? The general principle for changing your presentation style to suit your audience is to go for subtle, limited changes that do not affect the smoothness of your presentation. Instead of skipping multiple slides at one go (“I shall skip the next few slides since all of you are experts in this field”), you can summarise and reduce the time allocated for those slides. Instead of giving an extended, convoluted definition of a complex topic, give a one-line summary to an audience who already know the topic.

For presentation delivery, the same principle applies. Having a more engaging, energetic and exciting presentation style may work to energise your audience members. On the other hand, a controlled, professional delivery style may be used where appropriate (e.g. in a formal setting). It is crucial regardless to maintain flexibility in your delivery, to manoeuvre between different audience types.

Final Thought:

Preparation is Persistent

The ability to take in information from the audience and adjust your presentation accordingly is an active and tiring process. It underlies one of the difficulties a communicator is likely to face. More than just picking up speaking techniques and tips, this involves a shift in your mindset – especially towards your audience. Our final advice to you is to always look out for change opportunities – prepare yourself to adjust your presentation content or style based on your audience members. They will definitely appreciate your efforts to place them at the centre of your attention!

Need a refresher? WATCH: “Here’s Why Being Interesting is NOT Enough for Your Audience | #SpeakingTips 004”



By the way…

If you’re keen to take your public speaking & presentation skills (either business/corporate presentation or kids in-class presentation) to the next level so that you may public speak and present with flair and charisma, feel free to check out our offerings below!

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