It was a big deal for me.
Two full days of informing, persuading and inspiring staff in a globally ranked institution to adopt new best practices for improving their presentation skills.
The staffs were drawn from human resources, accounts, and other departments. They were smart and driven professionals who wanted to learn.
After receiving the list of participants, I realised that the content needed to be informative, relevant and useful. I also decided that the sessions would be highly engaging so that learning objectives could be reinforced. I thus intended to ‘coax’ participants to action.
I worked on the structure. For the programme to be relevant, participants would be required to practise what they learn. So attendees were informed that on the second day, each person would give a 10-minute presentation that would be recorded and sent to the speaker afterwards. However, each presentation will first be analysed in class by other participants and then by me.
After imagining myself as a member of the audience, I narrowed my material to address critical themes. I also decided to deliver the content in different modes – lectures, videos, group discussions, and class participation.
I then rehearsed my delivery.
Midway through the programme on the first day, the feedback was enthusiastic and reassuring. By the end of the second day, resounding applause accompanied the touching note of appreciation one participant gave on behalf of all attendees.
After the intensive programme, I noted that the experience was rewarding because I was fortunate to connect meaningfully with the audience.
As a communications trainer, facilitator and coach, I realised one truth:
The audience is everything.
Get participants to feel that they could achieve great things by following your recommendations; inspire them to action and your work will be complete.
Below are five foolproof techniques to form a deep connection with your audience for optimal results:
1) Begin strong
Know that from the moment you walk into the room, you are judged.
Now you can enter the room confidently and use the right body language, such as smiling, to signal that you’re a friend and can be trusted. But how you begin your session will determine whether your audience members will be treated to an interesting experience, or whether they’ll be subjected to a boring programme that will drain their energy.
I began with a startling statement and supported it with a credible statistic. I gave the audience no time for distractions. In the first 90 seconds, with my loud tone and revealing statement, the audience members became attentive.
Do the same. Your listeners’ brains aren’t impressed with the boring and the predictable.
Command the room: start strong with a story, a statistic, a quote, a shocking statement, a question, a physical prop, or with anything (unpredictable) that prompts your audience to become hooked on you.
A captive audience is an immediate confidence-booster. Use those precious first minutes to grab attention and generate goodwill.
2) Be passionate
Someone once quipped that you cannot expect your audience to become more passionate about your content than you.
I wholeheartedly concur.
If you lack enthusiasm or excitement for your programme, seminar, keynote, presentation or whatever you’re championing, your lack of energy will dampen your performance. Your listeners will quickly disengage, and you’d be stuck with an uncooperative audience until the bitter end.
Your job is to deliver your points with an urgency that will be impossible to ignore. Here’s the easy part: when you believe in your message and are passionate about it, your nonverbal communication will accentuate your credibility. So have fun while you impart wisdom. One technique that works well is to vary your tone when speaking earnestly.
Remember that pauses and gestures also add drama and ‘flavour’ to your style. Moreover, using open palms at navel length, maintaining eye contact, and moving closer to the audience at appropriate times will create undeniable rapport.
Cement that connection with your audience with your passionate delivery.
3) Share your stories
One of the themes we discussed in class was the importance of storytelling. After providing some insights from research about the effects of storytelling in public speaking, I threw in personal anecdotes. I also encouraged participants to share their experiences or those of people they knew. Throughout the sessions, we all learned from the stories everyone contributed.
Stories are powerful tools to influence people. Neuroscience explains that oxytocin, a neurochemical, is released in the brain when we’re exposed to good narratives. This chemical is linked to kindness and elicits co-operation. Other studies reveal from functional MRIs that stories cause the listener’s brain to ‘sync’ with the storyteller’s so that both experience the same emotions. Thus, when you tell powerful stories, you have the opportunity to make your listeners feel the way you do – kind of like having a superpower. As a result, they become favourably disposed to you.
Successful stories follow a predictable format: ordinary person (hero) embarks on a journey; hero faces a challenge; the challenge escalates; hero takes action, and finally hero overcomes and becomes successful. However, in my two-day programme, some accounts didn’t follow that rigid structure. Nonetheless, because there was something to be learned from each story that was shared, participants were encouraged by different perspectives and learned from each other.
A popular opinion shared by professional speakers is that it’s boring to be the hero of your own story. Therefore, dare to be vulnerable when sharing your journey and stress where you ‘failed’. Explain the lessons you learnt from your missteps, and highlight actions your listeners could take in similar circumstances to turn the tide in their favour. By doing so, your audience members would believe that they too could overcome difficulties. No one relates to a speaker who appears to be successful in every way, and whose success is unattainable to the average person.
You’d stir your audience with your honesty.
4) Involve your audience & vary your material
A one-person show, no matter how interesting, soon loses its allure.
Ideally, after every 10 minutes, help ‘reboot’ the brains of your listeners by introducing short ‘breaks’, one of which could be getting them involved in some activity. Invite them to share their opinions, introduce some group work, and actively listen to their contributions. Assure them that everyone’s opinion is important because iron sharpens iron.
Getting the audience involved throughout your seminars and training programmes is a good way to gauge whether your core message has resonated. You can also correct misconceptions and strengthen your points. Audience engagement is one of my favourite sections because of the fun element. Not only is the bond with your listeners strengthened but you’d also feed off their energy, and vice-versa.
Varying your material also sustains interest in your content, particularly for half-day or full-day sessions. In my programme, we watched two TED videos and discussed learning points. We also had individual presentations and group discussions. Regular questions and interesting accounts from the participants kept sessions humorous, engaging and informative.
Your audience is the reason you were invited to speak or to deliver your session. Therefore, prioritise the participants’ need to be heard and accepted, and address every concern to the best of your ability.
It has always been, and will always be about your audience – not you.
5) End with a clear call-to-action
Good speakers, presenters, and trainers know that they must never end their sessions with the question-and-answer (Q&A) segment.
Here’s why:
If there was one hostile questioner or a few in your audience who derailed the Q&A period, you could regain control with your persuasive closing remarks. You simply don’t want the last memory of your programme to be you at your most flustered moment.
Even if you had a fantastic Q&A session, you still need to finish in a memorable way by including a clear call-to-action.
So after recapping, slowly stress the action you want the attendees to take (the call-to-action), which should support your objective as well as highlight the benefits that they would enjoy.
For example, at the end of the first day, my closing statement was this:
“Now that you know…Don’t be one of the 75% who would rather die than stand up to speak in public. Remember these three things…”
Ending in a memorable way and listing a clear call-to-action will bring your session full circle since you began with a strong opening.
Your audience, who will appreciate your precision, will be inspired to make changes that will boost their results.
After all, if your sessions don’t motivate people to change, then you’ve failed.
Conclusion
Because the stakes were high for me, I was appreciative of the engaged audience and fortunate that the attendees were co-operative and willing to adopt new methods.
Still, be aware that it’s your job to ensure that your content is relevant to your audience. Your listeners don’t owe you their attention, participation or appreciation. You need to earn all those things.
So before you get on stage, or walk into the room where you’d be scheduled to speak, or called upon to share your knowledge, commit to making your delivery audience-centric.
Consider the five suggestions listed in this post and you’d never need to wait for formal feedback to know whether you’ve been successful. Audience members would enthusiastically inform you, even before your session ends, just how inspired they are to adopt your suggestions.
Then you can go on to change more lives by sharing what you know. Where appropriate, with your top-rated delivery, you’d command significant fees for your services.
And now over to you:
What other tips will help you connect powerfully with your audience?
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N.B: First and second images are courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net. Third image is courtesy of Stuart Miles, via freedigitalphotos.net. Last image is courtesy of Jscreationsz, via freedigitalphotos.net.