| In the thousands of speeches I've heard very | | | | Ask audience members to tell their own stories |
| few presenters truly engage and involve the | | | | that highlight the point you are trying to make. |
| audience. | | | | This not only customises your message, but |
| Remember, even the most disciplined and | | | | makes it more relevant to the audience. Case |
| attentive of audiences will switch off after 20 | | | | studies work especially well in this format. This |
| minutes. | | | | involves the audience personally with the |
| It never ceases to amaze me how many highly | | | | presentation and has each member reflecting on |
| intelligent people, who are experts in their field, | | | | the speech. |
| end up being poor presenters. | | | | 3. HAVE FUN. |
| They usually have a pattern to their speech. A | | | | Audiences love fun and entertainment. Break your |
| nervous start with an apology, followed by hiding | | | | presentation up with some fun and games where |
| behind the podium, then a new world record for | | | | people are encouraged to loosen up and play. I |
| the number of PowerPoint slides or overheads | | | | find that my audience interaction technique of |
| they can get through in the allocated time and | | | | involving the audience in some simple and not too |
| then a mad rush in the last five minutes as they | | | | challenging hammer throw warm up exercises |
| realise they are only half way through their | | | | works well even for the most cynical and shy of |
| speech! | | | | audiences. |
| Sound familiar? | | | | The best response I ever had was a series of |
| Maybe you've been in this situation many times | | | | keynote presentations in the Philippines on |
| before as a member of the audience? | | | | branding where audience members had to get in |
| Or worse still, been a presenter with this | | | | teams and write, script, produce and then |
| approach? | | | | perform on stage a 30-second TV commercial |
| So how can you involve the audience in new and | | | | for their latest product. |
| innovative ways? Here are my Top Four Ways | | | | It always amazes me how creative people can be |
| to Get Audience Involvement in a Presentation. | | | | when given permission to compete, have fun and |
| 1. ASK A QUESTION. | | | | play. |
| It is so painfully obvious yet many presentations | | | | 4. PLAN THE NEXT STEP. |
| fail to incorporate this tried and true technique. | | | | One of the most successful ways to engage an |
| You can even use this if you are the MC for an | | | | audience is to get them to apply new concepts or |
| event. | | | | ideas to their own situation. You can do this by |
| A simple question can be a great icebreaker. | | | | getting them to set some goals or set a simple |
| When planning a speech, work out when and | | | | action plan based on the information you present |
| what to ask members of your audience to truly | | | | in your speech. |
| engage and involve them. A good technique is to | | | | There are no rules except whatever you do |
| get the audience to interact with yourself or | | | | must reinforce the 'essence' of the main message |
| others by checking their understanding or | | | | in your speech. This way you can cater for all the |
| interpretation of what they've heard so far. | | | | kinaesthetic, visual and auditory needs of your |
| 2. PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY TO TELL THEIR | | | | audience. |
| STORY. | | | | |