Audience Management

16Oct

To Avoid a Bored Audience, a Science-backed Tip on Timing

Boredom is universal. So to avoid a bored audience, here's a science-backed tip on how to time some contrast. Even if you don’t believe in being bored (I count myself among those people), do you agree there are still moments when a situation is just…so…dull that it causes you to long for the exit? This is what’s called situational boredom, which happens when the environment or activity is uninteresting or lacks engagement, leaving us mentally stuck, despite having the capacity for interest.

If boredom is universal:

As a presenter or speaker, how often should we change up what we’re doing, to keep our audience...

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16Jun

The Audience Takes its Cue From You

What you put out, you are likely to get back.

To give you a metaphor illustrating this: If you're the slug at the front, expect your audience to be slugs in the seats. This may be an extreme visual, but there's so much truth in it. Your audience will respond to your energy, vibrancy, and engagement with the topic, and what they see from you as the presenter or speaker is what they will mirror back.  So if you're low in energy or appear disinterested, be prepared for that to come right back at you. Of course, we need to expand on this metaphor—you...

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10Apr

Want to be a More Powerful Speaker?

Extend your vocal range.

You'd probably agree with me that one of the most crucial aspects of  an audience's ability to "hear" us is the amount of vocal contrast we use. (There are other contrast aspects too, topics for another day.) Coming across as varied enough is a key challenge that so many speakers have to face. Low vocal range equals low contrast, and low contrast leads to low engagement. We all have a natural range, don't we? Varying from very little change (almost monotone in delivery), to highly expressive...even dramatic! You can probably think of people who demonstrate very different ends of that scale! If...

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07Sep

Asked a Difficult Question? One Way to Navigate Away

Do you struggle with knowing what to say when asked a difficult question? One way to navigate away from it is by using a specific 'attention-directing' technique.

Whether it's being hit with a tricky question during a meeting or presentation, or caught in a 1:1 situation and don't want your answer to be "I don't know" or "I'm not sure": here's a redirecting technique that can get you out of trouble: Asked a difficult question? One way to navigate away

Zoom in or zoom out.

1. Zoom in: this is where you redirect by saying something like: “That’s taking a broad focus, which isn't within...

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02Jun

A Key Audience Engagement Piece

Want to engage your audiences more effectively?

Remember this key point: the audience nearly always takes their cue from us. If we want them to be more than just informed by our presentation - and we usually do - we need to enable them to follow our lead easily. To motivate, lift, persuade or inspire...all of these need us as the speaker to model that behaviour. I'm not talking about being over the top - unless that's your style. Often quite subtle tweaks make all the difference. Here's how to think of it: An example from music I once worked with a conductor (in my...

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24Feb

4 Steps to Stay in Control when Challenged by an Audience Member

If you speak regularly in front of groups, at some point you're probably going to have your ideas, opinion or control challenged. And it may not be a perspective you hold lightly. Sometimes audience members can touch a nerve or challenge a deeply held value…if this has ever happened to you, you'll know that it can hit hard. Or perhaps you're not holding a strong viewpoint, but simply feel a bit raw that day: something in your life isn't working, or you feel vulnerable or unwell. I've certainly had to step up and run a group or speak to an audience while...

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08Oct

Intimidated by People with Power over You at Work?

It's so easy for this to happen. Whether you’re giving a presentation or having a conversation, feeling intimidated by people with power over you at work - either higher up the food chain, or with some other power over you - it can be a real challenge. Intimidated by People with Power over You at Work?

My experience

I vividly recall working with my first CEO client, years ago now. We’d spoken on the phone, and I turned up for our first coaching session. I remember getting into the lift of this expansive, echoing marble foyer, heart pounding, as I tried desperately to remind...

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16Sep

FAQs about Public Speaking and Presentations

There are some questions which I'm often asked - FAQ's - about public speaking and presentations. So here’s a list of 5 of the most common ones – see if any of them are ones you'd be asking yourself. FAQ's About Public Speaking and Presentations

Q1. What's one of the most common public speaking mistakes?

A. Too much content. I used to have this problem all the time, and it came from a combination of enthusiasm about the topic, wanting to give a huge amount of value, and fear that I would run out of content and be left with nothing else to...

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11Jun

How to Show Warmth to Any Audience

How can we deliberately show warmth to any audience?

Or to a person we're about to communicate with 1:1? No matter what sort of a mood we're in before we speak, or how we feel about that audience? And fast? I've been working with a client this week on exactly this concept. I asked him how he believed he came across in meetings with his team when he opened the conversation - was there any specific process that he followed at the start? His reply was basically "No process...and how do I come across? It depends on how I'm feeling". This is...

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30Apr

Setting a Presentation Rhythm

A good way to get your audience's attention at the start of your talk is by setting a presentation rhythm. Lay out for them a plan about how your talk is going to unfold, and then follow that rhythm. You're basically giving an agenda, with rhythmic pace built into it. And it sounds simple, but I don't often see it done.

The case for setting a presentation rhythm

Rhythm is primal. Our connection to it starts before birth with our mother's heartbeat, and it's an integral part of our voice, speech and communication. And we've been communicating using rhythm for thousands of...

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