Have you ever been in this situation?
You walk into the room. The presenter is standing toward the front of the room, the first row of seats is empty as usual, and people are scattered around the room. You find an empty seat and sit as the presentation begins.
Very soon into the presentation, the speaker shouts out a question to the audience, “What are your biggest hurdles as you strive to be successful in your career?” He/she looks out into the audience and waits for a hand to go up or someone to shout out an answer… nothing.
If you are the presenter, I have a solution for you! I tried it and it works better than I could have imagined.
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be a presenter at the District 13 Toastmasters Leadership Institute. Two back-to-back one hour presentations, especially designed to train the incoming Vice Presidents of Education.
As I planned for the day, I decided that the biggest benefit (when I was in the audience) was learning from the experience of others in the audience. I wanted to take advantage of those in the audience who were long-time Toastmasters, had been club officers before, and had a wealth of knowledge and experience to help those newer than they.
But how would I stimulate participation? Do you do anything special to encourage audience participation?
I remembered a technique which I had never tried. I instructed them to break into groups of three and write down as many answers to my question as they could in 60 seconds. I would tell them the question, time them and then stop them. I chose, “What do you hope to learn today, or what would you like to learn today to help you be a better VP of Ed?” I yelled, “Start!”. I started the stopwatch and listened as the chattering jumped like a race horse off the starting line. 60 seconds went by and I yelled, “STOP!”
I then had a volunteer come up to the podium and write down answers as I asked them to share their answers.
The theory says that this technique cuts through the hesitation to speak up by eliminating the fear of the large group, and allows them to speak with a small group instead. The simple act of speaking to each other, in a rapid fire brainstorming method (60 seconds) creates a momentum of speaking up and participating. Then when you ask them to share their answers, you tap into that momentum and they are likely to continue speaking up as you shift the direction from the small group to the larger audience.
It worked wonderfully! I had intended to use it several times in the course of the two hours. However, it worked so well the first time. I was able to continue interacting with the entire audience for the rest of the day. I consider it a resounding success.
Give it a try. Be prepared to use it several times. Be ready if you only need it once. Help your audience take part in the presentation.
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Gee Michael,
Your original situation as described is a pretty good summation of most churches on Sunday morning.
The presenter is down front.
Empty rows up there.
Folks spread around like points of starlight in the audience.
And no one wants to volunteer their sins. Hmmm.
But any pastor or priest or preacher or scribe who brings out a stopwatch will likely encourage his audience to look at their watch too.
Sometimes, you just have to belt out a sermon and hope the audience is as swift at catching on as the current you direct before them.
I was once in some Lamaze classes too where the STOP START thing would probably not go over well with the ladies. It was more of a “Huff-Huff” thing and “How to Pack Your Sandwiches Ahead of the Moment of Fleeing to The Hospital So You Won’t Die Waiting For the Muffin to Cook” type of presentation.
I would NOT place a pencil in the hands of a single one of those women.
However, in another venue where the presenter says to you:
“Drivers License and Registration Please!”,…..
then, I could see saying ““What are your biggest hurdles as you strive to be successful in your career?” ….and answering “YOU ARE, BUD!”
Those courses tend to be very expensive too.
I could use a little help on public speaking at the grocery store when I am in line for “10 items or less” and the person in front of me is wheeling the entire dairy sector of the store on 4 wheels. Management remains silent and I value my life, so I tend to be silent. Speaking up could result in a can of Heinz “57 Varieties” Baked Beans being crammed down my throat sideways (or worse, yogurt). Then, her boyfriend shows up with peanut brittle.
My question is …
should I employ the technique of the two squirrels who say…
“You go first”
“No, after you”
“No! No! No! After you by all means”
“No I insist, you go please”
or should I carry a large can of Bush Beans just in case?
Another public speaking dilemma I have found over and over this summer comes when I pop myself down on a blanket or towel at the beach and just get settled, when a bunch of Park Rangers come blurring by in their speedmobiles hurling sand in my face. The sand pellets leaving permanent scars in my face are fine, but the exhaust stinks. What would you say in this situation? (Remember, I am speaking from ground level, or lower).
Last, we come to dating and picking up the check.
Is this a Constitutionally protected moment where my date can say to me “I have the right to remain silent. Anything I say can and will be used against my wallet”.
Is this when I say “What do you hope to learn today?”
I was kinda hoping for more audience participation in these presentations, Michael, and hope you can help.
I could supply approximately 3,506 other situations of public speaking that makes folks go queazy, crazy, flummoxed and lost.
Let’s cover these, and then come back to the others, beginning with a whopper like “Stick em up!”.
I hate those short speeches, don’t you?
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Michael reply on July 14th, 2008 12:49 pm:
You have brought up several examples of how public speaking can come up any time and any place. While they certainly offer you an opportunity to practice your phrasing, persuasiveness, and delivery… I usually address ways to make professional presentations more effective. I would be interested in what others who have needed audience feedback and audience participation have to say about this technique.
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Danny Lucas reply on July 14th, 2008 2:07 pm:
Glad you took my comment in the vein it was intended, Michael. Sometimes, comments spur more discussion than the original post.
For professional presentations to be more effective, ther audience clearly needs to be prompted into a Web 2.0 mode, if you will; involved somehow.
But a significant number of listeners want the facts, the presentation, and glean what they can from there.
To do YOUR work for you is ok for a while, it allows involvement. But I would think it has diminishing returns if it was a presentation style all the way through the presentation.
Our audiences are much more difficult to reach with any message these days.
Two resons:
1) OUR message is diluted by the sheer volume of messages to be processed from all the venues in a given day, by each member of the audience. They grow weary fast, have short attention spans, and want a delivery akin to a Twitter message.
2) The audience is dumbing down anymore. The standards of listening skills are about as tough as Casual Friday dress-wear standards.
Given the proclivity to fail to listen, receivers are even MORE difficult to reach.
The small groups, share and participate, as you describe has another dynamic within.
Someone in that small group is chosen to answer; they are the leader. Again, the rest of THAT group tends to slide as the active candidate does the work. Those members not acting as participant by direct answer to you, are easily lost. The main speaker is responsible for reaching EVERBODY, not just Joe and Sally Active.
A little bit of this “small group” discussion goes a long way.
A full meal of it will likely lead to a hunger for more knowledge and a failure to satisfy daily needed requirements to grow.
For help to the next generation (your kids), I recommend seeking out Declamation as a course to take in high school. This is pretty straight forward talking on a topic and the exercise takes the fear out of speaking.
Next, I suggest Debate as a school topic to encourage all youth on how to think. You must master every argument on the “pro” side of an issue; then master every argument on the “con” side of an issue. Finally, pick you favorite side; pro or con.
The best debaters can switch gears mid stream and argue one side of a topic, stop,and immediately begin to argue the very opposite side of the issue. This is great practice for later on in life, to speak, and to think swiftly.
Here is a final add on to my first “everyday speaking” possibilities.
You are asked to make a eulogy for someone at the funeral the day after tomorrow. This has happened to me and I suspect to others who speak publicly.
Small group just won’t cut it with that audience. I am curious from YOUR audience Michael, how they distill a life and draw the essence of meaning in that forum.
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This is a great idea!! i like the small group scenario!
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Just have bookmarked your site, and waiting for the next interesting article
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You post informative posts. Bookmarked !
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