Having watched a gazillion presenters at all levels of expertise, I can tell you that one of the most difficult things to accomplish from the front of the room is a smooth, enjoyable audience interactive exercise.
It looks so simple. Ask them a question. Get them to talk with each other. Easy-peasy. They will love it.
In reality, successful audience involvement in your presentation has a lot of moving parts. You are dealing with a group of people who probably came to your meeting thinking that they would sit and listen. They thought that you would educate them.
Now you want them to do what?
Many interaction attempts are awkward and of little real value to the audience. They just create some momentary chaos.
Every experienced coach, trainer or speaker I have ever seen has their own special way of handling it. But there are some common techniques and strategies.
I want to break down a simple exercise the way I would do it. See if any of this would work for you…
- Introduce the idea that you want them to think about. What is the particular issue? And then tell them you are going to ask them to participate. Don’t spring a request on them. Get them pre-thinking of how they might respond.
Example: “We have been talking about the idea that your presentation opening is the most critical 30-90 seconds of your speech. In a minute I am going to ask you to write down a few ideas about openings and then share them with a neighbor.”
- Give them clear, explicit instructions. Putting them on a slide is a good idea.
Example: “Here’s what we are going to do. I will give you 2 minutes and I want you to write down on your worksheets 2-3 strategies for starting an interesting presentation. Remember we want to 1) grab their attention. 2) Get them thinking about our topic. And 3) maybe elevate the energy in the room. Remember the old show biz wisdom of starting strong. Then we are going to take some time and share our ideas with a neighbor.”
- Start the exercise, repeat instructions and set the time.
Example: “We have 2 minutes starting now. Write down your 3 best ideas to start a great presentation.” Then give them a timing heads up. “Ok we have about 30 seconds left.”
- Get their attention back to you. After a writing exercise this will not be too difficult, but you must be assertive. If there is random activity and talking in the room, make sure the audience knows that you want them back now. Many speakers use a chime or a whistle or some other device to get their attention.
- Now it’s time to get them to turn to a neighbor and share their thoughts. Again, your instructions need to be specific. This is usually where the room explodes with talk and movement.
Example: “We are going to take three minutes for you to turn and share your ideas with your neighbor. At a minute and a half, I will ask you to switch so that each person gets a chance. Then we are going to have a little time to share with the whole group to see what we have all learned. Ok. Go.”
- Get their attention back to you. This will be much harder than the first time. People will be engaged with their partner and not want to stop talking. You job is to actively control this and corral them back so that they are quiet and paying attention to you. You should do this assertively but as to not be overly offensive. Adding humor and a fun attitude is a big help.
- Now comes what many consider to be the most important part – the wrap up or the debrief. Your writing and then sharing exercise will mean little unless you help them figure out what they just experienced.
Example: There are many ways to do this. Here is one.
“You have now had a chance to brainstorm a little with a partner some ideas for creating a strong opening for your presentation. Let’s take a minute to share our collective knowledge and see what we heard. I will ask a few of you to tell us what caught your ear, what you thought was a good idea.”
“Raise your hand and give us a very quick sentence of something either you thought of or your partner thought of. Remember — be quick – we want to get in as many as we can. What did you learn?”
Depending on the group, you may need to encourage them to raise their hand and participate. Be sure to reinforce the “be quick” rule.
After each, make sure you thank them for their contribution and make a short comment about what they said. Put your brief spin on it. You might want to repeat their words so the entire audience can hear it.
Take 4 or 5 contributors. Make sure you thank each and comment. Then say “We have time for one more.”
You may want to make a quick comment on the overall value of the exercise, give them some addition ideas or things they can think about later and then move on.
Surprise! This simple exercise is not so simple when done correctly is it?
A few final thoughts:
- As you can see, even this simple exercise can take a fair amount of time from your presentation.
- Be sure, at all times, to give the audience specific instructions and to thank (and respect) them for their participation.
- Audience exercises can quickly get out of control — especially if you have a larger group. Be prepared to be gently assertive.
- Bear in mind that some of your audience may be extreme introverts and will be very reluctant or even uncomfortable. It may be a good idea to acknowledge this and suggest that this will be a very relaxed and low stress activity.
And here is what I think is the most important point of this whole audience interaction thing. Audiences initially are reluctant to participate – but in the end they generally love it. Even though you may have had to reduce the overall content of what you present so that there will be enough time for the exercise, your audience will feel like they have received so much more. It is very powerful stuff.
So, if you are game, give it a try. Make sure you are prepared. Make sure you are respectful and care for your audience. If done well, they will think you are the smartest speaker they have ever heard when, in fact, they have done much of the work.
To your success,
Tom
P.S. Need to craft specific exercises for your presentation and your audience? I can help you get there. Sign up for a strategy session with me at: https://calendly.com/ready2speak/review
